Your trusted source for Iowa business and franchise law insights.
Your trusted source for Iowa business and franchise law insights.
I recently had a meeting with a startup company that has tremendous potential for growth. If the idea for the business is to take off, it’s likely they will need some capital injection along the way, especially if the owners want the growth they hope for in a short amount of time.
One question we discussed…
Lawyers are not immediately recognized as the most creative souls on the planet but some of the best lawyers I know definitely have the the creative spark. I have seen many who were classic doodlers, photographers and painters. Some of them were also the most creative in the courtroom and ultimately very successful in winning cases. That’s why I am…
Jason Shinn of the Michigan Employment Law Advisor had a great post entitled "Is your company making this mistake when it comes to employees and intellectual property?" The post centers on a lawsuit filed by an employee of Marvel Entertainment who claimed he created the Ghost Rider character back in the 1970s. With the recent success…
In this video I discuss the importance of social media policies and training for employees on social media issues. While researching a presentation on social media legal issues I was surprised to learn that only 40% of businesses have a social media policy. Even less conduct employee training on social media issues. To serve this…
Join me for a webinar this coming Wednesday, February 15, 2012 through MyEntreNet entitled Social Media: From Hiring to Firing. We will discuss strategies to manage social media in the workplace including discussion of recent cases, the NLRB report on social media and discussion of social media policies.
Here’s some interesting stats on social media and why…
In this video I discuss a red flag I’ve seen come up in franchise agreement negotiation. Sometimes a franchisor will tell a prospective franchisee that they can’t (or won’t) change the franchise agreement. That’s just fine but my problem comes when they say, "Don’t worry though, we won’t hold you to that provision." That is…
Maryland franchise lawyer Jeff Fabian has an excellent blog post on the issues to consider when the franchise agreement terminates on the Franchise Help blog.
In my experience many franchisees are under the misconception that they can simply change the name of their business and then begin serving the same customers the next day under…
One of the nice benefits of filing an LLC in Iowa is that the owners are not required to disclose the members in filings with the Iowa Secretary of State. In many instances when filing a Certificate of Organization, I won’t list the member(s) to provide anonymity to the member(s) on the public search site. Instead, I’ll sign…
I am often asked whether a business person should include their spouse when forming an Iowa small business LLC. Circumstances may vary but there are usually some benefits to filing an LLC as a single-member rather than having two or more members. First, single-member LLC owners are not required to file a separate tax return…
I’ve addressed the issue of where to incorporate or form an LLC for your Iowa small business a few times on the blog. In general, Iowa small businesses would do well to incorporate or form their LLCs right here in Iowa. But I am asked often enough that I thought it might be helpful to prepare a…