The retail industry is in a state of innovation and disruption. Shifting consumer buying patterns, the proliferation of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, and renewed spending priorities are converging with rapidly evolving technology, global supply chain challenges and changing regulatory priorities.
Today’s customers are more informed, more empowered and more demanding than ever before. Retailers need the same from their attorneys.
To stay relevant and competitive, 21st century brands must distinguish themselves in a crowded marketplace, considering how they can create value, mitigate risk and anticipate threats while protecting and enhancing their customer experience. Marketing and advertising, employee engagement, compliance and consumer data protection are just a few areas where strategic business opportunities can become crippling vulnerabilities if not managed with precision. Retailers need a law firm that moves as quickly as they do and attorneys who consider the economic, legal, global and regulatory factors that play into every business decision.
The attorneys who make up Benesch’s Retail & E-Commerce Group have decades of experience defending retailers in high-stakes litigation, advising on new regulations, anticipating risks, identifying emerging opportunities and positioning them to compete in a global, digital-first marketplace. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Benesch’s diverse group of Retail & E-Commerce attorneys represent companies spanning Fortune 500 brands and luxury retailers to manufacturers, e-commerce start-ups and brick-and-mortar boutiques. With this experience comes an intimate understanding of the challenges facing our clients and what it takes to excel in an era of rapid transformation. From bet-the-company commercial litigation to structuring joint ventures, counseling start-ups or managing a corporate restructuring, the attorneys in our Retail & E-Commerce Group deliver a comprehensive suite of legal and business services so our clients can focus on what matters: running their businesses.
SERVICES
CLASS ACTION DEFENSE
Class action lawsuits are more prolific than ever before, with brands at risk of suits stemming from claims of antitrust activities, false labeling and advertising, automatic renewal laws, deceptive pricing, data breaches, data disclosure and other multi-billion-dollar no-injury suits under various (and often obscure) federal and state laws. Our team of attorneys defends companies in nationwide class actions, collective employment actions and third-party lawsuits.
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
In recent years, we’ve witnessed a significant adjustment in the regulatory priorities of our national, state and local lawmakers, most notably with respect to the expansion of laws regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Where regulation was once almost exclusively environmental in nature, many states have passed—or are considering—legislation banning PFAS in an array of textiles, packaging, food products and more. The result is enormous pressure for retailers to quickly assess not only their products, but their supply chains, marketing materials and reporting mechanisms, and make critical adjustments. Our attorneys are adept at helping clients understand current and pending legislation, perform operational audits and develop strategies to achieve compliance.
TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS
Benesch’s nationally-recognized Transportation & Logistics Practice Group works with clients in the retail and consumer products sectors to help them optimize their supply chains in connection with transportation, logistics and warehousing. Representative clients run the gamut from some of the world’s largest big-box retailers to middle-market and emerging retailers in various verticals (including, but not limited to, clothing/apparel, hardware, home and garden, food and pharmaceuticals, automotive and fuel, and many others). Our practical, operations-oriented team provides our clients with multidisciplinary solutions—drafting and negotiating services contracts, developing metrics that properly incentivize service providers, designing private fleets, resolving business disputes, assisting with international trade compliance, providing regulatory advice, helping with in-transit freight finance and generally providing day-to-day business advice and counsel.
PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY
Modern retailers must navigate a host of privacy and consumer protection laws, implementing safeguards against increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats while appropriately leveraging customer data to inform strategic business decisions. Benesch’s team includes Data Privacy & Security attorneys who understand this delicate balance and confidently advise clients on a wide range of security and privacy matters, helping clients design and implement data-management protocols, review existing practices and respond with urgency to breaches and lawsuits that arise. Recognizing the need for immediate action when a security breach occurs, Benesch offers its clients access to a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week data breach hotline, providing support and assistance when our clients need it most.
REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT
Despite the ubiquity of digital commerce, real estate remains a vital component to nearly every type of retailer and manufacturer. Our attorneys have significant experience guiding clients through all phases of the development and launch of their brick-and-mortar facilities, from boutiques and retail storefronts to distribution centers and industrial complexes. Our team guides clients through the process of identifying properties, securing investment capital, acquiring and purchasing land, negotiating franchise agreements, developing the property and navigating any land or property use issues that may arise. In the event it becomes necessary to close a property, we help clients maneuver that, too.
