Often working closely with Murphy Pearson’s Food & Beverage industry group, our Hospitality industry team adeptly guides clients ranging from hotels to golf courses through their business and legal challenges. From large-scale property transactions to employment counseling we help clients keep the business operations on track. When disputes with clients’ guests and customers arise, we help clients develop successful strategies to resolve disputes while maintaining their brand reputation.
The Business Side of Hosting and Entertaining Visitors
Serving as outside general counsel engaging on specific transactions, we are experienced helping hospitality industry clients through the lifecycle of a venture, from entity formation and business transactions to regulatory compliance and employment law.
We group typical matters into five key areas of legal support:
- Corporate Formation, Governance, and Business Planning
- Employment Law/Wage & Hour
- Real Estate
- Intellectual Property
- Licensing and Compliance
We are experienced in these five corners of owning, managing, and operating bars, restaurants, entertainment and lodging venues, as well as golf courses and wineries. We represent the full spectrum of restaurant types – national and regional chains; franchisors and franchisees; upscale, top-tier establishments; chefs’ restaurants; casual dining; quick serve restaurants; food trucks; and stand-alone facilities. Our team also represents executive chefs and restaurant design and development companies. No client or establishment is too small or too big for our team to handle.
Our hospitality clients rely on us for corporate matters such as entity formation, business planning, and corporate governance; real estate transactions, including leasing, acquisitions and sales; ABC compliance; drafting employment agreements, handbooks, and policies; trademark issues; and other business contracts.
Litigation and Claims Defense
When offering facilities and services to the public, there is always the chance that visitors will encounter a dangerous or negative experience. Whether such a claim is tendered through an insurance company or part of an individual or class action suit, our litigation and insurance attorneys have extensive experience in a wide range of pre-litigation, trial, and alternative dispute resolution representation of hospitality industry clients. We’ve represented clients in matters including general and premises liability; employment matters including defending against claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, and wage and hour violations; ADA and equal access compliance; food poisoning; trademark and other intellectual property infringement; and civil rights law.
