Tackling Regulations Head-On
Regulatory issues are a constant concern for many businesses. Major corporations, of course, have internal law firms that are there to handle every regulatory issue as it arises. For companies that aren’t headed for the Fortune 500, however, that’s not practicable. What is practicable, though, is having a smart, nimble law firm a text or phone call away that will respond to your every regulatory need.
Hopkins Centrich, The Woodlands premier business law firm, acts as general counsel for medium-sized companies and closely held businesses. Over the years we have been the primary outside general counsel (and chief compliance officer) for a variety of privately-owned companies from tech to software developers, healthcare providers, architectural firms, real estate developers, retailers, restaurants, breweries, CPA firms, and others.
Hopkins Centrich has been the “go to” legal advisor to start-up ventures and more mature closely held and vfamily-owned businesses, and national enterprises for over two decades. We work with you through all your regulatory issues and concerns.
What an Off-Site General Counsel Means
When asked about how Hopkins Centrich acts as a ‘General Counsel’ services we tend to answer with this: it means acting as an outside lawyer for all business-related law issues and occasional chief compliance officer to a variety of privately owned companies, tech companies, healthcare providers, architectural firms, among others . . . as well as an advisor to start-up ventures.
Summarizing what we do as outside General Counsel for mid-cap sized (among others) companies is not easy: our services are too wide-ranging and involve so many areas of the law that it’s rather difficult to sum up in a few sentences.
And, once we start using examples, the discussion tends to focus too much on one area of the law at the expense of others – all of which can and probably will pop up throughout any business life.
Here are some of the key regulatory compliance issues we, as general counsel, would typically address:
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity - Ensuring compliance with data protection laws and cybersecurity standards to protect sensitive customer and business information. This includes protocols, breach notification procedures, and compliance auditing.
Financial and Securities Regulation - Compliance with financial reporting, accounting standards, securities trading laws, and other regulations applicable to the company's capital-raising activities and interactions with investors and markets.
Employment and Labor Laws - Advising on employment contracts, workplace policies, anti-discrimination laws, wage and hour laws, family leave, termination decisions, and compliance auditing.
Health and Safety Laws - Overseeing compliance with occupational safety laws, industry-specific safety standards, investigation protocols, reporting requirements, and workplace injury procedures.
Environmental Regulations - Managing environmental impact reporting, permitting, compliance with pollution standards, and new regulations in the company's industry.
Licensing Requirements - Ensuring the company obtains and maintains necessary business, occupational, and other specialty licenses at both state and federal levels.
Industry-Specific Regulations - Advising on regulations unique to the company's sector such as food and drug, aviation, banking, insurance, transportation, etc.
International Trade Controls - For companies involved in imports/exports, compliance with customs, trade sanctions, anti-boycott, and other international trade laws.
Antitrust and Competition Law - Advising on avoidance of anti-competitive conduct, abuse of market power, price fixing, bid rigging, deceptive sales tactics, and anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions.
Anti-Corruption Laws - Compliance with domestic and international anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws applicable to the company's global activities and relationships.
Government Contracting - For companies contracting with government entities, compliance with bidding, pricing, accounting, auditing, and other statutory requirements.
Lobbying and Campaign Finance - Compliance with registration and reporting requirements related to lobbying efforts and political contributions.
Intellectual Property Laws - Oversight of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets to protect the company's IP assets and avoid infringement.
Records Management - Adherence to data retention policies and legal requirements for maintaining corporate records, documents, and communications.
Charitable Solicitation Laws - For companies involved in fundraising, compliance with state/local registration, licensing, reporting, and solicitation standards.
Animal Welfare Regulations - For companies doing animal research or subject to rules around animal handling and transportation.
Product Safety Standards - Ensuring product safety protocols, reporting, and recalls conform to legal requirements.
Advertising/Marketing Standards - Adherence to truth-in-advertising, telemarketing, and other laws regulating company advertising and marketing activities.
About Hopkins Centrich
Hopkins Centrich PLLC provides cutting-edge, high-quality, creative legal solutions for business and business owners in Texas.
Our attorneys and staff have decades of experience in virtually every aspect of business law in The Woodlands and Texas. We have designed and incorporated businesses, managed their every legal concern, engaged in litigation on their behalf, aided with mergers and acquisitions, managed mergers, acquisitions, and sales.
Hopkins Centrich knows Texas business law. We are uniquely positioned to help business owners from startup to merger or sale or transfer to family members.
When we work with a client, our sole focus is on them. We take advantage of everything technology has to offer to optimize how we work. That gives us more time to spend with you, more time to understand the issues, and more time to negotiate and prepare for trial.
We get that no one wants to contact a law firm unless they feel they absolutely have to. When they do, it almost always means that ‘things have reached a head.’
The attorneys and staff of Hopkins Centrich understand business. We understand business owners. We will make any legal process understandable; you will know what is happening with your case every step of the way, and you will never have to track us down for answers.
How We Work
Hopkins Centrich is a team with a deep bench. All our attorneys have extensive litigation experience which they fully use when called for.
Hopkins Centrich’s attorneys all have ‘big firm’ backgrounds. They formed our firm with the goal of keeping the best of those firms while employing far more personal experience for our clients.
We do this by using technology to its fullest. We will make use of every cutting edge legal and business technology and methodologies to ensure that we will continue to deliver the highest quality legal services to our clients while allowing us to respond promptly and efficiently to client needs, exceed project requirements, operate effortlessly with narrow timeframes, and develop innovative and flexible legal solutions at competitive fees.
We are creative. We are agile. We quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, including changes in the law.
Our vision statement may sum it up best. We will deliver highly skilled, ethical, and aggressive legal representation to every client by:
Responding promptly to our clients’ needs;
Anticipating business and legal trends that may affect our clients;
Managing our clients’ matters in an efficient, caring, and proactive manner;
Communicating regularly and clearly with our clients