Retail & Ecommerce

Agile legal counsel for adapting and excelling across an ever-changing market.

Our lawyers guide clients through the global retail and ecommerce legal landscape, handling cutting-edge issues like augmented reality (AR) integration, influencer marketing, and alternative payment methods such as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and cryptocurrency. We advise on retail-related mergers and acquisitions, financings, and restructurings; global labor and employment issues; class action litigation and mass arbitrations in the employment and consumer spaces; compliance with data privacy laws and cybersecurity risk mitigation; AI regulations, and more. We provide comprehensive solutions for seamless operations and strategic growth across this complex global market.

Our team develops legal strategies for grocery, home goods, luxury and fashion brands, restaurant and food service businesses, retail pharmacies, and other consumer-facing clients across the brick-and-mortar and ecommerce marketplaces. Our experience spans a range of geographic markets, consumer segments, and operational environments. Our clients include national and international store networks, small regional chains, third-party sellers, global ecommerce and marketplace platforms, logistics and fulfillment centers, digital marketing agencies, and private equity funds that own such businesses.

We represent hundreds of retail and ecommerce businesses. From startup formation to mergers and acquisitions to asset sales and novel strategies against class certification, our services are comprehensive and include:

  • Financing, supplier, and vendor contracts focusing on risk mitigation and regulatory compliance
  • Private equity and M&A transactions
  • IP advice on trademarks, copyrights, and patents
  • Data protection and privacy compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
  • Tax, consumer protection, and advertising standards
  • Dispute resolution, including product liability and IP litigation
  • Class actions and mass arbitrations in the employment and consumer spaces
  • Global labor and employment litigation and counseling including training and investigations, employee benefits, immigration, wage and hour matters (including predictive scheduling and pay transparency litigation and advice), union organizing, remote workforce tax and employment matters, and ADA issues
  • Insolvency events, bankruptcies, restructurings, asset sales, and related litigation
  • Claims related to “wiretapping” and “cookies”
  • Counseling regarding pricing, advertising, and customer communications

Areas of Focus

We tackle grocery industry challenges head-on. From AI-driven innovation and sustainability to overcoming complex regulatory hurdles, we design legal frameworks that allow clients to adapt and excel across this changing market.

  • Contactless delivery, food safety (including FDA matters), labeling, advertising, and jurisdictional regulatory advice
  • Supplier, distribution, vendor, and lease agreements
  • Labor and employment laws, including HR matters, employee contracts, wage and hour compliance, workplace safety, and related litigation
  • Commercial dispute resolution, product liability litigation, and other controversies
  • Real property acquisitions and zoning, land use, and environmental compliance
  • Mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions

Our lawyers help clients overcome issues to advance business goals across the booming home goods and big box market sector. We advise on the power of Gen AI, ecommerce, and technology integration—with robust legal safeguards for sustainable growth.

  • Mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions
  • Business contracts, licensing, and investment management
  • IP and anticounterfeiting solutions
  • Ecommerce, supply chain, privacy, and data security
  • Litigation and regulatory compliance involving consumer protection, real estate, labor laws, and FDA matters
  • Labor and employment issues, including wage and hour compliance and workplace safety

We help brands in the luxury and fashion market address and overcome legal challenges associated with counterfeiting, cyber tax, supply chains, and brand protection—helping to ensure the swift and seamless achievement of their goals.

  • IP and anticounterfeiting advice and protection, including litigation and customs compliance
  • Employment advice and litigation, including wage transparency and wage and hour compliance
  • Data optimization, social media campaigns, consumer litigation, and privacy and cybersecurity
  • Mobile payments, digital currencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and related regulatory challenges
  • Capital-raising, licensing, acquisitions, joint ventures, and exit strategies
  • Retail property transactions, government investigations, sustainability, and consumer protection litigation
  • Mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions

Today’s top restaurant and food service providers rely on Morgan Lewis to assist with the legal issues surrounding consumer data, commercial contracts with delivery and technology companies, privacy concerns, and more.

  • Mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions
  • Franchising, brand licensing, and private equity and investments
  • FDA food safety and labeling regulations
  • Class action lawsuits, franchise disputes, and insurance recovery for business interruptions
  • Labor and employment class and collective litigation and advice including workplace safety, and wage and hour compliance ranging from predictive scheduling to worker classification
  • IP advice, commercial leases, and zoning and permitting

Our retail pharmacy team navigates clients through major market evolutions, including ongoing regulatory shifts and the expansion of telehealth and personalized medicine—with a focus on compliance and strategic growth.

  • US federal and state pharmacy regulations, including Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and FDA compliance
  • Telehealth services, digital prescriptions, and electronic health records
  • HIPAA compliance and safeguarding patient data through cybersecurity measures
  • Pharmacy licensing
  • Dispute resolution and litigation involving malpractice, insurance claims, and consumer protection controversy
  • Mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactions
  • Labor and employment issues, including class and collective litigation on worker classification issues and other wage and hour compliance issues

Our Team



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Our Work

Who We Serve

Luxury Brands, Fashion Brands, Grocery Stores, Restaurants & Food Service Providers, Retail Pharmacies, Homes Goods, Marketplace & Big Box

Our Insight