One way Katherine sought to differentiate Legal Hobbit in the marketplace was by designing price tariffs rather more like mobile phone tariffs than typical professional service charges. There are monthly retainer options, subject to a one year minimum contract, where clients commit to pay a fixed amount per month in exchange for up to so many hours per month of legal support, which they can carry forward in the quiet months and use in busier months. There are also more traditional hourly rates, albeit lower than those of comparably experienced lawyers at competitive firms.
Katherine has used her industry contacts to attract a blue chip client base across the IT and telecommunications industries, who rely on the expertise of the Legal Hobbit lawyers to deliver high quality industry focused legal advice at highly competitive rates. In November 2008 and in recognition of the innovative approach of the firm, Legal Hobbit was the only sole practitioner law firm to make the UK Law Society’s six firm shortlist for the top English law firm in the category of the provision of pioneering legal services.
If you would like to know more about Legal Hobbit, please click here to send an email to Katherine: katherine@legalhobbit.com.
Legal Hobbit was formed in January 2007 by Katherine Evans, a specialist telecommunications and IT lawyer, and former lead international counsel for AT&T’s global outsourcing business, who as an in-house lawyer had experienced the shortage of competitively priced private practice lawyers with a commercially focused understanding of the telecommunications and IT industries and the applicable international legal and regulatory environment.
As a provider of what she calls “virtual in-house” legal services, her aim was to find a small number of clients, for whom she would act either as their only in-house lawyer or as a supplemental virtual member of an existing law department, doing the kind of day-to-day work, which regular in-house lawyers would focus on; such as advising on customer and supplier agreements; proposing standard terms and conditions for different sorts of transactions; drafting investment agreements; reviewing customer RFPs; preparing licensing applications in newly liberalized telecommunications markets; briefing clients on new legal developments and existing issues; and generally being available to respond promptly by email to the barrage of questions, which are likely to arise from thinking clients on a day to day basis.
Katherine's particular expertise are as follows:
Drafting and Negotiating
- multi-jurisdictional sales agreements with US Fortune 500 and European headquartered multi-national corporations for a range of voice and data communications, internet based services, and managed and outsourcing services; including outsourcing related human resource transfers across multiple jurisdictions
- international interconnection and related agreements with locally authorised internet and managed services providers, and satellite providers
- complex business process outsourcing agreements
- software licenses and IP rights agreements
- distribution and agency agreements in compliance with the EU Agency Directive and related in-country legislation, and reseller/business partner agreements.
- standard terms of business for new service lines, and proposing improvements to other standard contract documentation.
Regulatory and Compliance Work
- Advising on the regulatory and other legal implications of new telecommunications and internet based products and service lines across EMEA, with particular reference to non EU countries, especially the Middle East and Africa, including countries classified by the USA as "boycott countries".
- On the telecoms side, recent focus on encryption and voice over IP regulations, and on the use of digital signature based applications, all in multiple jurisdictions.
- Advising clients in EMEA on Sarbanes Oxley compliance, and becoming involved in project teams trying to bring about business process improvements required to ensure Sarbanes Oxley compliance, with special reference to (i) the automation of international invoicing processes, in response to internal auditor dissatisfaction with certain prior manual processes; and (ii) the creation/disclosure of SAS 70 reports in the context of the need for customers to demonstrate Sarbanes Oxley compliance following their decision to outsource key telecoms services/network security functions.
- Advising clients on data protection legislation, with particular reference to the EU Regulations. Have implemented inter-company and supplier agreements using the EU Model Clauses to ensure compliant transfer of data between the USA and EU. Have also worked with clients to help them understand the requirements of the EU Regulations. Have been responsible for making the filings required in the UK under the Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1998, and I advise clients on data protection issues which arise during the sales and procurement processes.
- Advising clients about the UK and EU country specific regulations regarding the monitoring of employees and of network traffic/data, and ensuring compliance with those regulations in a way which does not adversely affect the way in which clients choose to run their businesses.
- Giving UK and EU country labour law advice, on a broad range of issues, including unfair dismissal, redundancy, executive terminations, and transfer of undertakings regulations in multiple jurisdictions.
- Advising on EU competition issues, particularly in the context of major joint ventures (see M&A experience above). Involvement also in EU aspects of US anti-trust filings.
- Company secretarial filings across multiple jurisdictions in conjunction with outside counsel.
Mergers and Acquisitions Work
Good merger/acquisition and divestiture experience, with particular involvement in:
- Joint venture creation and unwind;
- equity investments;
- hive down and sale of non core businesses;
- regulatory and European competition law implications of joint venture creation, including involvement in competition law filings
- business acquisition across multiple jurisdictions and the competition law filings for those acquisitions.
Litigation
Particular experience in:
- complex IT and telecommunications service disputes
- cargo litigation disputes
- shipbuilding and ship repair disputes
- labour law disputes.