MARKETING, ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONS
Creative marketing and smart, engaging promotions are critical in our hyperconnected world. But these activities can present significant legal risks for companies, and strong line of sight into local, state and national regulations is key. We regularly advise clients on related activities such as labeling, marketing, advertising and promotional campaigns, including phone call and text messaging laws, sweepstakes rules, gift card restrictions, daily-deal sales issues and use of customer data collected through marketing efforts. Our clients turn to Benesch to ensure their marketing and advertising activities are fair, compliant and impactful.
ADA COMPLIANCE
In recent years, we’ve seen a significant spike in the number of cases stemming from ADA compliance and accessibility on company websites. Our team has briefed a number of motions to dismiss, including filing novel motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the basis that the mere accessing of a website in a given jurisdiction does not create personal jurisdiction. Attorneys in our Retail & E-Commerce practice are well attuned to what arguments can be raised in which jurisdictions as well as in what jurisdictions it benefits the client to reach a nuisance resolution rather than risk a tag-along suit. Our proactive approach makes plaintiffs’ counsel consider whether challenging our motions is worth risking the viability of their practice. The result has been the resolution of these matters on extremely favorable terms for our clients.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Benesch’s Retail & E-Commerce Group includes attorneys from our Intellectual Property Practice Group who regularly engage in the prosecution and defense of IP claims for clients of various sizes and industries. Our attorneys make it their mission to help clients protect and optimize their intellectual capital by securing trademark and copyright protections and intellectual property rights. When necessary, they also prosecute infringement actions and counsel clients with respect to IP filings.
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT
Benesch’s Labor & Employment attorneys routinely support our national retail clients with a full range of labor and employment services spanning executive recruiting, diversity and inclusion commitments, employee retention and engagement, workplace policies and benefits, workforce reduction efforts and more. Our litigation team also helps company leadership assess and eliminate workplace risks and provides counsel through crises that may arise in the workplace.
PRIVATE EQUITY
Private equity investment is the foundation of so many of today’s retail and e-commerce operations. Our attorneys have decades of experience providing services to private equity clients across the retail, hospitality and consumer products spaces, including forming a venture capital fund focused on early-stage retail investments, defending portfolio companies through high-stakes litigation and assisting our private equity clients with the identification, purchase and/or sale of new investments for their portfolios.
CORPORATE TRANSACTIONS
Structuring favorable transactions for key partners, vendors and service providers is foundational to any successful retail and e-commerce businesses. Our transactional attorneys are a wealth of knowledge, advising clients through the formation of strategic business partnerships including the negotiation and preparation of service contracts, distribution agreements, licensing matters, business disputes, joint ventures and more. When the company is on the line, Benesch attorneys have the combined legal and business insights to help their clients navigate high-stakes negotiations and litigation, if needed.
RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY
During periods of financial and economic uncertainty, brands need a strategic counselor to help maximize their value and position them for future success. Our team of attorneys provides transactional and litigation support for clients navigating corporate and financial restructuring and insolvency, working hand-in-hand to understand their motivations and future objectives to tailor favorable solutions for their specific circumstances.
PRODUCT LIABILITY
Benesch’s Retail & E-Commerce group understands that the pace of innovation in our world creates both enormous opportunity and tremendous liability. What’s more, rapid change within the national, state and local regulatory landscapes has created seismic shifts in the way retailers operate. Look no further than several recent court decisions arguing that digital marketplace owners can be held liable for products sold on their platforms, and you’ll see a prime example of this shift. Benesch’s attorneys bring significant experience at the intersection of law, regulatory compliance and business operations, helping clients identify and overcome areas of weakness within their operations and supply chains. When necessary, we leverage decades of experience to support our clients through regulatory interventions and investigations, settlement negotiations and litigation.
COMMERICAL LITIGATION
In today’s retail landscape, brands are exposed to potential litigation at every phase, from conception to expansion. Commercial contracts, licensing agreements, vendor disputes and indemnification demands—even activities as simple as printing receipts or placing telephone calls to customers—represent an area of risk for retailers. Benesch’s proactive approach positions attorneys as business advisors, supporting every stage of a company to reduce exposure and risk. When litigation is necessary, our attorneys draw on decades of experience at the negotiating table and in the courtroom to secure favorable outcomes for our clients while maintaining key relationships within the industry.
Benesch represented Weinberg Capital Group, a private investment firm focused on well-positioned middle market companies throughout the US, in its sale of Mechanical Servants LLC (dba Convenience Valet).