Robert Adelson has been a corporate and tax attorney since 1977. He began as an associate at nationally prominent New York City “mega” law firms, first at the Wall Street firm Dewey Ballantine Bushby Palmer & Wood and later at the Park Avenue firm Weil Gotshal & Manges. In 1985, Adelson returned home, where he has since established himself as a respected Boston business attorney. He has attained partner at several small and midsize Boston law firms, most recently at Lawson & Weitzen LLP and then Zimble Brettler LLP, where he was a partner from 1994 to 2004 before becoming a partner at Engel & Schultz LLP.
Educational Background
Mr. Adelson degrees from Boston University, B.A. 1974, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, Northwestern University (Chicago), J.D. 1977 and Law Review member, and New York University, LL.M. in Taxation. 1985. While at Boston University, Adelson was an associate editor of the Daily Free Press, President of the CLA Forum, Editor-in-chief of Course and Teacher Evalution and received the university’s Case Scholarship Award for his achievements.
Description of Clientele
Mr. Adelson has over the years represented and continues to represent a growing group of individual and business clients that fit into these four groups:
- Smaller and Early Stage companies
- Consultants and service providers
- Executives and key employees
- Family businesses in transition
Law work for Businesses
Mr. Adelson’s main work areas for startup / early stage businesses are in the areas of:
- Business formation, entity choice and business organization
- Capitalization, and seed, angel and venture capital finance;
- Development of employee stock options and company benefit plans;
- Shareholder agreements and cross sale arrangements;
- Software and product development, software agreements, contract production and outsourcing;
- Marketing and distribution contracts;
- Trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and intellectual property protection
- Patent, trademark and product licensing and sponsored research arrangements;
- Partnerships, Joint Ventures, and strategic alliances
- Mergers and Acquisitions, spinoffs and divestitures;
- Estate and business succession planning and phantom stock arrangements for family businesses.
Law work for Service Providers
His main work areas for executives, employees and consultants are in the areas of:
- Offer letters, term sheets and employment agreements,
- Noncompete, confidentiality, restrictive covenants;
- Restricted stock, stock, options, SARs, phantom stock;
- Relocation, tax gross-ups, recruitment issues;
- Severance, retention, termination agreements;
- Consultant, director, service agreeme
Published articles and Presentations
Mr. Adelson is a frequent lecturer for CPE and other professional and entrepreneurial groups. He specializes in tax and corporate law, shareholder agreements, employment contracts, intellectual property law, and employment negotiations, with numerous articles in those fields. He has been published in Boston Business Journal, Darwin Magazine, Mass High Tech, Family Business magazine, Genetic Engineering News, and The Culpepper Letter (serving the software industry). For a listing of recent presentations Mr. Adelson has given and recently published articles of his authorship, including articles available online, go to Publications.
Recognition and Leadership
Since arriving in Boston in 1985, Mr. Adelson has established himself as a respected business, tax and trademark attorney, handling executive contracts and other corporate law.. Boston has recognized his achievements and Mr. Adelson has been cited in both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald and in a chapter of the book The End of Shareholder Value (published in 2000). A member of the Massachusetts and New York Bars, Mr. Adelson is a top Massachusetts incorporation lawyer who has helped hundreds of small and developing businesses negotiate the corridors of corporate law. He is a Chairman of the IEEE Boston Entrepreneurs Network and a member of the Advisory Board and program director of the 128 Innovation Capital Group, and is recognized and respected for his work as a Boston startup company lawyer.
Personal Background
Mr. Adelson grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He resides in Newton, Massachusetts, with wife Julia and their two children, William and Kathryn. He has enjoyed his turns as William’s cub scout leader, part-time civics teacher and little league baseball coach, and as Kathryn’s Newton Girls soccer coach. He’s also enjoyed the chance to introduce this new generation of Adelsons to the ups and downs of rooting for Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and BU Terriers. He also enjoys an interest in history and wrote a piece for the family Passover observance. This non-legal written work by Mr. Adelson is posted for those with an interest at this link, Haggadah Ha Shoah.
For more on Attorney Adelson, see
- Publications and Presentations
- Recognition and Leadership
- Personal Background
Mr. Adelson may be contacted directly via email: radelson@engelschultz.com.
