Nexsen Pruet's Innovation Team To Focus on Start-Up and Emerging Businesses

Columbia, SC — Nexsen Pruet today announced the establishment of an Innovation Team that combines the capabilities of four key practice areas vital to start-up and emerging businesses.

The Innovation Team brings together attorneys from the firm’s Corporate, Intellectual Property, Employment & Labor, and Economic Development practices. It includes attorneys who have been recognized as among the leaders in their respective areas, and will provide representation in matters that range from business formation and negotiations with venture capitalists to employee benefits and patent protection.

“The Innovation Team lawyers have experience in virtually every area important to a new enterprise,” said Leighton Lord, chairman of the board of Nexsen Pruet. “They understand the pressures and potential of emerging businesses and know how to maximize the opportunities, minimize the risks, and overcome the challenges that are part of any new venture.”

Mark Knight, a Member (partner) in Columbia, SC, will lead the team. His areas of concentration include corporate, economic development, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America for corporate, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law, and in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers for corporate and mergers and acquisitions law.

Members of the Innovation Team have worked with companies in multiple sectors, including software development, technology, research and development, manufacturing, healthcare, finance and insurance, communications, printing and publishing, and industrial services. Their practice-specific capabilities include:

Corporate: Business formation; contacting and negotiating transactions with venture capitalists, private equity funds, and angel investor groups; selecting and engaging investment bankers and other consultants; serving as borrower’s counsel; compliance with securities laws for private placements and public offerings; mergers and acquisitions; contracts; restructuring; and succession planning.

Intellectual Property: Technology transfer, licensing, patent prosecution and protection, trademark and copyright registration and enforcement, trade secrets, internet and domain name issues, and IP litigation and dispute resolution.

Labor and Employment: Wage and hour and wage payment matters; employment posters; employment application forms; offer letters for employees; terms of employment forms for employees; confidentiality and non-compete agreements; immigration issues; and employee handbooks, policies, and procedures.

Economic Development: Evaluating, negotiating, and documenting economic development incentives offered by state and local governments in North and South Carolina.

Nexsen Pruet, LLC is one of the largest law firms in the Carolinas, with more than 180 attorneys and offices in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Hilton Head, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C.  Founded in 1945, Nexsen Pruet provides a broad range of legal services to the business community and represents companies and other entities in local, state, national, and international venues.