About Cherin Law Offices

Steve launched his own business focused practice in 2013.  Prior to that, he was a shareholder of Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky (chair of corporate transactions); a shareholder of Gefsky and Lehman, P.C. (served as managing partner) and the Business and Tax groups with Buchanan Ingersoll.

Cherin Law Offices, PC represents start-ups, established businesses, investors and private equity and investment banking groups, consulting practices and companies during succession and exit transactions.

Current Positions

• President, Pittsburgh Entrepreneurs Forum
• Founding Partner, Cherin Law Offices, P.C.

Education

• Carnegie Mellon University, with honors, Small Business Management (B.A., 1981)
• Cornell Law School, with honors (J.D., 1984)

Rosemary Gleeson has over 25 years of law firm and in-house counsel experience as a transactional attorney. Her expertise includes the representation of corporations, partnerships, entrepreneurs and start-up entities in a variety of complex commercial transactions, including software licensing and technology-related agreements, distribution, reseller, OEM, affiliate marketing, co-branding, consulting, support, confidentiality and services agreements, intellectual property matters, Website legal issues, terms of use and privacy policies, business entity formation and restructuring, and merger and acquisition support (due diligence, assignments, consents).

Ms. Gleeson is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, California and Florida.

Notable Past Positions

• General Counsel for McAfee.com Corporation
• Senior Attorney for Hewlett-Packard
• Adjunct Professor of Criminal Law and Procedure at the University of Augsburg School of Law in Germany

Education

• B.A. degree in Business Administration from Chatham University
• M.B.A. degree in Marketing/International Business from the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business
• J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• LL.M degree in International Business Transactions from American University Washington College of Law

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Anthony helps people solve problems and take advantage of business opportunities by bringing to bear his extensive experience as a transactional attorney both in-house and in private practice. He advises top management of multi-national corporations, technology startups and growing businesses. Anthony focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, legal and regulatory compliance, and commercial and financial transactions.

Anthony is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Prior to associating with Cherin Law Offices, Anthony served as a senior attorney with PPG Industries, Inc., then as a partner with the Gefsky and Lehman law firm. Anthony is also an adjunct faculty member at Chatham University and Alfred University, teaching various business law related courses.

Zach focuses his practice on intellectual property (IP) matters including patent, trademark, and IP
licensing. He also counsels clients on general contractual matters as well as US Government contracts. His patent practice includes the electrical, mechanical and software arts. Zach’s background includes
work as an engineer and as in-house counsel. He completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT in 2007 and then worked as a Technology Specialist at the Boston-based IP boutique Wolf Greenfield while attending law school as a night student. In 2010 he joined a technology company whose primary customer was the US Government. His work there included both engineering and legal counseling. Zach has co-founded a number of technology companies leveraging both his technical and legal background.

Practice Admissions

• Massachusetts
• Pennsylvania
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Education

• JD from Suffolk University Law School (2012)
• Ph.D.in Electrical Engineering from MIT (2007)
• Master’s in Electrical Engineering from MIT (2005)
• Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University (2003)

Shimira Williams

Shimira Williams is employed to support our team and our clients with IT, document, and data management for legal services, assistance with projects, as well as processing filings with state agencies and other online filing requirements.

Additionally, Williams is the founder of Productive Play, a data management and digital literacy consultancy where she utilizes 20 years of experience to help businesses retool their operations and extend learning opportunities with the power of technology. Her vision for technology seeks to improve people’s ability to communicate and collaborate and allow people to focus on the human-to-human connection. She consults with businesses and nonprofit organizations to transform their digital ecosystem, community engagement, and business operations.

Our Approach

Types of Clients

We currently represent private equity groups, executives and developing and mature companies in a variety of industries, including engineering, medical devices and services, robotics and software. Many of these clients have relied on Steve through more than one of their business ventures and over the course of more than a decade.

Early Stage Clients

Our experience with mergers and acquisitions and private equity investments allows us to better understand and advise clients on business structuring at formation; through various financing arrangements, and during the ups and downs faced by every business. This representation includes flexible billing arrangements that allow for hands-on legal representation with a limited budget. We have assisted with the formation and growth of businesses in software, medical services, professional services, medical devises, robotics, real estate, manufacturing, on-line and traditional retail, as well as forming and guiding non-profit organizations.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Our experiences with early stage and developing companies helps us understand the process needed to move from development to preparing for a sale or other major financial event. We recommend a process to get ready for a sale or other financing. We have helped the owners in successful sales of technology businesses, engineering, law, medical, oil field and insurance services, as well as manufacturers and distributors of various products. Of course, we also assist buyers or investors with the understanding of what the sellers have gone through or are going through. This includes reviews of issues that could kill a deal or make the investment more risky. We assist with a strategy for reducing that risk. When specialized legal or other professional services are required, we assist by locating and monitoring other professionals to help get the deal done.

On-Going Clients

Through the years, clients have relied on us to provide guidance and counsel for a variety of issues that arise in employment, tax, intellectual property, contract formation and disputes, and, as necessary, guide them to other professionals to address these issues in a cost-effective manner. Our experience in structuring of transactions has allowed clients to weather many storms or recoup investments.