Beauty & Wellness
The fast-moving and highly competitive beauty and wellness sector presents distinct legal and business challenges for brands at every stage of growth. The industry continues to evolve rapidly, driven by innovation, changing distribution channels, increased scrutiny of product claims, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
As one of the few international law firms with a dedicated Beauty & Wellness industry group, Sidley combines deep industry knowledge with sophisticated transactional, regulatory, litigation, intellectual property, commercial, and employment capabilities. We advise founders, brands, manufacturers, retailers, investors, and other industry players on their most consequential matters, from product launches and navigating FDA and FTC requirements to structuring commercial relationships, raising capital, and executing transformative transactions.
Our lawyers understand not only the legal issues facing beauty and wellness brands but also the commercial dynamics, consumer trends, and strategic priorities that drive the industry. Using a multidisciplinary approach rooted in our sector insight and understanding of the trends driving the industry, we deliver creative, practical, business-focused solutions designed to help clients capitalize on opportunities, accelerate growth, manage risk, protect long-term brand value, and bring products to market with confidence while reducing exposure.
Our transactional lawyers bring a distinctive perspective to beauty and wellness transactions, having advised clients on capital raises, minority and control investments, M&A transactions, and joint ventures. We understand what strategic buyers, private equity sponsors, growth investors, family offices, and other capital providers scrutinize, what can create friction in a transaction, and how to position a business to move efficiently through diligence, negotiations, and closing. That market intelligence informs our advice from the outset.
We advise beauty and wellness brands throughout their life cycles — from early- and growth-stage financings and strategic investments to transformative acquisitions, joint ventures, and exits. We also represent financial sponsors and strategic investors seeking opportunities across the sector, giving us insight into both sides of the negotiating table. Whatever the transaction, we take a long-term view, ensuring that the structure and terms support our clients’ immediate objectives while preserving flexibility for future growth, strategic opportunities, and potential exits.
For clients considering a sale or other liquidity event, we begin well before a transaction is launched, helping management teams and founders identify and address issues that could affect valuation, diligence, deal certainty, or timing. We then guide clients through the full transaction process, with the goal of maximizing value while protecting the business and brand they have built.
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The relationships that enable beauty and wellness brands to develop, market, and distribute their products are the foundation of their brand value. Sidley helps clients structure and negotiate the commercial agreements that bring their products to market, protect their brands, and support growth across channels and markets.
We advise beauty and wellness brands on a broad range of complex commercial transactions, including retail and distribution agreements, manufacturing, supply and third-party logistics arrangements, strategic collaborations, licensing arrangements, and agreements with creative, marketing, and other service providers. We bring a business-driven and operationally grounded perspective to the negotiation of these agreements. Working as one multidisciplinary team, we help clients navigate issues ranging from exclusivity, pricing, and antitrust considerations to intellectual property ownership and licensing, product quality and supply-chain risk, and termination rights.
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Innovative marketing is essential to building brand equity and connecting with consumers, but it can also create significant regulatory, intellectual property, and litigation risk. Sidley helps clients navigate that intersection, enabling them to pursue creative and effective marketing strategies while anticipating and managing legal exposure.
We advise beauty and wellness brands, retailers, influencers, talent agencies, and other industry participants across the full life cycle of advertising and promotional campaigns. Our work includes advertising review and clearance, claim substantiation, endorsements and testimonials, influencer and sponsorship arrangements, social media campaigns, agency agreements, FTC compliance, intellectual property issues, and the design and execution of consumer promotions.
Our lawyers also counsel clients on pricing and fee disclosures, gift cards, contests, charitable cause and green marketing, free shipping offers, “Made in USA” claims, loyalty and rewards programs, subscription and auto-renewal practices, and other consumer engagement promotions.
By bringing together advertising, regulatory, litigation, intellectual property, privacy, and transactional experience, we help clients identify issues early, structure creative partnerships and campaigns effectively, and protect the value and reputation of their brands.
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Amy P. Lally, Michelle Doolin, Rara Kang, Adriane Peralta, Emily Zipperstein
Our award-winning FDA and regulatory practice regularly counsels clients on advertising best practices, challenges to competitor advertising, product positioning and regulatory classification, and claims substantiation. We represent clients in investigations and enforcement proceedings initiated by the FDA, the DOJ, and other regulatory authorities, as well as on product quality, product testing, and product recall issues.
We have the depth of knowledge and experience to help you navigate the complex web of statutes, regulations, and policies enforced by the FDA, the DOJ, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). With MoCRA, additional regulations are coming, and our experienced team is prepared to help brands get ready for good manufacturing practice (GMP) regulations.
We focus on reducing and managing your risk of litigation by negotiating liability and insurance coverage for products; advising on product labeling and marketing materials; protecting your interests before regulatory agencies; protecting your intellectual property; litigating and arbitrating distribution, collaboration, and supplier agreements; and educating your workforce on prevention issues. If a product liability claim does end up in court, our seasoned litigators have extensive experience representing clients in complex federal, state, and international proceedings involving personal injury, consumer fraud class actions, and product recalls.
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Sidley’s robust Intellectual Property practice gives beauty, personal care, and wellness brands a powerful edge in safeguarding what makes them unique. Drawing on deep experience across trademark, patent, copyright, and trade secret law, we help clients develop and execute comprehensive strategies to protect and enforce their most valuable IP assets worldwide.
