Our Practices

LB3's lawyers pioneered the negotiation of custom network service agreements and other complex telecommunications network transactions that typically involve a combination of services such as domestic and international voice, dedicated access, private line, teleconferencing, DWDM, Ethernet, MPLS, remote access, and IP-based transport. Today we develop telecom procurement strategies; define vendor selection criteria, evaluate proposals; and negotiate agreements that allow our clients to seize the opportunities presented by the changing technology and supplier landscape.

Our experience includes:

• Representing many of the nation's largest enterprise customers in the negotiation of agreements for a wide range of services, including voice and data services with interexchange carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon and wireless voice and data services with all of the major carriers.
• Assisting enterprise customers in dealing with the new megacarriers: AT&T (AT&T IXC, SBC and Bell South), Verizon and Sprint by developing new contracting strategies and contract documents.
• Representing the City of New York in the negotiation of path breaking local service agreements with Verizon and AT&T.
• Assisting organizations in the insurance, health care, hospitality, and retail sectors in the negotiation of consortium purchases under which participants pool their buying power in local, long distance, and Internet services.

• Negotiating and arbitrating interconnection arrangements with interexchange and incumbent local exchange carriers on behalf of competitive providers of local telecommunications.

The markets for international and overseas telecommunications, network, and IT services offer dynamism and unique operational and cost-savings opportunities for multinational enterprises.  They also offer a raft of sourcing, legal, and operational challenges. 

Since the firm’s inception, LB3 attorneys have helped clients navigate the ever-changing markets for these services and assess changing technologies, service offerings, providers and provider capabilities.  We have extensive, tested experience negotiating global communications, managed services, and other technology transactions for sophisticated financial services, hospitality, shipping, logistics and carriage services, and pharmaceutical, automotive, and other manufacturing clients.  We work closely with clients’ in-house and outside procurement, technical, tax, human resources, and financial professionals to identify and solve regulatory, financial, operational, data privacy and security, and human resources issues that are often critical to the success of international transactions.  We also draw upon our global network of advisors when specialized or in-country expertise is needed to augment our clients’ resources.

To each transaction, we bring our broad knowledge of service provider reach and practices, the hands-on involvement and expertise of the firm’s partners, an unwavering focus on our clients’ objectives and the most effective means to achieve them, a dedication to quality, and a commitment to efficient and cost-effective staffing.

In the years before the telecom megamergers, competitive local exchange carriers ("CLECs") like the old MCI and AT&T Local Services competed head-to-head with incumbent local exchange carriers ("ILECs") such as Verizon, BellSouth, and SBC for the business of large users by offering additional discounts when a customer purchased both local and interexchange services. The ILECs responded by introducing or expanding programs that offer discounts to customers who commit certain volumes of traffic and waging war on programs that allowed resale of their services at reasonable rates. Although the CLECs have been battered and telecom megamergers have diminished competition for local services, enterprise customers can still reap meaningful savings and substantially improved terms and conditions by negotiating local services agreements. Our first-hand knowledge and first-on-the-ground experience, help clients navigate the local services market, including the emerging market of integrated local/interexchange agreements, to help ensure that enterprise customers are able to maximize pricing benefits and contractual protections.

As carriers expand their markets and geographic reach, many have turned to us for advice as they negotiate carrier-to-carrier agreements. We have negotiated nine- and ten-figure telecommunications service and dark fiber agreements between carriers - always on the buyer's side of the table. We ensure that clients emerge with well-defined services, workable service quality parameters, and terms that protect against unwarranted rate increases.

LB3 has also long represented competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) in dealing with incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). We have been a leader in representing CLECs in matters relating to market entry, as well as negotiating (and, when necessary, arbitrating) interconnection agreements, counseling CLECs, Data Local Exchange Carriers (DLECs) and Enterprise or Captive Local Exchange Carriers (ELECs) with regard to regulatory matters, obtaining state certifications, and communications-related securities issues. And LB3 assists CLECs in disputes with incumbent local exchange providers.