Research Institutions Specialty Areas

As a full-service law firm, our capabilities not only include the protection, commercialization and enforcement of intellectual property rights, but also the securing, funding and structuring of investments, private and public financings, company formation and tax planning, and mergers and acquisitions. We are experienced in forming strategic partnerships, negotiating technology development, working with sponsored research and other research collaboration agreements, as well as helping our research institution clients navigate the legal and regulatory hurdles that often slow the development and commercialization of their technology.

Collaborative Research and Licensing. Quarles assists and advises its clients on licensing strategies from development through commercialization of intellectual property rights. Our skilled team of lawyers can help coordinate intellectual property rights among institutions, develop a licensing strategy to maximize our clients' business needs while remaining true to their mission and objectives, and enforce and protect those existing license agreements.

Private Equity and Other Business Services. Quarles & Brady's Private Equity/
Venture Capital team works with clients at every phase of the investment cycle, from acquiring or providing early “seed” or “angel” level capital to investments in established businesses and industries. Our services include:

• Business formation and tax-effective investment structures
  
  
• Private investments
  
  
• Recapitalizations
  
  
• Equity rights and transfer restrictions
  
  
• Subordinated debt/mezzanine financing
  
  
• Exit strategies
  
  
• Follow-on investments

We tailor our services to the needs of our clients, both in how we help structure the potential investment itself and the manner in which we

Our Private Equity/Venture Capital team has represented clients as diverse as investment funds, universities, foundations, individual investors, management, venture capitalists, and angel investors, and in industries ranging from biotechnology to packaging materials.

We counsel investment offices of universities and colleges on the various legal issues that they face in making investments of university assets. These issues often arise with respect to “alternative investments” and their extensive legal documentation. In their capacity as fiduciaries, our clients desire to understand the terms of their relationships with fund managers and other investment managers and negotiate appropriate protections into their contractual agreements. We review all legal documentation and assist in such negotiations to enable our clients to establish fair relationships. Universities and colleges are also sensitive to tax issues. Whether taxable or tax-exempt, we work to develop appropriate structures to minimize our clients’ tax burdens. We also have experience in assisting our university clients in secondary sales and purchases of interests in private equity and other funds.

For more information on our Research Institutions: Corporate Services Team,
please contact Mark Ehrmann at (608) 283-2479 / , John Vail at (312) 715-5042 /  or your local Quarles & Brady attorney.