Overview
High-profile businesses and individuals involved in complex litigation or contentious transactions face reputational risks at every turn. Sheppard Mullin’s highly skilled business litigators and trial lawyers take on the toughest cases to help clients emerge with their brands and reputations intact.
Whether we’re representing a global corporation in a contract dispute or a high-net worth individual in a defamation suit, we balance our trial-ready tenacity with effective reputation and crisis management techniques. We also help celebrities, athletes and other public personalities navigate pitfalls when working to commercialize and monetize their image.
By combining the full force of our brand reputation litigation experience with the knowledge of our skilled entertainment, private wealth and fiduciary teams, we position clients to confront a range of issues, both in private and in the public eye, including:
- Business torts
- Breach of fiduciary duty
- Unfair competition
- Fraudulent transfer claims
- Contract and partnership disputes
- Employment claims
- Malpractice
- Defamation and disparagement
Confronting Defamation and Disparagement Claims
When an executive, athlete or celebrity is the target of defamation, libel or slander claims, we defend them in litigation and arbitration, or in other formal proceedings including white collar investigations. We are ready to coordinate multidisciplinary crisis response and management teams to assess the brand impact of future and past publicized moments.
Brand and Reputational Positioning
Global brands rely on Sheppard Mullin to advise on their current and proposed positioning, and to assess the potential legal or reputational vulnerabilities of:
- Brand campaigns
- Marketing plans
- Social media platforms
- Activities and followers
- Sensitive or widely publicized social media interactions
Protecting Intellectual Property
Our clients work hard to develop the intellectual property that defines their brand. We provide a full range of services to help individuals and companies defend their trademarks. We protect their merchandise from counterfeiters by searching for potentially infringing trademarks and assisting with intellectual property litigation, when necessary.
Safeguarding a Name, Image or Likeness
Public figures to amateur athletes rely on our knowledge of the constantly evolving regulatory landscape to inform decisions and next steps when working to monetize their name, image and likeness.
Minimizing Corporate Risks
Our strategic advice and guidance helps companies increase their operational resilience and reduce their liability at all stages of their business lifecycle. We support them in structuring and negotiating commercial transactions, investment opportunities, marketing agreements, media appearances and TV deals.
Limiting Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Vulnerabilities
In today’s heightened cyber threat environment, no organization or individual is immune to a breach event. We support clients in limiting their litigation exposure by keeping their cybersecurity and data privacy compliance policies current, and maintaining response plans and checklists to speed a compliant response to a possible attack.
Real Estate and Tax Planning
We guide our clients through business and legal scenarios that arise in buying, selling, developing or financing real estate. Our team also offers broad-based tax planning and guidance in connection with structuring transactions.
Launching Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
Clients seek our advice when launching NFTs, from establishing terms of use and creator agreements for NFT platforms to commercial and consumer contracts, and regulation and tax considerations. We also advise them on intellectual property-related matters, such as licensing and copyright issues, trademark rights, design rights and goodwill.