Primary Practice Areas:
* General corporate and partnership law (corporations, LLCs, non-profits, partnerships);
* Intellectual Property (technology licensing, copyrights, trademarks and patent analysis);
* Appellate practice
* Business negotiations and contracts of all types (domestic and international);
* Civil litigation.
With additional experience in:
* Real estate;
* Criminal defense;
* Employment; and
* Constitutional law.
Law is the Foundation of a Free and Humane Society
pdwyer@pdwyerlaw.com
Have a question or need assistance fast? Please call or send an email to:
Made with Xara
Solid Advice From A Lawyer With Integrity
530-432-5407
pdwyer@pdwyerlaw.com
Mr. Dwyer has consideral appellate expertise with an excellent record
of success in both civil and criminal matters.
A successful appeal begins with a complete record in the trial court. If
a court issues a tentative ruling that is not well founded, make sure to
have a court reporter there for any oral argument before final decision.
Spend the time to get those citations of authority and legal aruments
in the record, or they may just be waived.
Appellate briefing is largely about presentation of the legal issue from
an equity and/or policy persepctive. The statement of the issues and
the summary of background facts are critical. Why should relief be
granted in your case?
Appellate courts are busy. A brief that set outs the issues clearly and
succinctly and is not evasive or obtuse is the right approach.
Explaining the conceptual differences between copyrights, patents,
and trademarks is the starting point. There is often confusion between
what can be copyrighted and patented and what protection is offered by
each. Businesses often do not understand the importance of “branding”
and how that is accomplished with the right trade or service mark.
Mr. Dwyer has both domestic and international experience with intellectual
property and is especially focused on helping clients integrate their “IP”
into their everyday business agreements. This is often overlooked
and later comes back to “haunt” a business when it tries to expand, merge
or be sold. Distribution, marketing, and agency agreements need
provisions that protect a company’s IP from being misappropriated or lost.
Often someone will have a new “idea” and wants to share the idea with a
possible investor. If disclosed without proper protection, the idea can be
lost. Mr. Dwyer helps individuals and businesses protect their IP with non-
dislcosure agrements. Once the new idea is secured, then Mr. Dwyer can
provide extensive licensing and transactional expertise.
Selecting the right legal structure for your business is very important.
There are many factors that need to be considered, especially ownership,
intellectual property, and tax questions.
In small or family owned businesses, the primary issues often revolve
around the management of the company, dispute resolution, rights
to buy out other owners, and how the business will be terminated or
inherited. These issues are frequently not given the attention
deserved. The common result is expensive litigation when the business
partners or family members want to go in different directions. Careful
legal planning should include provisions that deal directly with these
matters.
Mr. Dwyer is experienced with formation and organization of C corps,
S corps, close corps, LLCs, general and limited partnerships, and
charitable corps.