Find Lawyers in Seattle, Washington for Leisure and Hospitality Law

Practice Area Overview

Hospitality law is an area of practice related to the hotel, resort, golf, private club, timeshare, restaurant, and travel industries. Hospitality attorneys provide counsel to owners, operators, developers, brands, service providers, lenders, and investors on many industry-related issues, including:
  • Strategic planning
  • Development, acquisition, and disposition
  • Branding and licensing
  • Financing, refinancing, and restructuring
  • Operating and development agreements
  • Joint venture, partnership, and limited liability company agreements
  • Corporate, multi-, and single-asset transactions
  • Multi-state representations
  • Product and program structuring
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Dispute resolution

Additionally, hospitality clients require experience across many areas, including:

  • Corporate. Offering guidance on corporate governance and SEC requirements. Advising corporations, boards of directors, board committees, corporate officers, shareholders, limited liability companies, and others regarding best practices, composition, and procedures; oversight and self-evaluation systems; guidelines, and codes of conduct; fiduciary responsibilities; executive compensation and succession; financial reporting and internal investigations; and proxy statement preparation.
  • Securities. Assisting with all aspects of public equity and debt offerings, as well as growth strategies such as an IPO. Assist with a variety of securities related matters, including SEC and stock exchange regulation compliance.
  • Labor and employment. Providing training and tools for effective labor-management relations and helping develop policies for compliance with state and federal labor, discrimination, and wage and hour laws.
  • Privacy. Advising on compliance with applicable global privacy laws and regulations as well as on internal and customer-facing policies, procedures, and practices. Providing counsel on information management, data security issues, and regulatory requirements.
  • Consumer finance. Representing companies in matters such as state and federal consumer finance laws, money-laundering, and payment card laws relating to credit, debit, gift, and virtual cards.
  • Intellectual property. Assisting with trademark protection and maintenance; infringement enforcement issues; compliance counseling on advertising, sales, marketing, pricing, promotions, and sweepstakes; co-branding and strategic partnerships; and advertising terms and conditions. Providing strategic counsel on information technology matters, including software, licensing, technology outsourcing agreements, leasing, and maintenance.
  • Real estate. Representing developers and owners before local, regional, and state agencies on zoning, land use, impact fees; transportation; and infrastructure requirements, as well as financing and other development-related issues.
  • Environmental. Providing counseling on litigation, transactional due diligence, consulting and compliance services, and the effects of current and pending legislation.
  • Tax. Assisting with tax matters, from transaction planning, dispute resolution, and policy development, to real estate capital markets transactions, including the formation of real estate funds, real estate financings, joint ventures, recapitalizations, and dispositions.
  • Litigation. Providing support for all matters, including litigation, alternative dispute resolution, civil lawsuits, and criminal or government investigations.
  • ADA. Providing counseling on due diligence, compliance services, effects of pending legislation, transactional due diligence, and litigation.
  • FCPA. Providing counseling on overseas business practices and risk management.
William C. Guthrie, Partner Foley & Lardner
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