CoreX Legal Team
Brent Britton
Brent Britton is the Founding Partner of Core X Legal. Since the early 1990’s Brent C.J. Britton has been assisting entrepreneurs and technology companies of all sizes in corporate and intellectual property transactions. A dot-com era Silicon Valley veteran, Britton’s legal career has included tours of duty in several major firms in San Francisco, New York City, and Tampa. In his third year out of law school, Britton founded the noted San Francisco technology law firm, Britton, Silberman & Cervantez, LLP, which was later acquired by Thelen Reid & Priest, LLP. Britton has been a prominent voice for the cultivation of Tampa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem while maintaining strong roots in the San Francisco Bay Area’s emerging companies community.
Britton’s clients range from startups to international conglomerates in the fields of digital media and software development, video games, AI, virtual reality, data analytics, education, mechanical devices, entertainment, telecommunications, healthcare, cybersecurity, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. Britton’s legal work covers a full range of services of value to technology companies, such as corporate formation, venture funding, technology licensing and transactions, intellectual property strategy and prosecution (patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets), due diligence and auditing, innovation lifecycle management, mergers & acquisitions, website policies and terms of service, sweepstakes and gambling rules and procedures, privacy, data security, GDPR, employment agreements, responding to employee claims of hostile workplace or wrongful termination, digital token sales, and a broad spectrum of regulatory advice.
While in law school in the early 90’s, Britton was the founding Editor in Chief of the B.U. School of Law Journal of Science and Technology Law, and he also clerked for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. A former computer scientist and software engineer, Britton is the only lawyer who holds a graduate degree from the MIT Media Laboratory. Alongside his Master of Science from MIT, Britton also holds a Bachelor of Arts in computer science from the University of Maine and a Juris Doctor from the Boston University School of law. Britton is admitted to practice law in California, New York, and Florida. He has been an adjunct professor of Creativity and Innovation at the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. He is the co-founder of several startups, and he writes and speaks frequently on entrepreneurship, creativity, ethics, and the philosophy of happiness and success. Britton’s book, “Ownability,” an introduction to intellectual property law, is available on amazon.com.
Jeff Nischwitz
Jeff Nischwitz is CoreX Legal’s Chief Executive Officer and, as part of the firm’s leadership team, is responsible for the firm’s people, operations, culture and growth. Jeff is no stranger to the business of law and growing an entrepreneurial law firm.
Beginning as a partner in a large northeast Ohio law firm, Jeff later left the corporate law firm to take the leap into entrepreneurship by creating his own law firm. After building and growing that firm into a northeast Ohio success story, Jeff did what few dare to even consider: he left that which he knew and which was successful to go in search of his true calling. For Jeff, getting by or merely succeeding without loving what he does was not acceptable.
Prior to joining Core X Legal, Jeff was the Founder of The Nischwitz Group, a speaking, consulting and coaching company. As an executive and business coach, and an international leadership, team engagement and culture speaker, Jeff is known for his unique perspectives, for challenging traditional thinking, and for delivering tangible shifts for leaders to grow their people, build their businesses and enhance their relationships. Jeff also worked extensively with business owners and their teams to help them achieve their highest levels of performance and business growth.
Jeff’s work included working with law firms and their leaders in four core areas: ensuring your firm’s future with succession planning and future leader development; building business development cultures and accelerating revenue growth; engaging, empowering and entrusting your team; and navigating the practice of law with less stress and more peace. Jeff’s now bringing this experience and skillset to Core X Legal’s impact and growth mission.
Jeff’s the author of five leadership and personal development books including Think Again! Innovative Approaches to the Business of Law; Unmask: Let Go of Who You’re “Supposed” to Be & Unleash Your True Leader; Arrows of Truth: Simple Shifts for Personal Transformation; Just One Step: Walking Backwards to the Present on the Camino Trail; and his recently launched Snow Globe Leadership: Shaken, Not Settled (2021). Jeff’s books are available on Amazon and at www.nischwitzgroup.com.
Jeff’s a magna cum laude graduate of Ohio State University Law School and a member of the Order of the Coif, as well as a magna cum laude graduate of Ohio Northern University with a B.S. in Business Administration.
Lauren Berner Orebaugh
Lauren Orebaugh graduated cum laude from Stetson University School of Law and cum laude with a Masters in Business Administration from Stetson University. She received her undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Tulane University.
Ms. Orebaugh’s practice focuses on commercial and capital transactions for small to medium size businesses, with a special emphasis on entrepreneurs and all-around creative types, as well as helping employers make smarter workforce decisions.
Ms. Orebaugh is a New Orleans native who has lived in Tampa since 1999. She is a lifelong fan of New Orleans’ jazz and has ridden on her share of Mardi Gras floats. She currently lives in South Tampa and spends her free time chasing around one small person and two big dogs. She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Hillsborough County Bar Association, and Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers.
Curtis Smolar
Curtis Smolar has over 25 years of practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Curtis represented small start-ups during the first Internet boom and helped them grow into a mature profitable businesses, many of which are Fortune 500 companies today. He’s known to be a practical problem solver who keeps his eye on the clients’ business goals.
Curtis’ representation of companies spans the corporate life-cycle, from pre-incorporation planning, general corporate representation and counseling, venture capital financings, public offerings, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. He also works with venture capitalists, private equity investors and investment banks involved in private and public stock offerings. Curtis is a veteran of Am Law 100 law firms and his representative clients have included PayPal, eBay, and Bank of America. CoreX Legal is excited to have Curtis on the team and to have him leading our expansion in San Francisco and California.
Deb Besinger
Deb Besinger joined the CoreX Legal team shortly after its launch, and has quickly become an integral team member. Deb works closely with Chief Impact Officer, Jeff Nischwitz, and is responsible for supporting the firm’s operations and marketing, including client onboarding, billing, client communication, and social media. Deb has extensive experience as a freelance writer, relationship coach, and entrepreneur, and she brings her natural intuition and compassion to her role of assuring exceptional experiences for the firm’s clients and team. CoreX Legal is excited to have Deb as part of our team.
Caroline Blidar
Caroline Blidar is one of CoreX Legal’s 2022 summer interns, and we’re excited to have her on the team this summer. Caroline is a Florida native and is a rising third year law student at Florida State University College of Law where she’s focusing on corporate, business and intellectual property law. She previously graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Criminology, and expects to graduate with her J.D. degree from Florida State in 2023. Caroline lives in St. Pete, is active in the Tampa Bay community, and is working out of the firm’s Tampa office this summer.
