Practice Areas / Industries

Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP is a premier boutique law firm, providing superior representation in the following practice areas and industries:

Practice Areas

Practice Areas

Appellate

Whether the goal is to reverse a defeat or preserve a victory, the skill and experience of our appellate lawyers provides our clients with tenacious advocacy, intelligent advice, and creative solutions. Our appellate skills are also employed in trial proceedings to ensure that important legal issues are identified and preserved for appeal. Click here for a detailed listing of the Firm’s appeals.

Click below for the Firm’s recent appellate victories.

Corporate Governance

Our business clients deal with day-to-day governance issues, as well as longer-term inter-corporate disputes. In either situation, it is necessary to employ attorneys experienced in dealing with the nuances of this area of the law. We counsel clients to ensure compliance with fiduciary duties and, when there is no other solution, in litigation to fight for their position. On the transactional side, we draft partnership and operating agreements, including stock option and exit strategies.

Crisis Management

All companies and individuals face crises, whether it is an unexpected accounting problem, a public relations nightmare or a government investigation. These situations require skilled counsel to deal with intricate issues only seen by counselors handling such crises. We coordinate and manage outside advisors that are necessary to deal with these often delicate and tenuous situations.

Employment

We advise employers in a full range of disputes, from personal claims of discrimination, harassment, wrongful discharge, defamation and invasion of privacy to wage and hour disputes, corporate disputes with employees over employment contracts, non-compete clauses, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, and other restrictive covenants. In court, we diligently prosecute and defend actions involving claims of disability, age discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, race discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, national origin discrimination, sexual harassment and wage and hour disputes. We also negotiate and draft executive employment and separation agreements.

Intellectual Property (Copyright, Trademark and Trade Secrets)

Intellectual property can be a company’s most valuable asset, and defense of a copyright, trademark or trade secrets protection system is the most important action a company can take. The Firm has extensive experience in litigating intellectual property issues, as well as transactional experience to ensure you benefit from the monetization of IP.

Intersection Between Divisive Political Issues and the United States Constitution

In this time of hyper-partisan politics and rapid cultural change, Courts are increasingly becoming the battleground for many of the cutting edge political and social issues of the day. Lawsuits arising from the nation’s historic body of law interpreting the United States Constitution are becoming prevalent. The Firm has handled and is handling several such high-profile cases. Our attorneys have developed a specialty in fighting Constitutional battles throughout the country on behalf of our clients.

Litigation and Trial

We aggressively and tirelessly fight for our clients’ rights and interests. The Firm’s litigators and trial attorneys learned from the best litigators and trial attorneys of their generation, and we have compiled a team of the best and the brightest of the next generation. Our sole focus is to obtain the best possible results for you, our clients. We believe that well thought-out strategy and excellent written work product are paramount, and we will leave no stone unturned as we advocate for you throughout the battles inherent in difficult litigation and through trial, if necessary. Ultimately, we believe that there is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work. We work closely with you throughout all phases of litigation and trial to help you achieve your desired goals.

Industries

Industries

Digital and Social Media 


We advise digital content creators and entrepreneurs during all stages of growth, and present them with a bird’s-eye view of the best path to legal stability.  Our clients include well-known digital influencers and emerging companies shaping the digital and social media landscapes.  Our attorneys are well versed in the full spectrum of legal and business issues, including entity formation, drafting and negotiating content creation agreements, and implementing proactive, preventative plans to protect valuable intellectual property.  Our personal, cost-effective representation aims to create a solid business and legal foundation to help clients realize immediate goals, and build upon successes to ensure growth and sustainability in an ever-changing digital world.

Fashion, Design & Lifestyle Companies and Brands


Our attorneys counsel emerging and established design, fashion and lifestyle companies and work with them to develop legal strategies and business solutions to maximize opportunities and minimize risk.  We provide our clients with the efficient legal representation they need to form entities, clear and protect valuable assets and intellectual property, hire employees and manage a workforce, and acquire and lease real estate.  When necessary, our firm’s litigation expertise allows us to quickly and efficiently resolve disputes for our clients, such as copyright infringement claims and contractual disputes.

Entertainment and Media

Our attorneys bring tried and tested litigation experience to contract, accounting, copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, publicity, defamation, name and likeness, and Internet-related disputes for Entertainment and Media Industry clients. We also advise in various aspects of the production, finance and distribution of motion pictures; television programs; other filmed entertainment; literary property; music; and advertising. Our clients include major broadcast networks; major and middle market entertainment companies; start-ups and entrepreneurs; talent; financiers and investors; Internet companies; producers, distributors and end-users; songwriters and publishers; and managers and agents.

Financial Services

We have extensive experience litigating issues relating to loan defaults, financing arrangements, mortgage disputes, foreclosures and lending disputes. We protect our clients’ collateral through the use of writs of attachment, temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. Our clients include Fortune 400 companies, statewide and regional banks, and lenders.

Insurance

The Firm defends insurers against bad faith allegations and in coverage disputes. We also advise insurers regarding commercial property and business interruption claims, commercial general liability claims, directors & officers’ liability claims, professional liability claims, and employment practice liability policy claims.

Real Estate

The Firm’s real estate litigators skillfully and tenaciously back client interests. We are steeped in the real estate industry, with experience litigating every form of real property dispute, from easement, trespass, lien priority, foreclosure and mechanics lien disputes to escrow fraud and defalcations, and other actions involving the multiple forms of real estate fraud that continue to plague the real estate and title industries. We represent the full spectrum of parties involved in real estate, including major title insurance companies and underwritten title companies, financial institutions, realtors, mortgage companies, escrow companies, real estate developers and owners. The Firm also advises, negotiates and documents deals for clients on a variety of real estate transactional matters, including major leases, loans, purchase and sale agreements, and various other forms of secured transactions.

Sports

The Firm’s growing sports practice offers a broad range of services to professional sports franchises, individual athletes and athlete representatives.  We provide a range of legal services designed specifically for the sports industry.  Our growing sports practice consists of attorneys with expertise in transactional, litigation, antitrust, media, charitable foundation, intellectual property, real estate and labor and employment law.

Franchise Transactions

The Firm has relationships with some of the most experienced people who have been involved in major transactions with the NBA, NHL and MLB.  Together, our experience includes:

  • Arena lease agreement negotiations
  • Sponsorship and endorsement agreements
  • Purchase and sale of assets
  • Sponsorship, advertising and promotional transactions
  • Organization and administration of charitable foundations and other tax-exempt entities
  • Licensing deals
  • Major office lease agreements
  • Venue development
  • Adoption, use and protection of trademarks
  • Copyright protection and licensing
  • Litigation and dispute resolution involving intellectual property, contracts, misappropriation of trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, right of publicity, slander and defamation, advertising and labor and employment disputes

Managers/Agents/Athletes

The Firm’s experience includes the negotiation and drafting of various transactions involving professional athletes.  The Firm’s litigators have represented its clients in cases covering a wide range of disputes.

Title Insurance and Escrow

The Firm provides premiere litigation services in the title insurance industry. We have extensive experience representing the world’s largest title insurers and their insureds, as well as underwritten title companies and escrow companies, in every form of title, escrow and bad faith litigation, and are also regularly called upon to handle cutting edge litigation on the evolving theories that claimants offer up against title companies and their insureds. Our lawyers also provide coverage opinions and analysis.