I have written about how to hire a business lawyer at times in the past. My first rule is that the lawyer should be experienced and competent in business law rather than choosing a personal injury, family law, criminal law or other lawyer. My analogy used to be that you would not want a plastic
Think Twice Before Deducting From Employee’s Last Paycheck
Charlie Longbrief, attorney at law, had just turned off his computer late on a Friday afternoon when the phone rang. It was Pete Geek who owned a local computer consulting service.
"Charlie, I’ve got a problem," Pete said.
"Tell me about it," Charlie said.
"Well, I had to fire one of my sales people earlier
Is Licensing a Viable Option Rather Than Franchising?
Congratulations to What’s For Dinner – Des Moines and its owners, Dawn Angus and Kristen Severs for their feature article in the Des Moines Business Record. The success of their meal assembly business has brought multiple inquiries from would be entrepreneurs who are wondering whether they offer franchises opportunities for their business. The thought of expanding beyond
Employees v. Independent Contractors Drawing Interest
Thanks to Nina Kaufman for quoting my post "Employees v. Independent Contractors" on the Entrepreneur.com Blog Network. Nina’s blog on the network is "Making It Legal: The small business mentor’s guide to entrepreneurship and law." Her advice on the employee v. independent contractor issue is excellent:
This is not an area to
Aerospace Geartech and BIZ Featured in Des Moines Register
Congratulations to Vince Basile of Aerospace Geartech who is featured in an article about the Business Innovation Zone (BIZ) in today’s Des Moines Register Business section.
Executive Director Mike Colwell worked with Vince to obtain grants through the Iowa Department of Economic Development and DMACC in order to purchase two manufacturing businesses (one from Ilinois and
Copying Online Contracts is Easy but Dangerous
Iowa intellectual property lawyer Brett Trout has a terrific post on IowaBiz illustrating why it is dangerous to steal online contracts. Brett says,
I have seen companies steal terms of use agreements and privacy policies from websites that have nothing to do with their line of business. Not even taking the time to read the
Employees v. Independent Contractors
Small Business Owners – Beware! If you own or manage a small business you live in a world of substantial legal risks and increasing complexity. It is easy to find examples of practices that once have been common but now could give rise to employment lawsuits. One such example I often hear is "I’ll
Do You Need A Lawyer to Incorporate in Iowa?
It is possible to form your own corporation without a lawyer’s help. Every day, many entrepreneurs do exactly that by using online incorporation kits. I have written about such companies in the past. There is definitely a segment of the market these incorporation companies serve.
The most obvious motivating factor for setting up a corporation
BIZ Networking Event Today
The Business Innovation Zone (BIZ) has its first networking event today. The event is from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. in the Arthur Davis conference room at the Greater Des Moines Partnership office at 700 Locust Street in Des Moines.
The featured speaker is Steven Smith, President and CEO of GCommerce. He will be talking about
Record Retention Under ERISA
Retirement, ERISA, ‘s corporation’
Continue Reading Record Retention Under ERISA