Carol Ruth Shepherd, Attorney
business, technology, entertainment and media law
Email me or call me: (734) 668-4646
A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (JD ‘85) and the University of Michigan LS&A Honors College (BA ‘82 High Honors, magna cum laude) Carol is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the federal bar for the Eastern District of Michigan. She is a past Chair and two-term Council member of the Information Technology Law (1999-2000) and the Arts Communication, Entertainment and Sports (ACES) Law (1999-2000) Sections of the Michigan State Bar, and a current member of the Intellectual Property and the Business Law Sections. She is a frequent writer and speaker for both legal and lay audiences, on topics in intellectual property law, Internet law and e-commerce, asset protection, startup formation, and licensing and merchandising.
Carol founded Arborlaw in 1992 to provide quality legal representation to software developers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and small companies seeking a business lawyer highly experienced in the unique legal needs associated with starting up companies, developing and marketing intellectual assets, and providing creative and knowledge-based services. Carol has over 10 years of experience as a business attorney in private practice representing these types of clients in drafting and negotiating contracts, prosecuting, registering and and enforcing intellectual property rights, forming corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs), structuring buy-sells, shareholder buyouts, and stock transactions, and handling employment and independent contractor issues unique to intellectual asset development.
Carol’s clientele includes entrepreneurs, inventors, and companies that are reshaping commerce and driving excellence in the new American economy. Her most frequently requested legal services include:
- starting up companies and moving business onto the Internet
- strategies, policies, procedures and agreements for managing employees and contractors, including creative and knowledge workers
- protecting copyrights, trademarks, branding and identity properties, trade secrets, and other intellectual property
- providing expert intellectual property analysis of authorship, ownership, and chain-of-title issues
- commercializing products, services, technology and assets — through contracts, joint ventures, leasing, outsourcing, venture capital, licensing and merchandising, publishing, marketing and distribution, and exclusive arrangements
- buying and selling companies, products, real estate, websites, and other assets
Download a copy of Carol’s resume here.
