Employment and Compensation
Within the corporate counsel function, we provide general employment law consulting and prepare employee handbooks, independent contractor and employment agreements, confidentiality and non-competition agreements, intellectual property assignments and offer letters. Upon the termination of employees, we prepare severance agreements, including waivers and settlement agreements, and notify former employees to cease and desist any activities in violation of confidentiality and non-competition agreements.
TRADE SECRETS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION
We regularly assist clients in the protection of intellectual property and trade secrets. As we prepare employment agreements and contractor agreements, we advise clients to ensure that employees and contractors assign any product innovations and intellectual property rights to the company to the extent that such intellectual property was developed by the workers in the scope of their work for the company or was developed using company resources. We also advise clients to have employees, contractors, officers and directors to assign confidentiality agreements to ensure that company trade secrets maintain the full trade secret protection they are entitled to.
EQUITY COMPENSATION
We assist emerging companies and established corporations incentivize key employees through non-qualified equity compensation plans including phantom stock plans, restricted stock plans, stock options, incentive bonus pools and other plans while complying with applicable tax rules such as Internal Revenue Code Sections 83 and 409a. We provide tax analysis memorialized in memoranda or policies, as well as draft the grant letters, restricted unit agreements, phantom stock plans, and other equity compensation plan documents.