When forming small businesses I am sometimes asked whether the owner(s) must form a board of directors consisting of members from various backgrounds who are not actually owners of the business. While it may work in certain situations, I have not seen this model work real well for most small businesses. By their very nature
Insights Into Naming Your Small Business
Believe it or not, as a small business lawyer I have named more than my fair share of businesses for clients. (Maybe I should add that to the list of incorporation services). I always kind of laugh when I am asked for my opinion on the subject because I am not a marketing
Franchising v. Company-Owned
Today I had a discussion with another attorney about the the pros and cons of franchising. We determined that while many business owners may think they want to franchise, it is often not the best alternative for their business. If you are interested in the topic you may want to check out this article on
Document Retention Policy Basics
Iowa patent and information technology lawyer Brett Trout recently completed his series of posts on the new federal rules concerning electronic discovery. Brett and I also recently completed a podcast interview discussing the new electronic discovery rules. I encourage you to check it out. Brett has a lot of great information to share on
Right-to-Work in Iowa Does Not Mean “No Non-Compete”
The Iowa legislature is now considering amendments to Iowa’s right-to-work law. This is a hot button political issue – the merits of which I am not discussing in this blog post. What I am addressing is the confusion many people express over the Iowa right-to-work law. Many individuals confuse the law with the belief that
Iowa Business Law: Nothing New
I listened to an insightful podcast from Becky McCray of Small Biz Survival called Nothing New. She also quotes Dr. Samuel Johnson who once said, "People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed."
That is so true when it comes to helping businesses recognize legal issues. So often what
Electronic Discovery: Rush on Business Podcast No. 1 Interview with Brett Trout
I have added podcasts to Rush on Business through BlogTalkRadio. The first podcast is an interview with Iowa patent and information technology lawyer Brett Trout concerning the important federal rule changes regarding electronic discovery and how it impacts your business. Brett is the author of Internet Laws Affecting Your Company. As Brett says, bury
Web Incorporation and LLC Formation Services
New York small business lawyer Imke Ratschko wrote an excellent blog post on Web incorporation services. She found a blog post by a California business lawyer who described a certain Web incorporation service as almost a scam.
Imke also shares her reasons why people are better off choosing business lawyers to perform incorporation and LLC
Zoom Past LegalZoom
A couple of months ago I received Sirius satellite radio as a gift. I love it except for one constant ad that drives me absolutely bonkers. About every fifteen minutes I hear an ad from LegalZoom, a legal document company. LegalZoom touts that its fees are 85% less than those of lawyers.
First, with
Supreme Court to Hear “Cat’s Paw” Discrimination Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear an important employment discrimination case in which a Coca-Cola bottling company fired a black employee. The case involves allegations that a supervisor was motivated by racial bias and influenced a human resources manager to fire the worker. The human resources person was located elsewhere and did not