Freeborn & Peters LLP is pleased to announce the formation of the firm’s Consumer Products Industry Team to help its consumer product manufacturing clients strategically and comprehensively address every facet of their business.

The new group draws on the legal skills and business acumen of Freeborn’s corporate, intellectual property, employment, and other attorneys and litigators with industry-specific experience and knowledge across a range of practice groups to fully serve consumer products companies.

Jeremy D. Richardson, a Freeborn Partner and Leader of the Consumer Products Industry Team, said of the newly established group, “We have brought together many of Freeborn’s most knowledgeable and accomplished attorneys in key practice areas that will help our clients achieve the full spectrum of legal protections and business success. In addition, our Consumer Products Industry Team members have substantial experience working with consumer products companies and are attuned to the unique, critical challenges they face.”

The Consumer Products Industry Team attorneys have substantial experience responding to the opportunities and navigating issues regularly encountered by consumer products companies. These include negotiating agreements and resolving disputes with distributors, suppliers, vendors, regulators, governmental authorities, and competitors. The attorneys identify risks and mitigation opportunities for consumer products companies, as well as enforce and defend their rights in litigation, when necessary. The team’s legal services that specifically address the primary needs of consumer products companies include:

• Intellectual property and brand protection;
• Purchasing law, supply chain, and sales channels;
• Product liability, safety, and recalls;
• Antitrust and Federal Trade Commission;
• Labor and employment; and
• Website, e-commerce, data privacy, and cybersecurity.

Freeborn’s Consumer Products Industry Team attorneys also are well connected across the consumer products landscape. The firm is an active member in groups that include the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association; International Consumer Products Health and Safety Organization; Toy Association, Inc.; ASTM International; International Trademark Association; Brand Activation Association (formerly Promotion Marketing Association); and IRI Worldwide. The team’s attorneys also regularly share thought leadership with industry stakeholders through webinars, white papers, and other presentations provided for consumer products organizations.

Some highlights of the team’s recent successes for its consumer product manufacturer clients include:

• Counseling a consumer products manufacturer on evaluating incident reports, designing product testing protocols with engineering experts, and reporting to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission including proposing a remediation plan.

• Successfully resolving allegations of false “Made in the USA” marketing claims on a toy manufacturer’s product packaging.

• Representing a leading children’s products manufacturer in a design patent lawsuit with a competitor, resulting in the preservation of the design patent and the competitor’s exit from the market for the protected product.

• Representing sporting equipment distributor-marketers seeking contribution for personal injury settlements from Taiwanese manufacturers and distributors of alleged defective equipment, including obtaining depositions and other discovery in Taiwan and successfully executing judgments against personal property in Taiwan.

The Consumer Products Industry Team is made up of the following Freeborn attorneys:

• Jeremy D. Richardson, Leader of the Consumer Products Industry Team and a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• David S. Becker, a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Kimberly A. Beis, Co-Leader of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and Partner in the Litigation Practice Group.
• Stephen P. Benson, a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Jeffrey J. Catalano, Co-Leader of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and Partner in the Litigation Practice Group
• Jennifer L. Fitzgerald, a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Erin McAdams Franzblau, a Partner in the Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Rita W. Garry, Senior Counsel in the Corporate Practice Group.
• Andrew L. Goldstein, Senior Counsel in the Corporate and Intellectual Property Practice Groups.
• Kathryn T. Lundy, a Partner in the Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.
• John T. Shapiro, a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group.
• Robert A. Stines, a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group.
• Marc B. Zimmerman, a Partner in the Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.

More information about the Consumer Products Industry Team is available at https://www.freeborn.com/practice/consumer-products.

ABOUT FREEBORN & PETERS

Freeborn & Peters LLP is a full-service law firm with international capabilities and offices in Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.; Richmond, Va.; Springfield, Ill.; and Tampa, Fla. Freeborn is always looking ahead and seeking to find better ways to serve its clients. It takes a proactive approach to ensure its clients are more informed, prepared and able to achieve greater success – not just now, but also in the future. While the firm serves clients across a very broad range of sectors, it has also pioneered an interdisciplinary approach that serves the specific needs of targeted industries.

Freeborn’s major achievements in litigation are reflective of the firm’s significant growth over the last several years and its established reputation as a Litigation Powerhouse®. Freeborn has one of the largest litigation departments among full-service firms of its size – currently with more than 90 litigators, which represents about two-thirds of the firm’s lawyers.

Freeborn is a firm that genuinely lives up to its core values of integrity, effectiveness, teamwork, caring and commitment, and embodies them through high standards of client service and responsive action. Its lawyers build close and lasting relationships with clients and are driven to help them achieve their legal and business objectives. For more information, please visit www.freeborn.com.