lawyer

Firm Overview:

Bernstein Shur is one of northern New England’s largest law firms, with more than 100 attorneys in Maine and New Hampshire. Founded in 1915, Bernstein Shur is known for providing practical and innovative counsel. The firm is recognized for its superior technical competence, seasoned judgment, responsiveness, and cost-effective solutions.

Main Areas of Practice:

Business: Bernstein Shur is a leader in advancing corporate, M&Amp;A, commercial transactions, and government procurement projects. The firm counsels acquirers and targets in some of the most significant transactions in Maine, nationally, and internationally, including in the securities, financial services, energy, health care, manufacturing, distilling, technology, direct-response, fisheries, and automotive sectors. The group is expert in guiding private equity, public and private companies, and foreign investors regarding investments in New England and cross-border transactions.

Business Restructuring Insolvency: Bernstein Shur’s Business Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group is the largest in northern New England. The group’s attorneys provide counsel in complex reorganizations and liquidations under Chapter 11 and Chapter 7, large commercial insolvencies, and related litigation. The group’s lawyers are active in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and many other districts in the United States. Bob Keach, co-chair of the practice group, is past president of the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Construction: The firm’s construction attorneys handle all aspects of construction law from contract drafting, negotiation, and competitive bidding issues to the development and presentation of claims, mediation, arbitration and litigation, mechanics’ liens, and insurance coverage issues.

Energy Environmental: The firm’s energy attorneys represent regional and international clients on energy generation and transmission issues. Its clients are independent power producers, small power producers, co-generators, retail electricity suppliers, financial institutions, and large consumers of electricity. The group’s environmental attorneys represent individuals, businesses, and municipalities trying to comply with or enforce local, state, or federal environmental and land use laws, as well as acquiring other businesses or large land parcels.

Financial Services Securities: The firm’s financial services and securities lawyers represent clients in the full spectrum of securities regulatory, compliance, and transactional matters, including counseling on capital structure, key governance matters, fiduciary responsibilities, no-action and exemptive relief, and defense of SEC investigations and enforcement matters. The group has expertise handling matters involving public and private issuers, banks, mutual funds, hedge funds, investment advisers, broker- dealers, fund industry service providers, and diversified financial institutions. The group’s attorneys include former senior staff members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and former in-house attorneys for some of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Intellectual Property Technology: The firm’s intellectual property attorneys help clients obtain, manage, license, and enforce intellectual property rights. The group handles matters involving utility and design patents, trademarks and service marks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Technology attorneys focus on issues surrounding today’s developing business and consumer technologies. The group represents technology developers and parties using new technologies to improve business processes.

Labor Employment: The Labor and Employment Practice Group represents and counsels private and public employers, including colleges, universities and private secondary schools, throughout northern New England in all aspects of employment law and regulation. Group attorneys help clients address legal issues in the workplace and find practical solutions that fit the business environment and work force.

Legislative Political: The firm’s legislative attorneys represent clients before the Maine Legislature, state and federal agencies.

Litigation: The firm’s litigation attorneys represents plaintiffs and defendants in areas including commercial disputes, securities litigation, antitrust, business torts, taxation, energy, products liability, personal injury, transportation, real estate transactions, education, intellectual property infringement, criminal cases, constitutional issues, healthcare, insurance, and environmental matters.

Municipal Regulatory: The firm’s municipal attorneys serve as general or special counsel to governmental entities including towns, cities, counties, school districts, sanitary and sewer districts, regional planning commissions, and quasi-municipal agencies, and represent private clients in land use and property tax and valuation matters.

Real Estate: The Real Estate Practice Group, the largest of its kind in northern New England, has expertise in all aspects of commercial real estate and a record of finding practical solutions to complex transactional issues. The firm negotiates and closes development and value-added transactions for privately and publicly held businesses, individuals, trusts, subsidized housing projects and investment partnerships involving public and private land ownership.

Trusts Estates: The firm’s trusts and estates attorneys advise clients on estate planning and on the administration, oversight, and settlement of trusts and estates. The group provides counsel on personal and tax planning strategies, business planning, and succession planning.

International Work: Bernstein Shur’s attorneys engage in dispute resolution, commercial negotiation, and government relations throughout the industrial and developing world. As Maine’s exclusive member of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms, the firm is able to call on the resources, expertise, and local knowledge of member firms worldwide.