June 2014


In this installment of The In-House Advisor, we interview Neal Winneg, who was most recently the General Counsel of Jumptap, Inc., a mobile advertising company, until its sale to Millennial Media, Inc.  After starting his legal career at Skadden Arps, Mr. Winneg has been an executive officer and general counsel of numerous public and private companies, including The Learning Company, Upromise and The Princeton Review.  Mr. Winneg also teaches in the Transactional Law program at Boston University School of Law.

The In-House Advisor (IHA): The role of in-house counsel has changed a lot over the years.  How do you see that role changing going forward and how can today’s in-house counsel prepare for those changes?

Neal Winneg (NW): It’s not news that advances in technology over the last 20 years have created extraordinary opportunities along with concomitant challenges for virtually everyone, both in business and our personal lives.  So, too, for in-house counsel.  Our businesses are becoming more agile and automated, and they are benefiting from vastly more and better data in virtually all functions.  The challenge for in-house lawyers associated with this trend has been the need to handle substantially more complex and technical legal requirements and … Keep reading

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In A Right to Match Can Provide Multiple Benefits, I discussed some subtle ways to create value through the use of a right to match or a right of first refusal.  A recent decision by Justice Robert Ullmann of the Massachusetts Superior Court highlights some additional features of rights to match that are far from intuitive and could either be used to your benefit or be a trap for the unwary.

In Serrano v. Serrano, Dennis Serrano had the right of first refusal to purchase property owned by the Marina Trust.  In March of 2014, the trustee of that Trust offered the property for sale, and Bremis Realty, Inc. offered to purchase the property for $2.2 million and agreed to put up a $5,000 deposit.  After Serrano was notified of the offer, he timely informed the trustee that he was exercising his right of first refusal, and tendered a check in the amount of $5,000, confirming that he genuinely was matching the Bremis Realty offer.  When Bremis Realty learned that Serranno had exercised his right to match, it made an enhanced offer that included, among other things, an expedited closing date and additional pre-payments.

When the Trust … Keep reading

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