It has been a while since I last offered my thoughts about how best to use the legal system to your business advantage. To be honest, after writing about bankruptcy and reducing payroll costs, I had little to offer that appeared useful during these challenging times. Me with no clue; go figure. While challenges remain, my practice is revealing opportunities for well positioned start-ups and established small businesses based upon substantial reductions in the

Our firm has experienced substantial changes in the past year. We have a new address, new staff, new equipment, and more litigation than contract and transaction work. There are two constants: me and our need to update our website. If you recall, I write about legal issues that are annoying me. This month’s prize is asset protection coverage provided by insurance policies. Because carriers make money by minimizing claim pay-outs, there is a substantial disparity between the v

Well, has anyone seen the economic recovery? I have been looking, but can’t find it. Restructuring and deleveraging continues and we must adjust. Business downsizing or failures present both challenges and opportunities. As companies vacate their sectors, the need increases for new leaner businesses which provide better services and products for lower prices. As companies continue to shed employees, for some, the only option is to start their own business. For example, I ha

It is a new year. We have a new President and Congress who will present us with challenges to meet and opportunities to assess. We are heading in a direction where mutual sacrifice is in and greed is out. Despite the fact that personal responsibility also is in, I suspect that lawsuits and bankruptcy filings will not be out. Accordingly, the next several months will be anything but dull. My subsequent posts will focus on positive uses for the law such as leasing, asset purc

Before addressing this less than exciting topic, I want to wish all of you Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and a Joyous New Year. This next year is shaping up to be a challenge which will make us smarter and stronger. Hard work and careful planning will get us through it to enjoy the recovery. The current economic disruption is presenting us with opportunities which some of my clients are exploring. However, many of us are confronting the “dark

Given the state of our economy, companies are looking for ways to reduce their cost of doing business. I have engaged my own staff to aid in a similar effort. As you might have guessed, their first suggestion was that I fire myself to reduce costs and increase their productivity. I have asked them to refocus. In recent weeks, many of my clients have focused on saving via reductions in payroll. This often involves: hire freezes, reductions in entry level salaries and benefits

The Olympics are over. If Michael Phelps was a lawyer, I'd be looking for a new line of work. The nominating conventions are over. If the candidates kept their promises .....what am I saying? One thing is certain, summer is over and it's time to get back to work. In my last post, I wrote about how to get paid under the terms of a commission agreement. In this post, I will focus on how to get paid for goods or services delivered when there is no written contract or no agreem

In recent months, I have been working with clients to analyze draft, secure, and enforce commission compensation agreements. I have drafted a number of these agreements in the past without incident. The last time I litigated a commission agreement, Bill Clinton was President and Monica was not on the event horizon. So, I was bemused to learn that people are still struggling with them. Then I read the documents at issue and could hear the voice of Tevya, the lead character in

This past month two clients asked me to implement their objectives by drafting language for non-compete agreements, which we lawyers brilliantly refer to as NCAs. These two clients, engaged in different contract negotiations, presented me with diametrically opposing requirements. The employer client sought to “handcuff” her professional staff post-employment. And of course, the professional employee client sought a key to unlock his employer’s handcuffs. What irony. I love

For me, the most appealing aspect of practicing law is meeting people and resolving their business and litigation issues. My current pet peeve is arbitration. Recently, I have represented a number of arbitration litigants. The process offers hope of efficiency, but this can be illusory. While the process can produce good results, it is plagued with flaws that are better addressed by the court system. When putting a deal together, clients can be averse to facing the negative