Taft has substantial experience offering innovative, comprehensive legal services to a wide range of clients involved in all aspects of the casino and route-based gaming industry throughout North America and worldwide. As state and local governments have become increasingly dependent on gaming ventures as a source of revenue and jobs, the number of gaming-related opportunities for our clients has proliferated.
In a heavily regulated industry like casino and route-based gaming, we knew early on that the best way to learn the industry was by starting from the inside — by working as gaming counsel with state governments and their regulatory authorities to draft and advise on gaming legislation, rules and regulations. In addition to working on the government side of gaming, our lawyers have gained an in-depth understanding of the operational side of the gaming business by serving as counsel to some of the largest casino gaming companies in the world. We have also acquired significant expertise in the financial structuring of gaming transactions by representing investors, including private equity sources and real estate investment trusts, and lenders to gaming projects.
Our attorneys have represented industry clients in all aspects of casino and route-based gaming-related transactions, including the development and acquisition of facilities, structuring, negotiating and documenting of joint ventures to develop or acquire gaming projects, representing pari-mutuel, off-track betting and “racino” gaming operations, advising casino operators, casino gaming suppliers, equipment manufacturers and other vendors on licensing and other regulatory matters, representing route-based gaming operators in multiple jurisdictions, and advising Native American tribes with respect to Class II and Class III gaming operations.
Representative Services
Regulatory and Compliance
Taft’s General Counsel Access Program is designed to offer small and mid-market companies the same quality of general counseling legal services available to larger companies having their own in-house legal staff, on a cost-effective basis. While the business legal climate is becoming increasingly complex, both small and mid-market companies frequently lack ready access to attorneys who are experienced in protecting the value of business assets, resolving business legal problems, and developing proactive strategies for avoiding such problems. Taft’s general counsel attorneys invest the time required to understand each client’s business, business philosophy, and industry environment, and they are readily available if a problem arises.
Most small companies and many mid-sized companies cannot afford to hire full-time, in-house counsel. The annual cost of just one reasonably experienced attorney (including benefits and overhead) will typically be in excess of $150,000. To create a law department covering many specialties, the price becomes much higher. This does not make economic sense for many companies.
Key Benefits of In-House General Counsel are Provided
To address the needs of companies that cannot afford or do not choose to have in-house counsel, Taft has designed its General Counsel Access Program to provide the key benefits of in-house general counsel to small and medium-sized companies at an affordable price. Companies electing to participate in the program pay a reasonable monthly retainer, allowing them access to the firm's general counsel attorneys on a cost-effective basis.
Participating companies are entitled to unlimited free phone consultations (not billed against the retainer) with any of the firm's general counsel attorneys. Therefore, any member of the company's management team can pick up the phone and get prompt and effective legal advice without worrying about the meter running.
Initial client meetings and information gathering are not billed, and the retainer is expected to cover subsequent time required for the participating general counsel attorneys to become knowledgeable about the client and its business. The General Counsel Access Program is premised on the fact that a company's counsel cannot be truly effective without spending time with senior management to learn and understand the business.
All companies participating in the General Counsel Access Program receive a legal compliance analysis and recommended compliance program, including the development of policies, presentations and other materials, tailored to address the company's particular industry, regulatory environment and identified problem areas.
Since most of these compliance materials are pre-packaged, the only time billed against the retainer (aside from actual presentation time) is the time required to modify the materials for the company's specific needs. Periodic free legal updates on areas of general interest, including employment law, tax and Sarbanes-Oxley, are also provided.
Any time not billed against the retainer during the course of a year will entitle participating companies to additional legal services at the specified hourly rate until the annual retainer amount is exhausted.
