General Counsel
Resume:
WILLIAM KEITH WATANABE
*****.********@*****.***
Experience:
General Counsel Experience
General Counsel and outside counsel to companies, focusing on counseling and representing established companies, as well as start-up and emerging growth companies, directing and managing contracts, transactional, litigation, intellectual property, compliance, employment, and real estate matters.
Companies represented include technology, hedge fund and private equity, hospitality, media and entertainment, healthcare, automotive, and retail businesses, with emphasis on creating value and monetizing them, while managing risk. Direct and manage all legal affairs of the Company. Counsel Company executives in day- to-day operations, decision-making, and daily legal issues. Counsel senior management with respect to all legal matters with focus on strategic planning and risk management. Regular duties include:
• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts including; service contracts, transactional agreements, employment agreements, government contracts, subcontracts, leases, confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure, etc.;
• Direct and manage litigation matters, including development of litigation strategies and oversight of outside counsel, with expertise in white collar, securities, and government investigations;
• Advise on and manage all intellectual property issues, including trademark registration, licensing, etc.;
• Direct and oversee all labor and employment law matters;
• Pro-actively mitigate exposure to risk and liability matters;
• Direct, create and implement corporate compliance and regulatory policies in accordance with government regulations;
• Responsible for management of all internal investigations;
• Manage outside counsel and budget;
• Guide executive staff and employees through the legal dimensions of routine and complex business decision-making, and promptly solve everyday business problems with practical solutions;
• Closely work with management as an integrated business partner. 2
Law Firm Experience:
The Watanabe Law Firm, LLC (2002-Present)
Managing Partner of a New York City based law firm. Represent and counsel private clients and act as general and outside counsel to companies, advising on legal matters and business strategies, with experience in:
Litigation: Federal and state court litigation. Extensive first chair trial experience, having tried as first chair more than eighty cases at the trial court level before federal and states courts. Argued more than twenty-five appeals before various federal and state appellate courts (31 reported decisions in federal and state reporters). Conduct arbitrations and mediations before FINRA, AAA, ICDR, JAMS, and other arbitral bodies. Manage and direct matters relating to threatened litigation by or against commercial clients. Business/Regulatory Offense Matters: Represent and counsel private individuals and companies in business/regulatory offense matters, including investigations or prosecutions for violations of securities, health care, and environmental laws, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, RICO, and Foreign Corrupt Practice Act matters. Represent clients at Grand Jury stage. Defend against forfeiture proceedings. Manage and direct internal corporate investigations to determine violations of federal or state laws or regulatory rules.
Corporate/Transactional: Draft and negotiate various legal documents, including stock and asset purchase agreements, merger agreements, operating agreements, confidentiality agreements, letters of intent, escrow agreements, charters, by-laws, due diligence reports and board resolutions. Advise clients on general corporate law, including with respect to governance and director fiduciary duties. Negotiate, draft, and review vendor and other corporate contracts. Counsel corporate executives and internal stakeholders on appropriate risk and reward trade-offs. Create corporate operational policies and procedures. Oversee operation of Human Resources Departments and draft and implement operational policies and procedures as relates to employees, including implementation and oversight of employee benefits plans. Advise management on and negotiated settlements involving payment and services. Provide counsel on OSHA, security, and privacy matters. Draft and negotiate contracts, non-compete agreements, consulting agreements, general releases, mergers, sales, consolidations, and other matters. Labor and Employment: Represent and counsel management and high level executives and professionals in all employment-related matters, including, counseling in all aspects of employment and labor laws in New York and throughout the United States; litigate employment-related claims, including discrimination, executive compensation, non- competition agreements, confidential or proprietary information cases, wage and hour litigations; prepare employee and company policy handbooks and assist with implementation of company policies; conduct workshops and seminars concerning sexual harassment, employment discrimination, EEO policies, and wage and hour practices. 3
Intellectual Property: Provide oversight of client intellectual property portfolios, including trademark registrations, oppositions and enforcement; copyright and patent protections. Develop, implement and monitor intellectual property strategies for protection and leveraging of IP assets. Manage outside IP counsel in enforcement and defense of client IP matters.
Other Legal Experience:
Watanabe & Abramovitz, LLP, Member
Slotnick, Shapiro & Crocker, LLP, Partner
United Stated Department of Justice, United States Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, Assistant United States Attorney
Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Assistant District Attorney, Brooklyn, New York Education:
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
Tulane University, B.A., Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa Bar Admissions:
New York
District of Columbia,
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals for Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York U.S. District Court, Connecticut
Professional Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-keith-watanabe-b876b12a
Contact this candidate