We help board members and staff identify when communications may trigger Sunshine Law issues and build practical guardrails for emails, texts, briefings, and committee work.
public board & agency
Counsel for Boards Entrusted with Public Purpose
Clear, strategic guidance for safeguarding your ideas, your brand, and your innovations.
Clark Partington advises public bodies, public agencies, independent special districts, water systems, and nonprofit corporations created by statute—helping decision-makers govern transparently, document carefully, contract confidently, and serve the public mission placed in their hands.
Legal counsel for the full life of a public-facing organization.
Clients reach out for IP support when they want to protect something meaningful they have created, or when they discover someone else may be using their work or their brand without permission. Common situations include:
Board Governance
Meeting protocols, officer duties, agendas, minutes, bylaws, committee structures, board training, and policy development.
Sunshine and open government
Guidance on open meetings, public notice, board communications, workshops, advisory committees, and records-sensitive workflows.
Public Records
Response processes, retention awareness, production review, sensitive information handling, and records policies for staff and board members.
Ethics & Gifts Laws
Conflicts, voting conflicts, gift restrictions, disclosures, procurement communications, travel, reimbursements, and appearance-of-fairness concerns.
Contracts & Procurement
RFPs, RFQs, bids, vendor agreements, professional services, leases, interlocal agreements, grant agreements, and performance contracts.
Funding & Grants
Award documents, reporting requirements, claw-back provisions, grantee due diligence, eligible-use questions, and implementation procedures.
Special Entities
Counsel for special districts, public agencies, public-benefit utilities, and legislatively created not-for-profit corporations.
Dispute Support
Practical risk assessment and advocacy when board decisions, contracts, public records, funding, property, or governance choices are challenged.
Legal counsel for the full life of a public-facing organization
Public boards often operate at the intersection of corporate law, administrative law, local government practice, public finance, procurement, ethics, and community expectations. Our role is to help boards stay mission-focused without losing sight of the rules that protect public trust.
Board Governance
Meeting protocols, officer duties, agendas, minutes, bylaws, committee structures, board training, and policy development.
Accurate and Effective IP Filings
Our team prepares trademark and copyright applications carefully and responds to any correspondence from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Enforcing Your Rights
We help protect your intellectual property from misuse, infringement, or counterfeiting, and we represent clients before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board when needed.
Copyright Protection for Original Works
From written content and artwork to software, designs, and media, we help creators secure federal registrations and enforce their rights.
Risk Reduction and Avoidance
We identify potential conflicts before they become problems and shield clients from misleading or fraudulent solicitations that often follow new filings.
Clear, Actionable Guidance
Our approach is grounded in helping clients understand their options and make informed decisions about how to protect and leverage their IP assets.
Your Public Board & Agency Attorneys
areas of practice:
Administrative, Business Litigation, Business and Corporate, Litigation, Real Estateareas of practice:
Business and Corporate, Business Litigation, General Civil Litigation, Governmental Affairs, Real Estate Litigationareas of practice:
Business Litigation, Entity and Shareholder Disputes, Probate Litigation, Property Disputes, Public Board and Agency, Mediationareas of practice:
Construction & Development, Environmental & Land Use, Litigation, Real EstateCommon questions we help clients work through.
The details change from board to board, but the underlying need is consistent: answer the legal question in a way the board, staff, public, and record can all understand.
Can we talk about this outside the meeting?
What records must we keep or produce?
We guide public-records response processes, retention awareness, exemptions, redaction workflows, and recordkeeping habits for board members and staff.
How should we structure this award or contract?
We advise on procurement documents, scopes of work, performance obligations, reporting duties, claw-back rights, public-purpose findings, and approval procedures.
Does this gift, reimbursement, sponsorship, or relationship create a problem?
We help public officials and board members evaluate ethics rules, gift restrictions, voting conflicts, disclosures, and reputational risk before the issue becomes a dispute.