Retail & Consumer Products

Retail and brand promotions continue to evolve. Social media influencers have reshaped how brands engage consumers, and computer-generated imagery and virtual influencers are becoming more common. Our lawyers work with in-house legal and marketing teams to plan and execute advertising, marketing, and promotional campaigns. We audit ad copy, marketing materials, websites, software apps, and labeling for false advertising, claim substantiation, regulatory compliance, IP infringement, and right of privacy and publicity issues.

We also draft and negotiate ad agency, co-promotion, influencer, celebrity endorsement, sponsorship, and other marketing services agreements. Our lawyers advise clients on complying with FTC rules and guidelines, as well as on how to avoid consumer, competitor, and regulator challenges associated with marketing campaigns. 

In recent years, many retailers have announced store closures, while others have filed for bankruptcy to reorganize, conduct a going-concern sale, or liquidate. Even financially healthy retailers can be affected when customers, vendors, or contract counterparties face financial distress or enter bankruptcy. It is important that financially healthy retail businesses know how to minimize the risks presented by bankruptcy and insolvency, as well as how to take advantage of potential opportunities available in the bankruptcy and restructuring context.

Our lawyers help retail businesses reduce risk, respond to counterparties’ insolvency, and identify opportunities in restructurings and bankruptcy cases. We have represented retailers in reorganizations and liquidations, creditors and official committees of unsecured creditors in retail bankruptcy cases, landlords, asset purchasers, trade creditors, secured creditors, trustees, and receivers.

Consumer protection laws carry significant risk for retail and consumer products companies. Even small legal missteps can trigger government investigations, class actions, and adverse publicity. Our lawyers help companies comply with consumer protection laws and defend against consumer claims. Our litigators, including former enforcement officials and counsel with experience before government agencies and other regulatory bodies, use innovative approaches to address consumer issues, including class actions.

Consumer brands must secure capital to fuel growth while navigating an increasingly competitive and fast-moving marketplace. Our corporate lawyers bring decades of experience advising leading brands across the retail and consumer landscape. We counsel clients on M&A, corporate financings, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and other transformative transactions that drive long-term value.

Retailers and consumer brands face significant financial exposure from disruptions, liability claims, cyber incidents, and supply chain challenges, making insurance recovery a critical component of risk management. Our team focuses exclusively on representing policyholders, helping clients secure the coverage they are entitled to under complex commercial insurance programs. We pursue claims strategically and efficiently, often resolving disputes through negotiation or mediation, while remaining fully prepared to litigate in state and federal courts or arbitrate when necessary. Our work has resulted in billions of dollars in recoveries from major insurers in the U.S. and global markets.

IP is a core asset for retailers and consumer products companies. Protecting patents, trademarks, and other IP assets is mission critical, as are the IP strategies and programs that can keep competitors at bay in jurisdictions worldwide. Our team develops proactive brand protection strategies and aggressively defends these rights in court when disputes arise. Such issues include trademark and copyright, domestic and international trademark work, domain name disputes, website audits, advertising review, and dispute management; patent procurement and patent advice to brick-and-mortar retailers and e-commerce companies; and IP litigation on behalf of consumer brands and companies that manufacture, market, and distribute products for sale by traditional retailers.

Global sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution expose retailers and consumer brands to complex and rapidly evolving trade regulations. Our International Trade team helps clients manage these risks while pursuing growth across borders. We advise on tariffs, customs, export controls, sanctions, and trade-related IP, with a focus on practical solutions that align with business objectives.

Our lawyers regularly counsel some of the largest U.S. retailers on a variety of issues, from day-to-day employment counseling to strategic planning and advice to the defense of aggressive class-action litigation. We have extensive experience advising retailers on framing executive employments, attracting top talent, and negotiating and drafting separation agreements; counseling on fair labor practices and proactively defending our clients when individual wage-and-hour claims or wage-and-hour class actions are filed; discretely navigating sensitive workplace conduct situations; and applying the American with Disabilities Act to retailers’ core technologies, including point-of-sale devices, websites, and mobile applications.

While data and security breaches are happening in virtually all industries, significant attention is given to breaches committed against retail and consumer products because they are often household names, and many state laws require retailers to notify the public of a breach. Our Privacy & Security lawyers represent the world’s leading internet companies, brick-and-mortar retailers, and emerging online businesses. From data protection and breach preparedness to requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we are known for our commitment to achieving favorable outcomes for our clients in the data and privacy arena.

We help retail companies and property owners realize and protect the value of their real estate portfolios. We assemble retail real estate teams tailored to each client’s project or legal issue. We advise large corporate retailers and emerging retail companies on leasing matters across the United States. Our lawyers also serve as outside real estate counsel to clients expanding their footprints through retail, headquarters, and home office leases around the world. We also help online retailers address evolving real estate needs as they expand into brick-and-mortar locations.

Our lawyers have represented some of the most significant e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers in a variety of matters, including retail sales tax collection issues (discounts, coupons, loyalty programs, bad debts, nonresident exemptions, internet sales, nexus, and taxability); sales tax on consumables and construction activities; special taxes on liquor, soda, and plastic bags; and property tax disputes for big-box retailers and mall owners.

The compliance environment for retailers and consumer products companies has rapidly shifted in recent years. Today, companies are held to a higher standard and are expected to monitor their supply chains like never before. A company’s supply chain is now measured based on its promotion of sustainability, human rights, fair labor practices, and anti-corruption policies.

Our Supply Chain Compliance and Corporate Social Responsibility teams support retail and consumer products businesses in these efforts. Since establishing a first-of-its-kind practice among Am Law 100 firms, we have helped companies address virtually every type of compliance issue. We have overseen risk assessments, designed and revised dozens of compliance programs, and conducted extensive U.S.-based and international supply chain investigations. Our team includes former officials from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC, and state attorneys general offices, as well as former in-house counsel.