Davis+Gilbert LLP

Firm overview: Legal mastery is critical but not enough. Even the best legal strategies must work in tandem with your business realities. Davis+Gilbert’s  industry focus and deep insight about the issues that drive your business enable us to provide solutions that make a difference.

Davis+Gilbert’s proactive, business-oriented approach stems from our long history of working with key industries not just as advocates but also as counselors. The firm helped guide the marketing communications ecosystem as it evolved from the early 20th century to today’s world of data, digital and social media. For many years, Davis+Gilbert has successfully applied that same see-around-corners vision and focus to real estate, financial services, hospitality, technology and other service sector industries, becoming the firm of choice for the market leaders of today and tomorrow.

From its base in New York, Davis+Gilbert represents a diverse range of clients across the country and around the world.

Advertising + Marketing: Our firm grew up with the advertising industry, from its earliest beginnings through every stage of its exponential growth. We have been witness to, and a key participant in, the evolution of advertising and marketing law and the remarkable proliferation of related industries that now form the vast marketing ecosystem. From advertising agencies to major brands, from content creators to tech-forward digital platforms, whether our clients are global publicly traded companies or two-person startups, they depend on us to help achieve their business goals, protect their rights and minimize their legal risks.

Bankruptcy, Creditors' Rights + Finance: The last financial crisis shined a harsh light on the legal exposure of lenders, loan servicers, sponsors and trustees, when investors and other participants in the credit markets incurred losses. The collapse of the subprime mortgage securitization market, in particular, brought a wave of litigation — by investors and deal counterparties claiming contractual breaches and outright fraud — that continues to this day. This litigation has created a roadmap for new plaintiffs to follow, escalating the stakes for defendants.

Our firm's attorneys have been actively representing participants in the credit markets and the litigation they face, gaining deep experience in protecting and enforcing their rights at each stage of a market’s evolution.

Benefits + Compensation: Aside from being one of the top expense items on the books, a company’s employee benefits and compensation packages go to the heart of attracting and retaining a strong workforce. That said, these items all operate in a stringent regulatory environment where small mistakes can carry large liabilities.

Our benefits and compensation attorneys understand the business practicalities that drive benefits and compensation issues and decisions. Our clients count on us to design and implement plans that strike the right balance of compliance, cost and administrative ease.

Corporate + Transactions: For companies of all sizes and across all industries, effective growth strategies are a key driver of success in the marketplace. Our transactional attorneys get deeply involved in understanding the business and strategic thinking of our clients, and we take a pragmatic yet long-term approach to determining how we can best support their growth. From early-stage start-ups to global Fortune 100 companies, our attorneys tend to the full range of our clients’ corporate, financial and transactional needs.

Intellectual Property + Media: For companies in a number of dynamic industries — particularly media, entertainment and sports — constant change is a given. As the lines between these fields continue to converge and cross, new legal challenges arise, especially in intellectual property law.

Our intellectual property and media practice has for decades been on the front line of the seismic shift from traditional to digital media, and we are amply equipped to help clients address intellectual property challenges in ways both conventional and innovative. Companies look to us to understand their brands, prioritize their concerns and help them navigate the legal and regulatory risks they face in markets that are constantly redefining themselves.

Labor + Employment: For companies where employees and their talents are by far the most important assets, the business ramifications of labor and employment law hold special weight. Our labor and employment attorneys are uniquely attuned to the practical aspects of managing and retaining essential employees. We serve as primary employment counsel for businesses throughout the United States in various industries tending to the day-to-day legal aspects of their employee relations.

Litigation + Dispute Resolution: The most complex and hardest-fought legal cases tend to center around people, their ideas, their contracts or their workplaces. These disputes frequently involve the movement of talent between competitors, workplace claims, the ownership of intellectual property, false and deceptive marketing practices, the rights and responsibilities of the parties to corporate transactions and controversies over commercial leasing. Our litigation and disputes attorneys handle matters in all of these areas. We assess risk, secure favorable resolutions, and forcefully pursue our clients’ interests through trial and appeals. Our clients include major players in the marketing communications, e-commerce, financial services, hospitality and commercial leasing sectors. We also represent prominent advertisers, agencies and their brands.

Privacy, Technology + Data Security: The increasingly intertwined concerns of privacy and data security continue to cast a long shadow over the business models of companies in nearly every industry. Both concerns carry considerable risk — legal, financial and reputational — but with proper attention to the statutory and contractual requirements that underlie and inform the risk, they can be turned to competitive advantage. Our attorneys work with data-driven businesses of all kinds to identify and address the compliance risks associated with data flowing in and out of their organizations, advising clients on best practices, assessing their contracts, preventing and responding to data breaches and providing defense in litigation and enforcement actions.

When it comes to technology, today every business is a technology business, constantly entering into contractual arrangements involving a broad array of evolving technologies, including AI, SaaS platforms and ad tech services. Accordingly, our attorneys regularly draft contracts for innovation-forward companies in virtually every industry sector, including advertising, e-commerce, financial services, manufacturing, hospitality, retail, entertainment, media and real estate. These extend to technology development, licensing, purchases, sales and joint ventures. To each transaction, we bring a deep understanding of both the technology and the underlying business.

Private Client Services: Davis+Gilbert’s private client services practice counsels business owners, executives, hedge fund principals and other successful individuals and families in a variety of issues impacting their personal and business decisions, including business succession issues, estate planning, charitable giving and trust and estate administration.

Real Estate: Our real estate lawyers represent tenants and landlords, as well as buyers and sellers of all sizes, at every stage in the real estate life cycle. Long dominant in the fast-paced New York City real estate market, we have become a key player in national markets as our clients’ interests have expanded. Our reputation for toughness and fairness has earned repeat business from sophisticated clients that value a win-win deal where all parties get what they need.