Private Capital

Overview of services for entrepreneurs, funds, and portfolio companies

Services for Funds and their Advisors

Whiteford’s Private Capital Group brings together the experience of highly skilled attorneys with backgrounds in securities law, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and dispute resolution.  The group provides a cohesive platform of legal services to address the specialized needs of investment funds: from regulatory compliance to due diligence engagements to litigation and other dispute resolution services.  We have successfully represented funds and their portfolio companies in all stages of growth and across a wide variety of industries, from technology start-ups to seasoned manufacturing enterprises. 

Services for Start-Ups and Entrepreneurs

We have a long history of representing entrepreneurs, so we know that legal jargon like "entity selection,”  "structure and formation,” "intellectual property rights,” and "tax and securities laws” may make your eyes glaze over. You want to get on with your marketable idea and grow your business. 

Leave the legalese to us--we actually like this stuff.

On the other hand, we also talk entrepreneur. We’ve represented a lot of technology-based start-ups and other emerging businesses.  We’ve been through financing rounds, negotiating the terms of investments, and dealing with key employees, patents, and regulatory hurdles.  We can help you plan your exit scenario and how to grow value for your investors as well as yourself.

All along, we’ll explain complex legal issues from a business point of view, so you can see exactly how your company might be impacted. And, most important, we’ll put our experience to work for you, coming up with business-friendly solutions so your company won’t fall into a legal pothole.

IP Due Diligence and Tech-Centric Deals

Our clients come from a variety of industries and technologies, including Life Sciences, Clean Energy, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Open Source Software, Manufacturing, Digital Media and Entertainment, Consumer Products and Retail, Education and Financial Services.  One thing they all have in common is that their ideas and inventions are critical to their success.

We have the largest group of IP lawyers in the Baltimore metropolitan area, and we have been recognized for our leadership in this field.  (US News and World Report, for instance, gives us their highest ratings in IP generally, as well as in IT and Technology Law).  Our intellectual property and technology lawyers work with investors across a broad spectrum of technology and intellectual property types.  We have extensive experience in every facet of patent law, in particular, and IP law, in general, including domestic and foreign procurement of assets, extensive opinion work (with respect to freedom-to-operate ("FTO”), validity, enforceability, litigation, interferences, oppositions, and re-examinations), and complex litigation and pre-litigation investigations in and outside the U.S.  Many of our attorneys have themselves pursued cutting-edge research and have bachelor, master or doctorate degrees in biochemistry, biotechnology, computer sciences, mechanical engineering, microbiology, molecular biology and nuclear engineering.  This background gives us significant insight in technology-centric deals.