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Ed Bertrand - Counsel
About

Ed's practice focuses on legal representation involving cutting-edge technologies primarily for the defense sector, including missile-defense, space situational awareness and data fusion. He is a 1994 graduate of Harvard College, with honors, and a 1997 graduate of the UC Berkeley Law School. Ed is admitted to practice in federal court and is licensed in California.

a cargo plane
Services

No one knows your industry like you do and staying focused on what you do best is essential. I may not always remember the difference between absorption and adsorption, a neutrino and a quark, or a laser cannon and a photon torpedo. I will always be there, however, to explain the difference between a complaint and cause of action, jurisdiction and venue, or arbitration and mediation. More importantly, you need an attorney who instinctively appreciates your need to get the deal done and can speed things up or slow things down appropriately, helping you avoid land mines along the way; an attorney who is cost sensitive but can bring in focused high heat, at a reasonable, controlled cost, when a competitor or adversary gets out of line; a closer who knows which legal issues to wave off to get to the bottom line and which issues must be the focus of negotiation. I have serviced a range of clients, from public agencies with budgets of several hundred millions of dollars per year to three-person startups and close to everything in between. The law is purposefully designed for successful businesses to use. It doesn’t need to be scary; it’s just another tool in your kit. I look forward to talking to you about how to get the most from the legal protections and opportunities available to you and your company.

You have worked diligently for a long time to create a product or become a subject matter expert and to build relationships with potential partners, customers and suppliers. You have heard the stories time and again in the press and when you talk to others in your industry of a person or company with a creative solution to a legitimate need who gets taken to the cleaners by a big corporation, seeing their dream swallowed up in someone else’s glory. Don’t be that person. Don’t be that company. Over almost 20 years, I have negotiated several hundred contracts with a combined value of several billions of dollars. No attorney can guarantee that you can always get everything you want in a contract or that there won’t be disagreements or rough patches. How those issues are addressed is largely a function of your leverage, the single most important component of the negotiation. You do, however, want an attorney who understands the best process for getting to “yes;” the importance of responsiveness and timing; the real legal issues that need to be focused on and, in rare cases, the right situation and moment to walk away, either temporarily or permanently. At the most basic level, a contract is just an explanation of what parties on either side of a transaction are expecting so that performance can be measured and issues with performance are addressed ahead of time to minimize any disputes and to get the job done or product delivered in a timely and cost-effective way. I look forward to talking to you about how to use your current and prospective contracts to achieve your strategic business goals.

In rare cases, despite your best efforts, you find yourself either holding a demand letter in your hand or feeling the need to write one to someone that has disappointed you. Few things are as disheartening. The best outcome you can expect is to be made whole. A small law firm is not usually going to be your best choice to take your case all the way to the Supreme Court. An experienced litigator can, however, help you put the situation in perspective, giving you best, worst and likely scenarios; advise you on additional legal tools in your kit that might help you avoid or mitigate the cost and inconvenience of litigation; and connect you with trusted, specialized litigators, appropriate to the situation, to make sure that those on the other side understand both the seriousness of your resolve and your capacity to make good on your plans. An experienced litigator can also give you a realistic appraisal of what you can expect your costs to be at various stages of litigation; help you focus your communications with your outside litigation team to keep the focus on strategic business objectives, rather than litigation for its own sake and provide meaningful review of your litigation team’s bills to help ensure that you are maximizing the value of their services. I have litigated for most of my career, before juries, judges and administrators in State and Federal courts and other venues. When evaluating how best to proceed through the litigation minefield, there is no substitute for having someone by your side that knows what it’s like to stand before a jury or judge and cogently and powerfully explaining the rightness of your cause. I look forward to talking to you about how to turn a stressful litigation scenario into a manageable opportunity to reset your business position to help advance your long term business goals.

The space shuttle landing
Contact Me

To contact me, email [email protected].
For website feedback or questions, email [email protected].

Please note that Ed does not do business in California.