Alice Turinas of Turinas & Bird LLC exemplifies Select Counsel’s membership philosophy by providing experience, expertise, professionalism and an enhanced client experience.  

As a former business attorney for a global law firm with 725 attorneys and 13 offices (London, New York, Houston, etc.), and as former senior in-house counsel for AT&T’s web and e-commerce businesses, Alice has developed, negotiated and closed complex transnational agreements for technology businesses.  She has experience and expertise in the acquisition of both domestic and international SaaS and software companies.  She and her law firm partner also advise heavy corporate users of SaaS technology, and have helped non-US companies expand into the US market.  Her core practice includes advising clients on data security and privacy, insurance and risk management, protection of intellectual property, IP licensing best practices, doing business in the US, entity formation, capital raising and other aspects of corporate finance, executive compensation strategies, effective employment policies, and preparing a business for a sale or other exit options.  Alice frequently acts as outside general counsel for technology focused businesses.  

Recent trends In Alice’s Practice Areas 

Alice and her firm have seen their key practice areas tend to reflect the impact of the Covid pandemic, most notably with respect to the following trending issues: 

• Data protection has become even more important than ever in B2B software. With vastly increased work-from-home for businesses, their SaaS providers, particularly in highly regulated industries, face increased scrutiny of data security protections from their large customers. And the providers give increased attention to the protections they can rely upon from their own suppliers. This increases the risk of being caught in what Alice calls a “liability sandwich” in the chain from customers to their suppliers.  Alice helps her clients negotiate contracts with significant customers and has been particularly busy lately reviewing and advising on supply chain contracts and related policies.

• Similarly, data protection due diligence matters are getting greater emphasis in M&A and capital investment transactions. Alice has counseled her clients on relevant compliance issues and related best practices to better prepare them for future transactions.  She can also recommend independent, impartial consultants to proactively evaluate their existing data protection programs.

• While the risk of data breaches have increased, data breach insurance has become harder and more expensive for SaaS companies to obtain. Alice has continued to advise her clients on mitigating these types of risk. She can recommend to her clients an insurance brokerage that is highly experienced in this type of coverage and also has extensive knowledge of relevant resources for mitigating risk.

• For foreign companies attempting to increase their presence in the US, or establish a presence here, both travel restrictions and tighter immigration restrictions have raised new challenges. These include not only travel to / from meetings that cannot effectively be held online, but also transfer of key senior executives for stints in the US.  The situation has been changing rapidly, increasing unpredictability in strategic planning (with legal implications), and may continue to morph with a change in the US presidential administration. For example, together with experienced US immigration counsel, Alice has helped the principal of one client obtain a National Interest Exemption to enable him to attend to crucial matters in the US.  

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Alice received her JD from Harvard Law School and is licensed in New York, Texas and New Jersey.  She currently lives in Austin, Texas.  Her firm continues to maintain an office in New York City, where her law partner, Alison Bird, is located. Contact information and further details can be found on Alice’s Select Counsel profile.