We represent founders, financial sponsors, and strategics, as well as manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors, and we regularly advise on the IP aspects of acquisitions, investments, and brand partnerships. Our work in the beauty, personal care, and wellness space includes securing protection for innovative proprietary formulas and iconic packaging designs, negotiating complex licensing agreements, brand collaborations, and influencer arrangements, and enforcing rights against counterfeiters and infringers.
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Consumer protection laws mean high stakes for beauty and wellness brands. Government investigations, class actions, mass arbitrations, and adverse publicity can follow even small legal missteps. Sidley helps clients navigate compliance with consumer protection laws, and our seasoned litigators — who include former enforcement officials and counsel practicing before government agencies and other regulatory organizations — use innovative approaches to address consumer issues, including in class actions and mass arbitrations. We also regularly counsel brands on strategies for litigation risk mitigation through the review and drafting of online terms and conditions.
Sidley’s Consumer Class Actions team excels in protecting cosmetic industry clients from challenges posed by consumer protection laws and regulations. We advise beauty and wellness brands on product labeling, advertising, and marketing claims across cosmetics, personal care, wellness, and consumer health products. We combine our award-winning FDA and FTC regulatory practice with extensive litigation experience to offer strategic advice and representation. Our team counsels clients on FTC and FDA compliance, substantiation of product claims, ingredient disclosures, packaging review, and risk mitigation tied to consumer protection laws. We have also successfully defended clients in class actions and mass arbitrations involving claims of false advertising, product mislabeling, deceptive pricing, and unlawful marketing, leveraging insights from former enforcement officials and counsel.
Our lawyers counsel clients on a broad range of product safety matters, including product testing, reporting requirements, effectuating and/or defending against product recalls and product liability claims, responding to civil penalty investigations, and developing and implementing robust safety compliance programs. By drawing on Sidley’s global network and collaborating with experts in various fields, we provide a comprehensive approach to complex product liability and consumer disputes.
Contacts
Amy P. Lally, Michelle Doolin, Rara Kang, Adriane Peralta, Nima Mohebbi
Sidley’s Labor and Employment team advises beauty, personal care, and wellness brands on the workforce issues that arise as they grow and scale across e-commerce, retail, wholesale, and other channels. We understand the employment models common to the industry, including the use of independent contractors, consultants, brand ambassadors, creatives, and other nontraditional service providers. It is critically important for brands to understand the proper use and potential pitfalls associated with these workforces. We help clients navigate complex state laws governing wages, hours, overtime, commissions, bonuses, and other pay practices.
Beyond compliance, we advise beauty brands on the full range of day-to-day employment issues that accompany a growing business, including hiring, performance management, discipline, and terminations, as well as the preparation and review of employment, confidentiality, severance, and restrictive covenant agreements. Our lawyers also advise on employment-related considerations in mergers, acquisitions, investments, and other strategic transactions, helping clients identify and address workforce risks as their businesses evolve.
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Sidley’s Beauty & Wellness group helps clients navigate complex executive compensation, employee incentive and retention, and other benefits issues — all with a focus on recruiting, retaining, and maximizing the productivity of our clients’ critical talent and avoiding costly turnover. We are experienced in addressing day-to-day employee benefits and executive compensation issues, as well as those that arise in the context of mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions, joint ventures, IPOs, and restructurings. We collaborate with our clients and their compensation consultants to design equity and other incentive compensation plans, including stock option plans, long-term incentive plans, and bonus plans, while guiding clients through the complex securities and tax rules when drafting, implementing, and administering these plans. We also regularly advise on all aspects of employee benefits and compensation issues that arise for our clients in the context of M&A matters, including the treatment of equity-based compensation, change-in-control arrangements, retention arrangements (including the holdback of transaction proceeds for retention purposes), and executive and employee integration.
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Sidley assists clients with a wide array of complex privacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), incident and data breach response, and transactional matters. Across the beauty and wellness industry, we help clients navigate the evolving patchwork of federal and state privacy laws, as well as emerging requirements governing advertising technologies, consumer health data, biometrics, and children and teens’ privacy. We are also at the forefront of AI regulation and industry frameworks, helping businesses address the legal, regulatory, and operational considerations associated with the development and deployment of internal and consumer-facing AI tools.
Our cybersecurity and data protection team has deep experience helping clients prepare for and manage data security incidents of all sizes, responding rapidly to evolving global threats while protecting critical systems, sensitive information, and valuable data assets.
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Sidley’s Beauty & Wellness group is adept at both the practical “nuts and bolts” of customs compliance issues and the broader nuances of trade policy. Our experience spans the full range of customs matters, including tariff classification, valuation, transfer pricing, origin, labeling, trade agreements and preference programs, counterfeit enforcement, border IP protection, and specialized customs regimes, such as the use of foreign/free trade zones, bonded warehouses, and other duty deferral/refund programs. We advise on specialized tariffs, including Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs in the United States, as well as other trade remedy actions, including antidumping/countervailing and safeguard investigations. Members of our dedicated customs practice have also served in key regulatory roles within the U.S. government, the European Commission, the United Kingdom, and international organizations overseeing imports and exports.
