We are “First Responders” to Legal Challenges and Opportunities

Canoe team

Although many emerging companies feel they cannot afford quality legal representation, the truth is that these companies cannot afford to ignore legal issues and forego quality legal advice and service.
We aim to be the first phone call you make or email you send whenever you have a problem or concern.  If your issue falls within our scope of expertise, we’ll handle it for you efficiently and effectively.  If not, we will find a trustworthy professional who can assist you, and who knows they will answer to us for the way your project is handled.

 

Built to Serve the Legal Needs of Emerging, Innovation-Based Companies

For emerging, innovation-based companies that have global operations or aspirations, the choices for legal representation seem quite limited:  either use a solo or boutique firm that is unlikely to be able to provide the scope and level of service to handle the bulk of their legal issues; or hire a larger firm and face exorbitant legal fees and unresponsive, lackluster service.

Our law firm is built around the needs of intellectual property and technology-based companies.  Through our own professionals, plus our extensive global network of attorneys and consultants, we can handle the vast majority of legal issues faced by these types of clients.  In other words, our internal expertise, coupled with our professional network, makes us big enough for most innovation-based, privately-held companies –  without being “too big”.

Unlike most traditional law firms, our model is “client-driven” and not “practice area-driven.”  We can generally handle the majority of the legal issues faced by the  innovation-based, privately held companies we serve.  That is how we built our firm (from a personnel and experience standpoint), and that’s how we build our client base.

Because of the needs of our clients, our services generally fit into one or more traditional legal areas of practice.  However, our unique business model allows us to identify issues and opportunities that overlap between these practice areas – a critical valued-added service unavailable from most single-purpose boutiques or large, compartmentalized law firms.

 

Understanding Client Culture and Goals is Essential

We don’t want hundreds and hundreds of clients, and we don’t seek work from large, public companies.  We prefer to work with a smaller group of clients who stand to reap the maximum benefit from our model: namely, privately-held companies that are heavily invested in innovation, technology and other intellectual property, and who have international business operations or aspirations.

For these types of companies, we are not simply “vendors” or single-issue specialists.  Instead, we are business partners who learn about the culture and goals of a company so that we can provide legal advice and strategies that are aligned with those goals and culture.  As such, our legal advice isn’t offered in a vacuum, but encompasses a broad range of the clients needs, and anticipates and helps avoid future complications.

 

Communicating Effective Strategies and Options to Minimize Risk

We help our clients identify and effectively manage risks in an increasingly global marketplace.  We believe that communication is key to helping clients assess the feasibility of various opportunities and business strategies.  As such, we provide our clients with the risks/benefits and pros/cons of various strategies and options so that you can make informed business decisions.

Communication is also an important element of managing client expectations for their projects, both as to results and regarding expenses.  We make every effort to ensure clients know upfront what our work on a project will cost, and help clients prioritize projects in a manner that allows them allocate and deploy resources efficiently and effectively.

 

Like Our Clients, We are Entrepreneurial and Innovative

Like our clients, we are entrepreneurial and innovation-oriented. Our goal is to offer the resources and service of a larger firm, but the responsiveness and value of a small firm.  We are always looking for better ways to deliver more effective and efficient client services.  Some of our client-oriented innovations include using blogs and e-newsletters to keep clients informed of legal news, paperless invoicing, electronic payment options, and building a global network of trusted attorneys and other professionals ready to assist clients however and wherever they are needed.