At Phillips Lytle, we know that entrepreneurs need capital, investors need returns, and universities need markets for their technology. All need sharp attorneys with the experience and connections to put together profitable deals. Experience comes with time, from years of working with clients, knowing how entrepreneurs think, and which opportunities investors will consider worthwhile. Business connections also develop over time, from years spent in the same place working with the players.

Ingenuity needs money to flourish.

Phillips Lytle has been bringing New York's entrepreneurs and investors together for more than 170 years. We've been working with bankers, investors, and business people since before the days of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. We've grown alongside the technologies that have revolutionized the world and brought great wealth to the entrepreneurs that harnessed them, and to the investors whose capital enabled those technologies to be brought to market.

Today's opportunities lie in genes, chips, atoms, and other new technologies and business models. New York State is teeming with great inventors, and is home to investors looking to help them bring their ideas to the world. Phillips Lytle works with start-ups, emerging growth companies, venture capital and private equity funds, educational institutions, and corporate research departments. We bring these groups together through a practical and cost-effective approach that makes good business sense for all parties involved. Our attorneys ease the tension between entrepreneurs who want to protect their ventures and stakeholders who want to protect their investments by designing agreements that strike a balance between control and security.

Connecting New York's entrepreneurs and capital markets.

Our Capital and Innovation Group is centered in Albany, a hotbed of biotech and high-tech start-ups, and includes team members from all seven of our New York offices including Buffalo, Rochester, and New York City. The group is backed by an interdisciplinary team comprised of attorneys from relevant practice areas and represents clients in intellectual property matters, licensing, sales, distribution and other commercial arrangements, employment and executive compensation matters, credit arrangements, and mergers and acquisitions, and is backed by the full range of Phillips Lytle's practice areas and industry teams. Our attorneys also start with the end in mind, by counseling business owners on a variety of issues related to business succession planning, taxes, trusts, and estate administration.

Collectively, the members of our team write and lecture extensively on the topics of venture capital and angel investing to national and local groups, and to student entrepreneurs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Finding investors at various stages of growth.

Good business ideas require funding in order to grow into good business ventures, but angel investors are looking for more than good ideas. They want a strong management team and a well thought-out business plan that reflects a strong understanding of market trends and needs. They also want a realistic exit strategy that will give them a reasonable time frame to collect a return on their investment.

Phillips Lytle represents start-ups, high-tech, and other technology companies including mature companies doing multi-million dollar financings. We guide these companies through the negotiation process so that they do not unnecessarily give away equity or control, nor discourage early stage investors by being unreasonably demanding. We advise entrepreneurs and start-ups on forming the best legal entities in light of their long-term goals.

Emerging companies on their second or third round of financing may attract the eyes of venture capitalists or private equity funds. We advise these clients on the pros and cons of various debt and equity options in light of market conditions and their long-term goals, and help them negotiate the most favorable terms they can get from institutional investors.

Mature private companies may be ready for an initial public offering, merger, or acquisition. The complexity of these arrangements, and the added regulatory scrutiny that will transpire, require thorough consideration of shareholders' plans. If managerial control is the priority, Phillips Lytle will advise one course of action. If shareholders want to maximize growth, we may recommend another option.

Guiding investors to the right companies.

Phillips Lytle's Capital and Innovation Group advises investors and helps them find companies in which to invest. We also counsel them on the business of investing. We negotiate terms on their behalf, and vigorously protect their interests in the ventures that receive their money.

Investment risks are not limited to projected returns. Venture funds are businesses themselves, with legal exposure, employment issues, and strict compliance standards to live up to. They also pay taxes, and need advice on the consequences of various business practices and entity structures. Phillips Lytle offers a full array of business and corporate attorneys to advise institutional investors on all aspects of their operations, and we back that knowledge with a powerful team of trial attorneys and litigators, in case the need arises to enforce their interests.

Focusing on each and every client.

New York's mega law firms continue to expand nationally and internationally to meet the growing needs of their global clients. As their attention increasingly focuses on large clients, their attention to the needs of small and mid-sized companies may wane.

Phillips Lytle is large enough to easily meet all of your organization's business and corporate needs, yet able to give you the personalized attention normally reserved for very large clients. Our attorneys are experienced in venture capital funding, private placements, and all types of private equity, invested stock, and venture structures. We have a focused practice in technology company financing and associated merger and acquisition transactions.

Strong intellectual property, patent, and scientific expertise.

Phillips Lytle offers strong intellectual and patent expertise. Our attorneys have extensive experience in prosecuting domestic patent applications in virtually all technical disciplines, and they regularly file and prosecute foreign patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and European Patent Convention (EPC). We have strong working relationships with 109 international law firms in 47 countries. We also file and process domestic and foreign trademark applications, allowing us to economically and efficiently obtain worldwide protection for our clients. Our attorneys are members of various intellectual property trade associations, including the intellectual property sections of the New York State and American Bar Associations.

Moreover, our attorneys hold advanced degrees in a range of scientific disciplines, which enables them to understand the often esoteric concepts behind our clients' ventures, and to knowingly advise them on substantive issues. Our team members also have backgrounds in biotechnology and life science inventions. They have experience in oncology, biochemistry, biophysics, cell/molecular biology, cancer epidemiology, experimental pathology, microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, and physiology. Our attorneys include a Ph.D. chemist, a Ph.D. physiologist, a Ph.D. psychologist, a Ph.D. epidemiologist, a number of Pharm.D.s and nurse paralegals, a registered pharmacist, engineers in various disciplines, and attorneys with scientific degrees in biology, physics, environmental sciences, and other scientific disciplines.

In addition to providing expertise in scientifically- and factually-complex products liability and intellectual property matters, our attorneys regularly call upon their scientific backgrounds to proactively advise our clients regarding product labeling and other regulatory issues having potential impacts on claim avoidance and the course of future litigation.

The law firm for the New York entrepreneur.

Phillips Lytle is one of New York's oldest and most experienced corporate law firms. We have the farthest geographic reach of any firm in the state, and we have the depth and the connections in the business and investment communities that only comes from doing business in the same place for a very long time. If your company wants to grow, we know how to make that happen. If you seek companies to invest in, we know where to find them. To learn more about our Capital and Innovation Group, please call Co-Chairs Jeffrey B. Schwartz at (518) 472-1224 ext. 1235, jschwartz@phillipslytle.com or Richard E. Honen at (518) 472-1224 ext. 1225, rhonen@phillipslytle.com. For more information on events and team members, please visit www.phillipslytle.com.