Chais Sweat represents clients in regulatory compliance and litigation matters. He has obtained numerous positive results for his clients in cases involving breach of contract, trade secret violations, non-compete agreements, fraud, data breaches, Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), vendor/supplier disputes, lien foreclosures, commercial evictions, and matters pending in bankruptcy courts. He has also successfully defeated multiple class actions and has represented companies facing inquiries and enforcement actions from state and federal regulators. Chais has extensive experience advising public and private companies on creating and maintaining regulatory compliance programs and navigating complex state and federal regulatory regimes, particularly in the area of consumer protection and finance. His clients have ranged from large multi-national banks to sole proprietorships.
Prior to joining the firm, Chais spent two years as the Compliance Director of a solar energy company that had in-house consumer loan and leasing operations. He handled regulatory compliance matters and commercial litigation for the organization’s multi-state operations. Before that time, Chais was an attorney at a national firm in Dallas where he focused his practice on financial services regulations and commercial litigation. Chais also has significant experience in the hospitality industry, having represented restaurants, festivals, hotels, and trade associations in matters including ADAAA compliance, building code issues, licensing and permitting, liability for criminal activity of guests, data breaches, unfair trade practices, landlord/tenant disputes, construction defects and lien disputes, and creditor representation in bankruptcies.
Chais also has experience representing private equity investors, commercial lenders, borrowers, and startups in the regulatory due diligence process and creating effective compliance programs. He has acted as outside general counsel to small and mid-sized businesses, providing advice on the numerous areas of legal concerns that affect day-to-day operations and risk management.
Marc’s practice focuses corporate and securities law. Marc has represented issuers, investors, investment banks, venture capitalists, and hedge funds in a variety of financing transactions, including private placements, venture capital financings, public offerings, APOs, PIPEs, lines of credit, term loans, and other secured financings. Marc has also represented clients in connection with mergers, acquisitions, reverse mergers, divestitures, spinoffs, reorganizations, and recapitalizations. Marc routinely advises clients regarding corporate governance, SEC reporting compliance, executive compensation, fiduciary obligations, ethics, and general corporate matters. Marc also has extensive trial experience in business and securities litigation, having tried several jury and non-jury cases and arbitrations. Marc’s client companies have ranged from emerging growth businesses to Fortune 500 corporations and represent a broad range of industries, including information technology, medical devices, pharmaceutical, real estate, energy, aerospace, automotive, venture capital, hedge fund, and investment banking. Marc received his joint Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management in 1992 and his Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1995. Marc is an active member of the California bar.
Jason Powell joined the firm in May 2018. Drawing on a diverse legal and business background, Jason’s practice focuses on corporate governance, business transactions, private securities offerings, real estate transactions and commercial and private money loan transactions.
Jason spent part of his career serving as General Counsel and an executive team member for one real estate companies and one nationwide private money lender. During his time as General Counsel, Jason was responsible for all legal, corporate and regulatory compliance matters. Jason brings a unique and welcome approach to the practice of law. Jason firmly understands the daily struggles facing entrepreneurs and management teams and as a result of his experience is able to bring his business and entrepreneurial experience to the legal problems faced by entrepreneurs and management teams.
During his career, he has been involved in the closing of over 1,200 traditional and private money loan transactions. Jason has assisted private money lenders, real estate investment companies and real estate entrepreneurs in the creation of securities offering documents for capital raises totaling an aggregate offering amount of over $3B.
In addition to his law practice, Jason is also an extensive author and educator on all things real estate investing and securities compliance for real estate investors. Jason’s current books include, Pitch: How to Present Your Real Estate Deal to Private Money Lenders and Foundation: A Comprehensive Guide to Finding, Structuring and Working with Private Money Lenders. In addition, Jason is currently working on two new books: one entitled Syndication: A Real Estate Investors Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Syndication and Pooled Investment Vehicles, and the other Lend: Passive Investors Guide to Analyzing Private Money Loans.
Jason also serves as Board Secretary for Spokane Housing Ventures, a non-profit community housing development organization.
Jason is admitted to practice in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. He is based in Spokane, Washington.
Education
Montana State University-Billings (B.S. Finance & Economics)
Montana State University-Billings (M.A. Sports Management)
University of Montana School of Law (J.D.)
