OUR ATTORNEYS

Helaine Hudson

Helaine Hudson, founder of Hudson Law Firm, has extensive experience in the establishment and management of legal departments, primarily for start-ups in their rapid growth phase. Helaine's expertise includes negotiation of sophisticated commercial agreements, employment matters, technology licensing and intellectual property, as well acquisitions and the establishment and integration of subsidiaries. During nearly 15 years of practice, Helaine has handled hundreds of contracts and other legal matters involving parties located worldwide and ranging from individual service providers to Fortune 1000 companies and major financial institutions. She has also conducted trainings for attorneys and other professionals on subjects such as managing risk through contracts.

Previously, Helaine served as General Counsel of Archstone Consulting, a strategy and operations management consulting firm. Helaine was instrumental in the company's acquisition by The Hackett Group. Before that, Helaine served as the first General Counsel of RiskMetrics Group, a financial software and services provider of market and credit risk management products, formerly a division of JP Morgan. Helaine began her career as an associate in the corporate department of the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP concentrating in private equity acquisitions primarily in the media, publishing and communications industry.

Helaine earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1996, where she graduated magna cum laude. She was an executive editor and member of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law, a member of the Moot Court Honor Society, and the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Legal Writing. Helaine holds a BA from Hunter College, also graduating magna cum laude. Helaine is the author of Guess the Verdict - Over 100 Clever Courtroom Quizzes to Test Your Legal Smarts, published in 2004 by Sterling Publishing. She also contributed to The Seven Deadly Sins of Statements of Work, by Michael Overly and Mike Dettorre, published in The Banking Law Journal, May 2007.

Helaine is licensed to practice law in the State of New York.

Marlene Bartolo

Marlene Bartolo is a seasoned senior attorney with extensive experience with a broad array of legal matters, and with specific expertise in the food and consumer products industries. Her expertise has been developed over a period of nearly 20 years with such Fortune 100 companies as PepsiCo, Inc., Danone North America (and its affiliates The Dannon Company, Lea & Perrins and Danone Waters of North America) and MasterCard International.

Marlene's expertise includes complex commercial transactions and strategic alliances; e-commerce and technology development and licensing arrangements; antitrust and sales/distribution issues; supplier claims and dispute resolution; environmental matters; real property transactions and issues; employment matters; advertising, marketing and promotions; policy, process and template development; and corporate governance. Marlene has conducted numerous legal sensitivity, negotiation, and process trainings for senior management teams on a wide variety of subjects, including contract drafting and negotiation, marketing and promotions, antitrust and intellectual property management.

Marlene served as Vice President and Senior Counsel at MasterCard International for several years prior to serving as Assistant General Counsel at Archstone Consulting. Prior to MasterCard, Marlene served as Chief Compliance Officer and Associate Deputy General Counsel in charge of the General Commercial/Industrial legal team at Danone North America. Marlene started her in-house career with PepsiCo, Inc., where she served numerous client groups within Pepsi-Cola North America.

Marlene holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Notre Dame Law School, where she graduated magna cum laude. She served as research editor and member of the Notre Dame Law Review, and published numerous legal articles. Marlene's co-authored piece, "Protecting Trademark Goodwill: The Case for a Federal Standard of Misappropriation" received the 1990 "Brand Named Education Foundation - Stephen P. Ladas Memorial Award" for the most meaningful trademark article written that year. Marlene obtained her B.S. degree from Newman University (formerly Kansas Newman College) in Wichita, Kansas, graduating summa cum laude as a triple major in Marketing, Psychology, and Business Administration.

Marlene is licensed to practice law in the States of New York, California, Kansas and in Washington, D.C. Her admission to the Connecticut bar is pending.