Crowell & Moring Launches New Legal Blog For Retailers

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Crowell & Moring LLP has launched the Retail Law Observer, a blog covering legal issues and key trends facing the retail industry. As economic pressures continue to squeeze retailers around the globe, attorneys from the firm's cross-disciplinary Retail Law practice will blog on issues of law that impact the bottom line, ranging from price fixing to lease restructuring.

"Retailers are under tremendous economic pressure now, which makes identifying legal risks and opportunities all the more critical to running a successful enterprise. Our goal for the Retail Law Observer is to highlight those legal issues most pressing to the retail industry," said San Francisco Crowell & Moring partner Gregory D. Call, who heads the firm's Retail Law practice.

The Retail Law Observer will cover trends and issues affecting the industry including:

• Retail lease provisions and cost-saving opportunities relating to minimum rent, percentage rent, CAM, real estate taxes, marketing fund, utilities, insurance, trash, and co-tenancy
• Lease restructuring and right-sizing your space
• Comparative risks and rights under traditional retail leases and pop-up store leases
• Employee claims, including class action lawsuits challenging employee classifications and meal and rest breaks
• Efforts by employees to unionize
• Opportunities for retailers to recover antitrust overcharges
• Duty savings through global trade negotiations
• Bankruptcy disputes that continue to rise out of the struggling economy
• How a retailer's business, risks, and rights are impacted by the sale and financing of malls, shopping centers and mixed use facilities, and the merger and consolidation of center owners
• Consumer data collection and new privacy legislation impacting social media  
• The FTC's new guidelines on making "green" or environmentally friendly claims, such as recycled content, compostable, and non-toxic
• Upcoming changes to the Internet naming system, which will dramatically expand the domain names that can be used by retailers
• Changes to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and its impact on reporting requirements

Visit and subscribe to the Retail Law Observer at: http://www.retaillawobserver.com/.

Crowell & Moring has a broad Retail Law practice representing a wide spectrum of clients in the retail industry, including wholesale and specialty retailers, department stores, and "big-box" retailers across the United States and internationally. The practice has experience in a full range of litigation, extensive trial experience, transactional and regulatory services, as well as an international counseling practice. The firm also represents clients in the retail industry on a diverse number of transactional matters, including general corporate matters (mergers & acquisitions and ownership structuring), commercial real estate transactions (development and build-out, leasing and acquisitions/dispositions), regulatory compliance issues, negotiation of intellectual property and other vendor relationships, debt and equity financing, and e-commerce and privacy issues.  

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with nearly 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Anchorage, London, and Brussels. Visit Crowell & Moring online at http://www.crowell.com.

SOURCE Crowell & Moring LLP