Schaefer, Laura M.

Kathleen Hart is part of the Corporate & Business Transactions Group of Andersen, Tate & Carr, specializing in intellectual property matters.  Her practice includes counseling assisting start up and growth stage technology companies on a variety of issues, including protecting and preserving their intellectual property rights (both internally vis-à-vis employees and externally in their customer, vendor and partner relationships), securing trademark and copyright registrations, negotiating technology licenses and service agreements and general corporate governance matters.  She has negotiated agreements with the top financial institutions in the U.S., several of the major ISPs in North America and Europe and various media companies and has assisted technology clients in expanding into the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and Brazil.

As part of her intellectual property practice, Ms. Hart also represents clients desiring to expand their business through franchising with the organization and ongoing administration of their franchise system, including drafting the required disclosure documents, franchise, area development and other related agreements; seeking and obtaining registration or exemption of the franchise offering in multiple states; and counseling franchisor clients on operational and compliance matters.

As a member of the Corporate & Business Transactions Group, Ms. Hart also provides general corporate representation to clients in a wide variety of industries and assists.  Such representation includes providing counseling on entity choice and structure; organization of corporations, limited liability companies and joint ventures; shareholder agreements; business sales and acquisitions (stock and asset); venture capital investments; regulatory compliance (including health care) and general contract negotiations.

Before joining the firm, Mrs. Hart served as a law clerk for the Honorable J.L. Edmondson, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  Mrs. Hart received her Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2006, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as the Executive Articles Editor for the Georgia Law Review from 2005-2006.  Mrs. Hart graduated summa cum laude, with honors, from the University of Georgia in 2000 with degrees in both International Business (Finance concentration) and Real Estate. 

Mrs. Hart’s scholarly works include Sticks and Stones and Shotguns at School:  The Ineffectiveness of Constitutional Antibullying Legislation as a Response to School Violence, 39 Ga. L. Rev. 1109 (2005), and Vouchers and Vespers: The Need for an Uncertain Change in School Voucher Programs, Educ. L. & Pol’y F. (2005) (with Ashley Alderman), http://www.educationlawconsortium.org/forum/2005/papers/alderman.pdf. 

Mrs. Hart was admitted to the practice of law in the State of Georgia in 2006.  She is a member of the Georgia Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the ABA Forum on Franchising.  She is also a member of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce Technology Council.