Legal Services

Silicon Valley General Counsel helps companies that do not have an in-house counsel, as well as those with in-house counsel that do not wish to hire additional full-time staff.  For companies with in-house counsel, Silicon Valley General Counsel serves as an extension of your legal department: handling projects or overflow work.  For companies without in-house counsel, we will help you with a single contract or project or can provide you with a virtual General Counsel on as needed basis for your Privacy Law, HR, contracts and business law needs. Silicon Valley General Counsel can use one of your company-issued email addresses and, if requested, can work onsite in the Bay Area. Marc Pappalardo has also been hired to serve as a mentor to train an in house counsel to fill the role of General Counsel by providing advice and training as needed.

• SaaS, Software Licensing, Platform Agreements, Master Service Agreements and Product Sales. Marc Pappalardo has negotiated SLAs ranging from the simple SaaS SLAs to 100+ page SLAs for a complex tech business.  
• Data Protection Agreements (DPAs) and Business Associate Agreements
• Developed eCommerce checkout flows for B2C and B2B companies, including click through agreements for domestic and international sales
• Website Terms of Use
• Data Security Agreements
• Reseller, Finder and Referral Agreements
• Product Manufacturing Agreements 
• IP License Agreements
• Raw Material Agreements for product manufacturers
• White Label Agreements
• Source Code Escrow Agreements
• Silicon Valley General Counsel can also assist with RFP responses and related security questionnaires. Marc has extensive experience with security questionnaire responses during the pre-contract phase, including measures that can be taken to reduce low security scores that could prevent you from closing or winning a deal.

• Marc Pappalardo has an EU privacy law certification (CIPP/E) with the International Association of Privacy Professionals and has headed global privacy and compliance as an in house counsel. 
• Drafted Privacy Policies, including CCPA required disclosures on websites.
• Extensive experience negotiating DPAs and Business Associate Agreements (HIPAA related privacy agreements for healthcare field).
• Conducted numerous Data Protection Impact Assessments to ensure compliance with data protection laws.
• Drafted Security Policies  and assisted with obtaining SOC2 and ISO certification. 
• Privacy Training to your staff, which may be required by law.
• Silicon valley General Counsel can walk you through what you need to do in order to use the EU Standard Contractual  Clauses in the UK and Switzerland, both of which deviate from GDPR.

• Drafted Employee Invention and Confidentiality Agreements, Employee Handbooks, and Severance Agreements in a variety of jurisdictions. Silicon Valley General Counsel can help guide your company through issues when you have employees in multiple states, such as where employee non-solicitation clauses are enforceable. 
• Drafted Sales compensation plans for internal sales personnel and managers.
• Responded to EEOC complaints for matters such as discrimination claims and failure to accommodate disability claims.
• Worked with outside investigators to investigate HR claims.

As a General Counsel, Marc Pappalardo has handled HR issues in large number of states and countries.  While he no longer litigates cases, he brings litigation experience when you have HR issues. Marc studied EU employment law in England and can help your company with EU-related HR issues. Marc has even drafted employment agreements for overseas employees located in England, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, France and the Netherlands.

• Drafted corporate and LLC constituent documents, including LLC operating agreements, Shareholder Agreements, By Laws, Articles of Incorporation and Shareholder/Board Minutes. 
• Formed LLCs and Corporations in a number of states. Marc has also managed the formation and governance of entities in 13 countries. 
• Drafted numerous Inter-company Transfer Pricing Agreements where parent company charges its foreign subsidiary for goods and services.

Silicon Valley General Counsel can help your company ensure it is adequately protecting its Intellectual Property.  While Silicon Valley General Counsel usually outsources trademark and copyright registrations, Marc has personally filed many U.S. trademark and copyright applications. Marc has also litigated a number of trademark, trade dress and copyright infringement cases and been on both sides of IP related cease and desist requests.  Silicon Valley General Counsel can help you manage U.S. and international patent filings by patent counsel. Marc has set up internal patent committees and established patent compensation plans to encourage employee innovation and can help your company with the same.