Experience equals results
With 37 years of combined experience, we strive for achieving our clients’ goals
EMPLOYMENT LAW.
Counseling corporations large and small to ensure compliance with current labor laws and providing education and other support for all types of employment issues.
In our employment law practice, we work hand-in-hand with companies large and small to put policies and practices in place that will mitigate risk and aid in avoiding employment disputes. Labor and employment law in California can be highly complex, and we assist employers by ensuring their in-house human resource team utilizes industry best practices that adhere to all current regulatory compliance standards.
When disputes arise, we ably represent employers in court, however, our employment law practice goes beyond litigation. We work with employers to develop their employee handbooks and assist in crafting their company’s policies and procedures, ensuring they are in accordance with current state and federal labor and employment laws and regulations. Due to the breadth of expertise and experience of our firm’s employment lawyers, we are entrusted to counsel clients on employment agreements, independent contractor and separation agreements, as well as severance agreements. ROGERS SMITH’s employment law practice also includes working with clients on employee termination and addressing matters related to protecting proprietary information, trade secrets, and preventing unfair competition.
BUSINESS LAW.
We provide comprehensive business counsel, from business formation to dissolution, with vast experience on both sides of complex disputes.
In our business law practice, we understand that our success is predicated on the success of our clients’ businesses. From drafting simple contracts to litigating highly complex disputes, ROGERS SMITH is trusted counsel in all aspects of business law. We have significant experience in working with all types of companies, ranging from sole proprietors and start-up companies to national and worldwide corporations, across both established and emerging industries.
With a truly full-service business law practice, our wide scope of services includes helping companies with entity formation and dissolution, litigating and resolving business disputes and acquiring property and negotiating leases. We also assist clients in developing and enforcing a wide range of business contracts, including licensing agreements, distribution agreements, buy-sell agreements, non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality agreements, and trade secret protections.
COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY.
As business transactional and trial lawyers, ROGERS SMITH has considerable commercial general liability experience, representing companies in court on both the plaintiff and the defense side of all types of matters.
Much of the firm’s work in this sector is related to the hospitality industry, and our attorneys have worked with individual hotels and resorts as well as regional chains on litigation matters such as catastrophic personal injury, construction defect and water damage.
Our thorough understanding of the hospitality industry in tandem with our knowledge of related California law allows us to protect our clients’ businesses through employee training and working directly with them to ensure guest safety. In this area of law, we have worked with owners and managers of restaurants and nightclubs, and our varied liability work in this area includes matters related to crowd control, assault and battery, false arrest and false imprisonment, and food product.
In addition to hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and others in the hospitality industry, our experience includes significant work with companies that own, manage and operate sports stadiums, golf courses, shopping malls, theaters, casinos and spas. We have also handled claims related to facility operations with stores and retail chains, gas stations, parking lots and structures, and automobile dealerships. ROGERS SMITH’s commercial general liability practice also includes common carrier and bailee/bailor liability and failure to maintain lateral/subjacent support. Our counsel in all areas of general commercial liability has helped companies minimize their risk in many areas, and resolve disputes smoothly and efficiently whenever they arise, enabling our clients to continue to operate and manage their businesses as seamlessly as possible.
PRODUCT LIABILITY.
We defend companies in product liability lawsuits and work to protect our clients’ products against bodily injury and property damage claims.
Product liability claims can be devastating to companies if they are not handled properly. We have a long history of successfully defending companies against product claims, working beside them to limit their liability exposure.
We’ve represented a variety of companies throughout the state, serving as outside litigation counsel for regional manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers. Our team is able to assess and abate risk, and also adeptly defend against the personal injury and property damage claims that are often prevalent in product liability matters.
Through ROGERS SMITH’s extensive work in the manufacturing and construction industries in particular, we have developed a particular understanding of crane design, manufacturing and liability, construction site equipment, and various other construction materials and components. Our product liability lawyers also have considerable experience defending claims related to elevator, escalator, and lifts located in high rise commercial, hotel and residential towers throughout California, and also have experience in matters related to heavy machinery and equipment, tools, scaffolding, and commercial tractors and trailers. In addition, we have represented companies in the consumer product space including manufacturers, distributors, and retail suppliers of cosmetics, food, clothing, household products, craft beer/beverages and leisure equipment.
Our product liability practice also includes handling catastrophic personal injury claims, and while we have significant experience litigating matters in both state and federal trial and appellate courts, we work to resolve matters as expeditiously as possible, often relying on alternative dispute resolution. We aim to handle all product liability matters effectively and efficiently so that our clients can put their matter behind them and return to “business as usual.”