Hillary is a business, consumer brands, sports & entertainment and technology attorney.

Hillary represents sports & entertainment talent, entrepreneurs, start-up businesses and established brands as well as angel, venture capital and private equity investors.  She serves as the Chair of the firm’s Business, Sports, Arts & Entertainment and Consumer Brands practices.  Hillary counsels clients on a full range of matters, from day-to-day operational concerns to sophisticated transactions.  Like the innovative entrepreneurs, talent and brands she advises, Hillary strives to bring creative yet practical strategies to legal services, assisting clients with brand and asset protection, risk management and dispute resolution. The matters on which she counsels are often cross-border in nature.

The clients of Hillary’s practice include entrepreneurs, start-up businesses and established brands as well as angel, venture capital and private equity investors.  She has a broad transactional background, advising business clients with a variety of matters, including corporate structure, capital raising and financing, commercial matters, intellectual property matters, mergers and acquisitions and other exit transactions.  Hillary works with brands disrupting their categories and those developing innovative technology as well as the investors supporting those brands. 

Hillary’s consumer brands practice focuses on advising clients across a variety of consumer goods sectors, including food & beverage; vitamins, minerals and supplements; pet food and accessories; health, beauty and wellness (including cosmetics and skin care); fashion, apparel, footwear, jewelry, handbags and accessories; consumer electronics; toys and games; housewares and home goods; and more. Her food & beverage practice focuses primarily on better-for-you, natural, organic, plant-based, vegan, cultivated, cultured meat or cell-based meat and food tech category. Hillary’s Food & Beverage practice produces a weekly publication focusing on legal and regulatory matters, market trends, operational matters and transactions in the start-up and emerging food & beverage industry called the Emerging Food & Beverage Update. Click here to subscribe. Her Health Beauty & Wellness practice also produces a weekly publication focusing on that sector. Click here to subscribe.

Hillary also advises international brands expanding into the United States, as well as investors and vendors partnering with those brands. She counsels these clients on operational concerns and sophisticated transactions including raising capital, intellectual property development and protection, manufacturing/packing, broker, distribution, supply and other services arrangements as well as on other commercial matters and exit transactions. Hillary supports clients on launching, investing in, scaling, and protecting their valuable brands in a global marketplace. She provides boutique-quality specialized industry knowledge and experience backed by the resources of a full-service mid-sized law firm. Hillary understands that effective representation involves leveraging a variety of areas of law to accomplish the objectives of the brands she services. With the increasing trend of brands and celebrities to partner, she often finds her consumer brands and sports & entertainment practices intersecting and assists brands or their celebrity partners on investment and/or endorsement transactions.

Hillary’s sports & entertainment clients include new and established athletes, recording artists, actors, television personalities, writers, television producers, music producers, songwriters, journalists, broadcasters, photographers, fashion designers, chefs and talent agents and managers.  Her counsel to them spans a broad range of services on matters such as brand and intellectual property protection and licensing, services arrangements, rights acquisition and disposition, entrepreneurship and investment and post-career planning.

In Hillary’s technology and artificial intelligence practice, she combines a passion for innovation with her emerging technology insights to assist clients with unlocking technology and AI's potential while mitigating its legal risks. She works closely with investors and businesses across diverse industries, advising them on technology and AI’s legal intricacies so they can make informed decisions about how to responsibly leverage it within their enterprises. Hillary guides her clients across the complex technology and AI landscape by providing counsel in a number of areas that include commercial, intellectual property and corporate transactions.

When not serving her clients, she dedicates time to pro bono service to both non-profit organizations and individuals unable to afford legal services and serves as a volunteer to a variety of public charities. Hillary’s involvement in the legal community includes membership in local bar associations such as the New York County Lawyers’ Association, where she served as chair of its Corporation Law Committee for seven years. She is also a member of the Sports, Entertainment and International Law and Practice Sections of the American, New York State, and New York Women's Bar Associations. Hillary is also a member of the Sports Lawyers Association and the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association and the Jewish Lawyers Guild.

What clients say about Hillary:

“I was impressed with her ability to grasp the concepts and complexities of our vision. She offered sound legal judgment and showed her business acumen to plan a course of action. It was easy to see she would be tough-minded and direct in business situations and discussions...but also incredibly understanding and compassionate. She has demonstrated outstanding strategic planning advice geared towards the success of major projects and events. She is always thinking "big" picture in our business efforts, but detail analysis is never overlooked. She possesses unquestionable accountability and commitment to objectives.”

“Successful negotiations are about attitude, aptitude, strategy, and execution, and Hillary excels on all counts. She is a pleasure to work with - tough-minded but with a sense of humor even in the heat of battle. Even when not in negotiations, Hillary is always "on the case" and her follow-up skills are remarkable.

“I always feel confident that she has my best interests in mind. Hillary always responds to my communication promptly, even occasionally on the weekend when the need has arisen. I’ve always been confident that she will guide me towards the best decision for each situation.”

“It is a pleasure to work with Hillary. She is very thorough, honest, knowledgeable and always makes enough time to work with me on various issues regardless of how big or small they are.”

Professional Activities

• Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Member, 2012-present
  • 35th College Television Awards, Judge, February 2014
• American Bar Association, Member, 1997-present
• Civil Court of the City of New York, Small Claims Part, Arbitrator, 2009-present
• Foster Garvey Business & Corporate Finance practice, Chair, 2021-present
• Foster Garvey Emerging Companies practice, Chair, 2019-present
• Foster Garvey Food & Beverage practice, Chair, 2019-present
• Foster Garvey Sports, Arts & Entertainment practice, Chair 2019-present
• Garvey Schubert Barer, Emerging Companies practice, Chair, 2011-2019
• Garvey Schubert Barer, Food & Beverage practice, Chair, 2016-2019
• Garvey Schubert Barer, Arts & Entertainment practice, Chair 2012-2019
• Jewish Lawyers Guild, Member, 1999-present
• New York City Bar Association, Member, 1999-present
• New York County Lawyers Association, Member
  • Chair, Corporation Law Committee, 2000-2007
• New York State Bar Association, Member, 1997-present
• Plant Based Foods Association, Member, 2018-present
• The Recording Academy, Member, 2012-present
• The Women in Toys Foundation, Member, 2024

Community Activities

• Park Slope Schoolhouse Child Care Center, Inc.
  • Chair, Board of Directors, 2012-present
  • Vice Chair, 2009-2012
• SKIP (Sick Kids Need Involved People) of New York, Inc.
  • Member, Board of Directors, 2011-2016
  • Member, Junior Advisory Board, 2007-2011

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