Cornell University (Certificate, Commercial Real Estate)
Memberships
Washington Bar Association
Idaho Bar Association
Oregon Bar Association
William Large joined the firm in November 2017. Over the last 20 years, he has developed skills in a wide variety of legal disciplines. He has worked for several different states on oil & gas and energy matters and litigation. Mr. Large’s litigation experience, in state and federal courts throughout the country, includes diverse matters such as antitrust, energy transportation regulation, environmental pollution, securities and intra-corporate disputes. Participation and leadership roles in class actions and multidistrict litigation have also constituted a major portion of Mr. Large’s experience. Additionally, Mr. Large has served as outside counsel handling all legal affairs for several companies. After graduating with a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, Mr. Large served as a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for the Hon. Andrew J. Kleinfeld.
Representative Matters
One of Mr. Large’s areas of expertise which he particularly enjoys is eDiscovery. He was the Discovery and eDiscovery chair for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill MDL. In that role, Mr. Large designed and implemented the infrastructure and assembled a team of over 30 lawyers and staff. The venture was very successful, as the team led by Large processed and reviewed over 20 TB of data in eight months. This allowed the Plaintiffs to complete discovery in less than a year, making the case ready for trial, and eventually settling, within 2 years of the tragedy itself.
Mr. Large has a wife and three daughters. He enjoys cooking, gardening and participating in and providing pro bono legal services for his daughters’ non-profit select soccer club, the Lafayette Dash. Over the years he has volunteered his time for many groups such as chairman of the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority and board member of Alaska Catholic Social Services Adoption Program.
Edward Scharfenberg, who joined the firm in March 2017, has been practicing corporate and transactional law for almost 20 years. Until the Fall of 2016, Ned lived in Berlin, Germany, where he represented a range of clients involved in financing and disposition transactions and oil and gas exploration, while serving as “outside” general counsel for start-ups and portfolio companies of private equity funds. At the behest of a client, he served on the supervisory board (“Aufsichtsrat”) of a listed German office REIT until December 2016. He is fluent in German.
Ned began his career in New York in the securitization and structured finance departments of two leading global law firms before working in various roles in-house in the finance sector. From 2007 -2011, he worked in the corporate department of Fishman Haygood, LLP, in New Orleans on diverse corporate and transactional matters, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions.
Ned is admitted to practice in Illinois, New York and Louisiana. He is based in Chicago.
Mr. Vickers represent clients in intellectual property matters and litigation throughout State and Federal courts across the U.S. He has represented global companies as general counsel, and provided the same level of expertise to small businesses and individuals. Before law school, Mr. Vickers worked as an engineer for a large multi-national energy company.
Mr. Vickers’ practice focuses on multiple areas of intellectual property, including patent and trademark applications, related USPTO proceedings, enforcement of intellectual property rights, litigation and consultation. His background as an engineer provides unique insight into the often complicated and highly technical issues in intellectual property matters.
Mr. Vickers also handles a variety of construction and general litigation matters. Mr. Vickers was named a “Rising Star” by the SuperLawyers rating list in 2012 and 2014 through 2017, an honor earned by no more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in each state.
Mr. Vickers holds an engineering degree from Auburn University and a Juris Doctorate from Tulane University Law School. He served as the Senior Articles Editor of the Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property and as a judicial extern to the Honorable T. Michael Putnam in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, and to the Honorable Pascal F. Calogero, Former Chief Justice of the Louisiana State Supreme Court.
Mark is the founder of the firm. Mark has experience representing public and private companies in merger and acquisition transactions, equity and debt securities offerings, venture capital transactions, and corporate governance matters. Mark is also an experienced litigator and has represented individuals in personal injury actions (including workers’ compensation), consumer protection claims and large businesses in multi-national litigation.
Mark is an active member of the Louisiana Economic Development Department’s Working Group on Capital Availability and the founder of the Louisiana Venture and Angel Capital Report, the only statistical analysis of venture and angel capital in the state of Louisiana. Mark is a mentor of the Law Without Walls (http://www.lawwithoutwalls.org/), a member of the Advisory Board of the LSBA’s Justice Entrepreneur’s Program, mentor for the Transactional Boot Camp program at Tulane Law School, and a 2014 Super Lawyer in the field of Corporate/Securities Law.
Following law school, Mark served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Mark has worked at one of the nation’s premier securities and corporate law firms in Silicon Valley prior to starting his own firm.
11900 W Olympic Blvd #770
Los Angeles, CA 90064
855-781-7774
816 W. Francis Ave., #276
Spokane, WA 99205
855-781-7774
201 Heymann Blvd., Suite 24
Lafayette, LA 70503
504-265-9955
855-781-7774
650 Poydras Street, Suite 1130
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-265-9955
