Manufacturing

Our work spans a range of goods-producing industries in segments such as steel, aluminum, copper, brass and iron products; agricultural, aquaculture and other commodities; chemicals and plastics; man-made fibers and textiles; industrial equipment and components; food and beverage; and consumer products and technology. We offer strategic counsel on a range of corporate, international, regulatory, labor and employment, litigation and intellectual property matters.

Advertising

We help global brands and Fortune 500 companies that manufacture and sell products across a range of industries ensure that their marketing, advertising and promotions are both effective and compliant with federal and state laws and regulations, broadcast network and industry self-regulatory standards, and evolving best practices for traditional and new media marketing. Particularly relevant to manufacturers, we counsel on regulatory and compliance issues involved with substantiating monadic and comparative claims, marketing to children, ​“green” marketing, ​“Made in USA” claims, product labeling, and other advertising, marketing and promotional practices.

Consumer Product Safety

Our Consumer Product Safety attorneys work with global manufacturers, distributors and retailers to ensure their products meet applicable federal and state safety standards, and if potential problems arise, we identify and resolve them confidentially before they escalate, reducing the risk of regulatory scrutiny, increasingly costly civil penalties and negative publicity for our clients. We work with clients to develop and implement internal compliance programs and advise on difficult issues of how and when potentially hazardous consumer products must be reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). We assist brands in participating in voluntary and mandatory industry-wide standards and advocate on behalf of clients in connection with proposed changes in standards.

Corporate

Kelley Drye’s manufacturing clients benefit from our ability to address their legal disputes, as well as to help them create solutions for achieving their strategic business objectives. Companies of all sizes and with operations across international borders rely on us to help them structure, negotiate and complete their transactions in a timely and cost-effective manner. Our Corporate attorneys also provide counsel both in the full range of cutting-edge solutions of modern capital raising and in daily business and regulatory matters. We represent companies across all business lifecycle stages from start-up, growth, maturity, and exit via acquisition or IPO. Our attorneys represent middle-market companies, emerging growth companies, placement agents, underwriters of public securities, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capital funds, private equity funds as well as small-cap and micro-cap companies.

Environmental

Our environmental attorneys combine legal experience, industry knowledge and technical ability to assist clients in effectively navigating an often complex regulatory process. Our regulatory attorneys routinely counsel manufacturers on applicability of regulatory requirements, compliance assurance, release reporting and spill response. Kelley Drye helps clients evaluate the need for obtaining permits and, when needed, in securing permits for air emissions, wastewater discharges, and waste generation and disposal. We provide representation in negotiations with federal and state agencies in remediation, permitting, and enforcement matters and in stakeholder proceedings, including submission of formal comments to agency rule making. We work proactively with our manufacturing clients to minimize environmental risks and maximize practical solutions, including ascertaining relative responsibilities with other responsible parties and governmental agencies and preserving our clients’ rights and privileges in the event of future litigation. And, if it comes to it, we have one of the best environmental litigation groups in the country, zealously representing our clients in contamination, property impairment, and natural resource damages from coast-to-coast.

Intellectual Property

Our proficiency with the full range of issues involved in managing and defending our clients’ important assets—prosecution, portfolio management, licensing and opinions—combined with our extensive intellectual property litigation work enables us to provide tactical, business-minded and comprehensive intellectual property support. Our intellectual property practice is unique in that our primary attorneys handle both IP prosecution and litigation. Our clients range from multinational companies to entrepreneurial start-ups, and include leaders in the fields of fashion and retail, consumer products and personal care, software development; consumer electronics; chemicals; pharmaceuticals; telecommunications, nanotechnology software and technology.

International Trade

Kelley Drye goes to bat for industries injured by unfair trade practices, initiating antidumping (AD), countervailing duty (CVD) and other trade remedy actions that bring relief not only to companies and industries, but to workers and communities. We guide manufacturing clients―major U.S. industries and smaller producers alike―through complex trade rules and restrictions, helping them successfully import and export their products and services. We help clients overcome barriers to entry in foreign markets, and resolve cross-border disputes to ensure that our trading partners fully meet their obligations under international trade agreements. Our International Trade attorneys have initiated more trade remedy proceedings on behalf of more diverse domestic industries in the past two decades than any other law firm, and our record of success is one that few, if any, can match. Our skill in trade remedies work enables us to take on some of the most challenging matters—long-odds efforts—and transform them into wins for clients, securing the issuance of orders and the imposition of duties that enable the restoration and expansion of manufacturing operations.

Labor and Employment

Our labor and employment counseling work for clients is anchored in a comprehensive and up-to-the-minute understanding of employment and labor relations law. We take the time to understand our clients’ business and operational goals, and the particularities—economic, demographic, regulatory and practical—of employee hiring and management in their markets and industries. We provide timely, business-focused advice on the full range of employee-relations issues involving wage and hour laws, employment contracts, wrongful discharge, harassment and hostile environment, and employment discrimination claims. Kelley Drye attorneys also help manufacturing clients navigate the challenges and opportunities of organized labor. We work closely with leaders to develop and drive company-wide strategies for promoting union-free workplaces, and for responding effectively to union organizing and public relations campaigns. Our attorneys’ extensive experience before the National Labor Relations Board means that our clients benefit from deep, practical knowledge of the real-world, real-time tactics that make a labor strategy effective.

Litigation

We provide practical, business-savvy advocacy to help our clients not only achieve litigation wins, but also mitigate business risk, protect their brands and make competitive gains in the marketplace. Clients trust Kelley Drye litigators to resolve the most complex legal problems – whether they are facing litigation in state and federal courts across the country, investigations and enforcement actions before government regulators, or matters before U.S. and international arbitration tribunals. We’re a firm of courtroom-tested attorneys with deep knowledge of our discipline, a reputation for integrity and credibility earned through decades of resolving disputes. Our litigators use early case assessment to set strategies that achieve the best possible results, whether that involves a bench trial, a jury decision, a favorably negotiated settlement or successful arbitration or mediation.

Privacy and Data Security

Kelley Drye privacy and information security attorneys work on the leading edge of media, technology and business, helping clients understand and proactively address the consumer privacy, information security and compliance issues they face as they implement new technology and develop innovative tactics to leverage consumer data. We help clients draft, review, revise and interpret their privacy policies and procedures, and develop appropriate, comprehensive enterprise-wide privacy and data security programs and conduct training for employees on privacy, data security, advertising and business practices. We perform privacy or data security audits of existing business practices to assess client compliance with current policies, and help clients develop and update reasonable oversight and monitoring programs of third-party vendors handling consumer data, including vendor privacy due diligence templates, drafting and negotiating strategic contractual provisions, and formulating appropriate compliance checks and responses to issues that arise during the relationship.

Tax

Our tax attorneys represent clients in a variety of transactions, including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, leasing transactions, financial products, venture capital and restructurings. The firm advises foreign clients on the formation and operation of their U.S. businesses, while also counseling U.S. clients on the complex tax aspects of their foreign operations. Our attorneys also have significant experience in fund formation and joint venture planning. The firm represents numerous clients in tax controversies at both the field office and appeals levels, and before various courts. Kelley Drye’s tax lawyers work in concert with the firm’s other corporate practice areas to provide comprehensive advice and guidance to clients making major strategic moves and refining existing operations for greater profitability and success.