Baker & Daniels to "Focus" on Recreational Vehicle Industry

Baker & Daniels LLP has organized its extensive recreational vehicle experience into a new legal team focused on the needs of RV manufacturers and suppliers. The team operates as RV Focus.

"RV Focus was created to provide practical solutions for a broad array of issues faced by companies involved in the RV manufacturing process," said Jim Brotherson, an RV Focus lawyer in Baker & Daniels' Elkhart office. Elkhart County is the "RV Capital of the World," serving as home to nearly two dozen facilities that build famous brands and many more suppliers.

The scope of RV Focus includes everything from starting a new RV business to lobbying legislators for regulatory reform. "We are very centered on the needs of RV manufacturers, and we do not represent RV dealers or consumers in actions against RV companies," Brotherson added.

The RV Focus team is spread across Baker & Daniels' offices and is positioned to represent RV clients nationally. Brotherson, Ken Weaver and Glenn Killoren, all partners with Baker & Daniels' Elkhart office, are longtime members of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.

"RV Focus brings together our collective legal and RV industry knowledge so we can serve our clients most effectively," said Joe Tanner, RV Focus lawyer in Indianapolis. "RV Focus is also a statement of our commitment as a law firm to the RV industry. It acknowledges that the RV industry needs and deserves special treatment in the financial, legislative and legal aspects of its work."

Specific services provided by the RV Focus team include dealer agreements; consumer complaints, arbitration, mediation and litigation; regulatory compliance and lobbying; patents and trademarks; new business development and business growth strategies; and international business practices.

"As the RV industry has grown, so has the experience needed to effectively compete in this marketplace," said Steve Hazelrigg, RV Focus lawyer in Fort Wayne. "This has become a much more sophisticated industry, and our firm provides a more sophisticated approach to it. There are a lot of unique challenges faced by RV manufacturers and suppliers on many fronts today, and RV Focus is our response to those challenges."

Other core members of the RV Focus team include Gerard Gallagher, South Bend, and Mark Weller, Washington, D.C.