Joint Ventures

Overview

Forming a joint venture can be complicated. There are difficult questions that need to be considered – how decisions will be made, what the economics will be, and what will happen if things don’t work out. Our corporate lawyers are highly attuned to these issues, having helped form innumerable partnerships and LLCs between individuals and companies. This experience allows us to help our clients understand not just what the words on the paper say, but how things may play out under different structures. Clients don’t come to us looking for an off-the-shelf template. Rather, they come to us – and come back to us – when they are looking for a legal framework that they know will be tailored to their business needs.

Similarly, joint ventures sometimes end under friendly circumstances, but sometimes under acrimonious ones. Clients frequently come to us seeking advice as to how to extricate themselves from partnership agreements. Our attorneys bring an innovative, sophisticated approach and fresh perspective to these often challenging situations. We know how to effectively and efficiently identify contractual frameworks, and then collaborate with our clients to come up with creative solutions centered on their objectives. From there, we help guide our clients through the separation, as an advocate in negotiations and as counsel throughout the process. By partnering with our clients (and drawing on the expertise of our stellar litigators), we help them to navigate potentially messy situations with confidence.

Selected Experience

• We are representing a publicly-held French engineering company in establishing joint ventures in the metal recycling business in the United States.

• We represented T-Mobile USA, Inc. in the formation of a joint venture with AT&T Mobility LLC and Verizon Wireless to build a national mobile commerce network utilizing mobile phones for point-of-sale purchases.

• We represented a major telecommunications corporation in connection with the negotiation of joint venture and partnership arrangements for the construction and operation of cellular telephone systems in a number of countries.

• We represented a major online news provider in connection with numerous strategic partnerships with content providers and technology services.

• We represented a private equity fund in connection with a joint venture to construct low-cost housing in the Middle East.

• We represented a major Japanese trading company in connection with a joint venture with ASARCO, a U.S.-based mining, smelting, and refining company, to develop a copper mine in Arizona.

• We represented a major credit card processing company in connection with joint venture and marketing alliance arrangements with suppliers of smart cards, card readers, and integrated circuits.

• We represented a manufacturer of high-end cosmetic design products in connection with the negotiation of a complex manufacturing, design, and commercial joint-venture arrangement with two other major cosmetics manufacturers.

• We represented a U.S. subsidiary of a major Japanese trading company involved in logistics in connection with a joint venture with a major U.S. convenience store.
• We represented an India-based investment fund as local U.S. counsel in connection with a $20 million venture capital investment related to the restructuring of a U.S. technology company with an India-based subsidiary.