MLM Lawyers Review 2011

Kevin Thompson is a MLM attorney, entrepreneur, and agent of change. He owns and operates The Law Office of Kevin Thompson and specializes in providing legal services for startup direct sales organizations. Named as one of the top 25 most influential people in direct sales, Kevin Thompson has extensive experience and helps entrepreneurs launch their businesses on secure legal footing.

Kevin is a leader and prolific contributor in the direct sales community. He has published multiple ebooks accruing over 65,000 reads and 2,500 downloads.

He’s recently published a widely read, 80 page ebook on the changing state of the law in the network marketing industry. Read the ebook here, free of charge, to learn more about the laws in the industry. He has served as a keynote speaker at the international direct sales conference in Amsterdam.

Prior to starting his law practice, Kevin gained valuable experience while serving as Chief Counsel for Signature Management Team, LLC, also known as Team.

Team is one of the largest providers of sales aids for distributors in the network marketing industry. While at Team, Kevin worked closely with Amway and MonaVie’s compliance departments to ensure Team’s marketing materials passed regulatory review. Also during his tenure at Team, Kevin helped guide the company through commercial litigation with Amway.

Gerald Nehra is an Attorney in private practice in Muskegon, Michigan. He is one of a very few attorneys nationwide whose practice is devoted exclusively to direct selling and multi-level marketing issues. His 34 years of legal experience includes 9 years at Amway Corporation where he was Director of the Legal Division.

Gerald has counseled and testified on many legal issues of direct selling, including comprehensive evaluations of business plans, and whether they meet the legal standards established in the landmark FTC v. Amway case and cases which followed. Have analyzed in detail the differences and legal significance of plan design, controlled by the company, and plan implementation, where distributor conduct is often the challenge.

Gave testimony on direct selling legal issues in Herbalife v. McCormack, Dunda v. Mary Kay, Florida v. P.R.S.I., FTC v. Trek Alliance, and International Galleries Inc. v. LaRaza.

MULTI-LEVEL SPECIFICS:

Handled the legal and personnel issues for conversion of the single-level direct sales organization to a multi-level system at Fuller Brush. Issues included marketing plan legal review and necessary modification, sales force transition and conversion, literature review, sales training rules and ethics enforcement, advertising guidelines, product line selection and pricing, and creation of a distributor advisory board.

Negotiated multi-level compliance issues, including Consent Orders and Assurances of Voluntary Compliance, with the Attorney General Offices in numerous states, including Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Took immediate corrective action with a high ranking distributor for practices that put an entire program in jeopardy in the state of Florida. Meet and speak regularly with corporate officers and top distributors to evaluate progress of programs, listen to recommendations for adjustments and discuss and advise on future plans. Processed through to completion more than 350 trademark applications for numerous clients.

Jeffrey Babener

Babener & Associates advises Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies on a wide range of legal matters. As a law firm, Babener & Associates also serves as an important and informed resource on the direct selling industry. Whether your company is a start-up or an established network marketing organization, Babener & Associates can represent you.

Babener & Associates represents many of the most important companies in the Direct Sales and Network Marketing industry.  With several years of experience and the connections to make things happen, you should consider Babener & Associates for your legal representation.

Jeffrey Babener's significant library of MLM related articles will provide keen insight and helpful information to anyone currently involved in the direct sales industry as well as those that are now considering this fast-growth field.  Written with an unbiased approach, you can become informed without sales pressure or hype.  These articles are written for producers and and sales executives.