Areas of Practice

Transactions

Clear and Thoughtful Contracts

A business is only as good as the value of its transactions.

All businesses depend on clarity and rigor in their agreements with customers, partners, employees, and among the owners. Because each business is unique, each contract must also be tailored to their needs. Sometimes this is as simple as developing templates that business owners can use for several similar transactions without having to consult legal each time. Other times, businesses need to negotiate an important deal with a counterparty’s attorney.

Watkins Legal works with companies of all sizes to first identify their strategic position in their markets, their current resources, and future resources. By understanding these facets of a business, Watkins Legal can work with that business to anticipate its needs and provide contracts that aren’t just good for today but will hold up tomorrow.

Examaples contracts:

Independant Contractors and Advisors with or without equity
Asset Purchase Agreements
Software or Intellecutal Prooerty Licenses
Cloud Agreements
Master Service Agreements and Statements of Work
Software and Plaform as Service Agreeements
Logistics Contracts
Manufancturing Contracts
Employment Contracts or Offer Letters
NDAs
Website or Online Terms of Use or Service

Corporate

Designed for growing Companies

When you are just starting out, the legalese that surrounds corporate law and the conflicting advice received from friends and family often creates confusion and a lack of attention to your corporate structure. However, the best time for founders to think about their corporate structure is at the beginning.

When building value, building a company, or courting investment, companies often find that they need to change their corporate structure. Whether that’s because one of the owners is no longer pulling their weight, an opportunity to bring on a strategic new owner came up, or a company wants to incentivize its workforce, Watkins Legal is here to help you navigate the legal, and often personal, complexities that come with these changes to an established company.

Example Services:

How, when, and where to form an LLC, a C-Corp, or other business entity
Equity Incentive Plans
SAFEs
Converitive Notes
Stock Purchase Agreements
Private Placements
Managing a Cap Table
Options and Restricted Stock Grants
Corporate complaince
Shareholder, Partnership, and Operating Agreements

Digtial Media and Direct to Consumer Ecommerce

Your Online Presence

The Internet opened new methods of doing business and made others viable again.

As the new markets the internet created mature and grow with the technology so the law will follow. Keeping pace with the law and negotiating against the more established players is critical.

So, whether you are an influencer or bringing a new product direct to market, you can count on your attorney to

BHAL

Business Strategy

Planning your Success

The business marketplace is evoling at a faster pace than ever before, and the acceleration of that evolution is only likely to increase further.

Lawyers can no longer pingonhole themselves in the world of pure legal and be detached from the economic realities and new opportunities growing businesses encounter. As a complement to our legal services, we are also well-equipped to understand your business concerns, the technology in your industry, and the customs of venture finance. Below are some of our areas of strategic adivce.

Drafting contracts and organizing deals to your industry’s standards, not just providing one-size fits all documentation. If you want the latter, Legalzoom is cheaper than any attorney.
The pros and cons of potential sales and investments
Licensing strategies
Updates and analyses on emerging technologies, including, Blockchain, AI, and Robotics.
Securing the intellectual property of an AI’s insights
How to train your AI with your customers’ data
Controlling the representations and warranties regarding the reliability of AI insights
Allocate risk when using AI
Open source issues when building or purchasing software, and when raising capital
How warranties and indemnities work
Software forks and how to legally handle them

Blockchain

A Brave New World

Kurt Watkins has been involved with blockchain since the summer of 2016 and is regularly sought out for his advice as the industry moves forward.

While tokens have been the biggest draw to blockchain since Bitcoin, can also be used for decentralized governance, and making enterprise databases both more aseeible and secure. Because of its robust security and redundancies, blockchain offers a secure but open way for organizations to confirm information and transfer assets among themselves and with others. The long-term value of blockchain for all the high-friction systems (like legal) that currently run the world is only beginning to be realized.

Watkins Legal takes this forward looking approach coupled with a high degree of technical sophistication to communicate with and understand the development team as well as provide excellent legal service, whether your team is creating a token economy, DAO, or your company is considering an enterprise solution on a private or public chain.

Representative Services:

Token Sercurity Analyes
SAFTs
Dealing with and understanding the inherent difference of decentralization in organizations and strategies
Token securities frameworks
Strategic advice for growing and securing a DAO

Privacy

Dealing with Data

The emerging legal field of privacy law is as complex as it is unsettled. The law used to be primarily focused on data breach and data breach notification. However, with the passage of such laws as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), it’s clear that the legal developments in this field are shifting from what to do in the event of a crisis to how to prevent a crisis in the first place, and how to protect each customer’s or employee’s privacy.

Because these laws and laws like them will continue to expand their scope and reach, no modern business owner should design and build out their digital systems without an eye to privacy. Watkins Legal takes this approach for all its clients. Although there might not be a privacy issue now, Watkins Legal can help you identify issues down the road so you can be prepared for them when they arrive.