Whether experiencing accelerated growth or adapting to a changing marketplace, the automotive and trucking industry remains a key driver of the global economy. In today’s highly competitive and regulated market, suppliers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and other auto companies face an increasing range of challenges:
- Protection and enforcement of intellectual property and trade secrets
- Compliance enforcement efforts and scrutiny
- Strict safety and emissions standards
- Pressure from individual and allied competitors
- Supply chain management issues
- New markets that are both complex and well defended
- Shrinking timeframes for contracting and crisis responses
Crowell & Moring's automotive and trucking industry experience includes cross-disciplinary, full-service legal counsel that helps domestic and international industry clients address these and other significant challenges, and exploit emerging opportunities to their fullest extent. We provide effective guidance where business strategies and legal solutions intersect, including providing regulatory counseling with respect to environmental, labor, product safety, intellectual property, and international trade issues; negotiating key vendor, union, employment, and government contracts; managing crises and public relations concerns; resolving disputes with customers, industry participants, and regulatory agencies; obtaining patent and other intellectual property rights to protect research and development investment; and serving as lead counsel in high-profile litigation.
We follow a practical, lifecycle approach to resolving client issues and offer a full suite of counseling and litigation services. These include advice on lobbying, design compliance, patent protection, labeling, warnings, warranties, recalls, safety, contracts, and dispute resolution at trial and in arbitration and mediation. Our group integrates members of the firm’s antitrust, environmental, government contracts, intellectual property, international trade, labor and employment, product risk management, torts, trade associations, and trade secrets teams to provide end-to-end advice on virtually any issue facing the automotive and trucking industries.
As trial lawyers, we represent clients in state and federal courts across the country and before agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the International Trade Commission (ITC). The automotive and trucking industry team includes former agency representatives, federal and state prosecutors, and trial attorneys who understand the objectives and tactics of law-enforcement and administrative officials, particularly in the current environment of “regulation through litigation.”
Our strong presence in Washington, D.C., along with our international capabilities and regulatory and litigation prowess, makes us a go-to team for bet-the-company matters.
Representative Clients
- Bridgestone
- BMW AG
- Daimler AG
- Dana Holding Corporation
- Enkei
- Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
- General Motors
- Greyhound
- Robert Bosch LLC
- Valeo