Trezanay M. Atkins, Esq.

Founder & Managing Attorney

I have spent most of my legal career around brands.

The businesses, decisions, relationships, risks, and commercial value that exist around them have always been what interested me most.

My earliest exposure to this world came in Business & Legal Affairs at CMG Worldwide, where I worked around intellectual property rights management, infringement enforcement, licensing opportunities, and valuable brand portfolios. It was my first look at how licensing, marketing, enforcement, commercial relationship and reputation all contribute to the value of a brand.

I went on to train in sophisticated litigation at two Am Law 100 firms and later built my own practice, developing deep experience in trademarks and intellectual property.

And the work kept expanding outward. A product might carry valuable intellectual property, while its claims, labeling, advertising, supplier relationship, and regulatory exposure have the ability to strengthen or damage the goodwill surrounding that product and the company behind it.

Consumer products became the natural home for the kind of legal practice I had been building.

Today, I lead tmaLaw’s fractional general counsel practice for consumer brands in beauty, personal care, and wellness. I work with companies that have moved beyond the early-stage version of legal, where outside counsel is called only when somthing specific needs attention. Their business are more complex now. The legal work is recurring, interconnected, and increasingly embeded in day-to-day operation.

At that stage, having a lawyer to call is no longer the same thing as having legal counsel. Contracts are arriving regularly. Marketing is making regulated claims. Supplier and manufacturing relationships are becoming more consequential. Retail partners have their own terms, certifications, and timelines. The brand portfolio is growing. Investors, lenders, and business partners are asking harder questions.

And much of that legal responsibility is still landing on founders, COOs, VPs of Operations, and other leaders whose actual jobs are to run and grow the company.

I serve as ongoing outside counsel to consumer brands that need a consistent legal relationship before hiring a full-time in-house lawyer makes sense. Where an in-house legal team already exists, I can also work alongside it when additional consumer-products coverage is needed.