Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Self-motivated lawyer and executive with twenty years of private practice experience in complex corporate and litigation matters and running legal departments. VP, General Counsel and member of the Executive Leadership team at Long John Silver's, LLC, America's Favorite Seafood Restaurant, with locations across the United States and franchising internationally. As a franchisor general counsel, Anthony focuses on franchise and development matters, IP, M&A and divestiture work, human resources guidance, litigation, managing our real estate portfolio, vendor contract negotiation and oversight, risk management, and providing strategic guidance to our executive leadership concerning business and regulatory matters. Prior to Long John Silver's, Anthony worked as the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for V-Soft Consulting, LLC, one of the country's largest digital development and IT staffing firms headquartered in Louisville, KY, which consistently ranked as one of the fastest growing and best places to work in Kentucky, Before joining V-Soft, Anthony spent two years as a senior government leader serving a dual role as General Counsel of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Executive Director of KY Innovation, the division within the Cabinet responsible for supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, and venture capital investing across Kentucky. Founding member of Kentucky Intellectual Property Alliance, focused on expanding IP knowledge, and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures, statewide university partnership around commercializing research and technologies. Founder of multiple dining clubs. Passionate traveler (visited all 48 contiguous states and 25 countries). British murder mystery enthusiast. Gardener. Former musical theater performer. Ran the NYC Marathon (2010).
I manage the global legal and regulatory affairs of Long John Silver's, LLC and our various affiliates. - Oversee all franchise-related activities, including regulatory filings (FDDs), franchise agreements, workout and settlement agreements, development agreements, multi-brand relationships, and other activities. - Negotiate and manage all vendor contracts and partnerships, including MSAs, SOWs, NDAs, data sharing agreements, license agreements, marketing and and promotion agreements, third-party delivery agreements and other contracts. Consolidated contract management and implemented AI vendor management program and contract compliance process across organization. - Manage all corporate governance and board matters, and oversee annual filings. - Lead all M&A, divestitures and strategic transactions in house as primary counsel, and draft and negotiate all related documents. - Supervise all litigation, insurance and bankruptcy matters, including franchisee disputes, injury claims, pixel/privacy and ADA claims, employment claims, and commercial litigation matters. - Run legal department and 4 staff members. Manage department budget, resulting in substantial cost savings. Implemented document management program and retention schedule. - Coordinate with marketing and supply chain functions to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory processes. Advise on all sweepstakes, promotions, and marketing materials. - Oversee Intellectual Property portfolio, including all government filings and infringement actions for our global trademarks and intellectual property assets. - Handle all HR matters in coordination with HR department, including handbook/policy matters,, employee issues, incident investigations, and EEOC and regulatory proceedings. - Implemented and oversee risk management program - Coordinate with IT department regarding data privacy matters. Drafted website terms and conditions, privacy policy and manage privacy-related issues.
As General Counsel and Corporate Secretary I was responsible for all aspects of legal affairs for a multinational nine-figure revenue business, including: - Negotiated and oversaw all company contracts as an authorized signatory, including MSAs, SOWs, data sharing agreements, software license agreements, vendor and VMS agreements, and supplier agreements. Created and implemented revised standard contracts within first six months and address all contract-related questions. - Managed data privacy practices in coordination with CTO and Director of IT, including addressing any alleged incidents, drafting company data incident policies, working with IT leadership to implement data privacy policies and compliance efforts (including obtaining SOC2 compliance), and address all issues concerning regulatory data privacy requirements, including issues involving the EU GDRP 2016/679, the California Consumer Privacy Act and other related consumer privacy statutes and agreements. - Handled all litigation matters both domestically and abroad and coordinated with multinational counsel. Closed nearly all open matters within first six months at favorable terms and reduced legal overhead by over 25%. - Negotiated M&A deals in conjunction with CFO as sole company counsel, perform data room diligence on agreements and all non-financial matters, draft and negotiated all documents such as LOIs, purchase agreements, guarantees, sellers' notes, board resolutions, and address post-deal integration issues such as ERISA, employment agreements, and other matters. - Worked with HR leadership to address all HR-related matters, including compliance with state, federal and international law across multiple foreign and domestic offices, Personally drafted and responded to HR-related government inquiries, including EEOC filings. Handled employment agreements, non-competition and non-solicitation matters, FLSA determinations and audits, and performance improvement plans. implementations.
As Executive Director of KY Innovation, my responsibilities include: (1) develop the Cabinet's strategic plan to align with the Governor’s priority to rapidly grow Kentucky's entrepreneurial ecosystem, enhance public university and higher education tech transfer and commercialization activities, and prepare Kentucky for the future economy. (2) align infrastructure, government agencies, public-private partnerships and private industry to support strategic vision. (3) implement a data driven approach and metrics to ensure programmatic success and efficiently use public resources. (4) coordinate Kentucky's financial investments into startup ecosystem to support strategy. (5) engage with startups to promote growth and provide access to capital. (6) recruit talent and startups to Kentucky, and work collaboratively to expand Kentucky's talent pipeline. (7) develop regional and national partnerships to improve Kentucky startup opportunities. (8) represent KY Innovation in the Cabinet's executive leadership team and before the Cabinet's Partnership Board, and testify on its behalf before legislative committees. (9) manage internal and external team personnel and budget to ensure execution of strategic plan.
As General Counsel to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, my responsibilities include: (1) provide legal advice to Cabinet leadership and Executive branch on all legal matters involving the Cabinet. (2) work as a member of the Cabinet’s Executive Leadership team to develop and implement the Cabinet's strategic plan as recommended by the Governor and approved by the Economic Development Partnership Board. (3) negotiate and manage Cabinet contracts, including vendor agreements, interagency and public agency agreements, public-private partnerships, financial incentive and loan agreements, and federal grant agreements. (4) handle human resources, compliance and risk management matters in conjunction with the Cabinet's senior leadership, including developing policies and procedures. (5) serve as counsel for all public agency boards and commissions within the Cabinet, including the Kentucky Economic Development Partnership, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, the Bluegrass State Skills Corporation, and the Commission on Small Business Advocacy. (6) oversee government procurement matters, including drafting RFP/RFIs on behalf of the Cabinet. (7) manage all government and legislative affairs on behalf of the Cabinet. (8) oversee all litigation affecting the Cabinet. (9) supervise internal legal team and outside counsel, manage legal budget, and determine staffing for all legal matters.
Advised clients on range of corporate matters, including purchasing and acquisition of various assets, franchise agreements, employment agreements, corporate entity creation and business structures, operating agreements, articles of incorporation and corporate bylaws, and regulatory filings. Handled all aspects of litigation from initiation to resolution for a wide variety of complex personal injury and civil litigation matters, including cases in the areas of product liability, medical negligence, insurance disputes, employment agreements, business valuation and dissolutions, commercial contract disputes, and fraud claims.
Joined Dolt, Thompson to work on its representation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky against Purdue Pharma et al. concerning Purdue’s role in creating the opioid pandemic that ravaged Kentucky and the United States generally. Handled day to day management of complex litigation and team of attorneys and staff working on matter through case settlement. Worked extensively and collaboratively with the Attorney General’s office in connection with matter.