Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Our commercial transaction lawyers handle all types of business transactions, including sales and leases of goods and intangible personal property, all types of credit transactions, and payment transactions (checks, funds transfers, letters of credit, etc.). Our experience in this area includes the following types of transactions:

• Documentation of sales of tangible property including warranty matters.
• Transactions involving all types of receivables and negotiable instruments.
• Representation of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors, including structuring of distribution systems, preparation of distributor agreements, preparation of standard forms, warranty matters, and handling troubled contracts with suppliers and customers.
• Asset acquisitions of businesses.
• Negotiation and counseling concerning letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and other credit enhancements.
• Credit transactions of various types, including asset-based loans, currency swaps, equipment leases, and commercial loans.
• Representation of warehouses, including grain elevators.
• Counseling and litigation regarding any of the listed items and funds transfers, payment systems, negotiable instruments, and fraud and embezzlement matters.

We also provide counseling and litigation support services regarding consumer credit laws, consumer sales practice laws, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and similar consumer regulations.

Because we have been fortunate to represent companies that engage in national and international business, we have substantial experience in transactions that involve compliance with the laws of multiple states and countries. We have also structured transactions in highly specialized fields that require a resolution of unique issues, such as loans to retrofit buildings with energy savings equipment. In certain regulated industries, such as transportation and health care, members of other departments of our firm coordinate with us to ensure compliance with federal and state regulatory matters peculiar to those industries.

By using computerized forms as a starting point for many transactions, we are able to streamline our services and permit our clients and their in-house counsel to handle many transactions directly.

Our Commitment to Diversity

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP is committed to attracting, retaining, and promoting individuals of diverse backgrounds to ensure that our firm reflects the clients we represent and our values of inclusion.  We believe that embracing differences in ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, religion, and other characteristics, helps us consider the full range of perspectives our clients face and the goals they seek to achieve, allowing us to provide more creative, insightful, and complete guidance and counsel.  By affirmatively embracing and appreciating those differences, we create a supportive working environment at Shumaker for all individuals of the firm.

Diversity in Action

Shumaker's commitment to diversity is reflected in the following measures:

1. Creation of a Diversity & Inclusion Committee to coordinate and direct our diversity initiatives. Our committee is made up of partners (including at least one member of the Firm’s management committee), associates and administrative personnel.
2. Recipient of the 2013 Gold Standard Certification by Women in Law Empowerment Forum, which is given only to firms that have demonstrated that women represent a meaningful percentage of their equity partners, are involved in the highest leadership positions and have meaningful representation in the ranks of the firm’s most highly compensated partners. Shumaker was one of only 42 firms in the country to have received this prestigious award in 2013.
3. Creation of Shumaker’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, a firm-sponsored group dedicated to promoting, developing and fostering the potential of our female attorneys, helping them to navigate a path to a successful and satisfying legal career at the Firm, and to serve as leaders within the legal and business communities.
4. Membership and active participation in organizations that support diversity initiatives in our communities. Such organizations include, without limitation, racial, ethnic, disability, gender/LGBT and age initiatives.
5. Diversity in our hiring, advancement and leadership practices, for attorneys as well as staff members, including our Summer Associate Program.
6. Annual participation in the Toledo Bar Association’s Minority Clerkship Program.
7. Annual participation in the Ohio State Bar Foundation Law and Leadership Program, a program to establish a pipeline into the legal profession for disadvantaged students from underserved schools.
8. Membership in Partners in Education, a program in which our employees serve as tutors and mentors and provide ongoing financial support to area schools and students in need.
9. Cultivation of leadership opportunities among all attorneys and staff, recognizing the importance and benefit of diversity in leadership.
10. Firm-wide participation in periodic diversity education seminars or training programs.
11. Informal programs implemented firm-wide to enhance our awareness and understanding of the importance and benefits of diversity among our workforce and promote inclusion.