As the end of the year fast approaches, our thoughts turn to holiday cheer and family fun! However, it is also important to think about a few simple pieces of annual corporate maintenance to protect you and your company. Two important and often overlooked items include filing the annual registration for your company and holding your annual meetings. (more…)
Starting in April of 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency will require contractors working on homes built before 1978, and all schools and buildings where kids spend time, to be certified in and use lead-safe practices. The primary concern with construction or remodeling in buildings with lead-based paint is lead dust. Therefore, the EPA will require contractors to wear protective clothing, work in wet and clean areas and take other safety precautions. You can find more information here at the EPA website.
According to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, some new cases have begun to erode the long-standing view that personal emails sent from a work computer can be monitored by employers.
In the past, most courts have treated corporate computers, and anything on them, as company property. However, in recent rulings, courts have begun to investigate the circumstances around disclosure of policies to employees and other factors. For example:
While it is probably too early to make any sweeping generalizations about this trend, it certainly suggests that employers need to review their policies, practices and training to make sure they do not run afoul of this evolving issue.
Recently, the New York Times posted a story on the new FTC regulations that as of December 1, 2009, require bloggers who review products to disclose any connection with advertisers, including receipt of free products or payment in any way. In advancing this rule, the FTC stated that this practice frequently occurs and can be deceiving to the public.
We have all been there — shouting, grand-standing and lines in the sand. Unfortunately, when a negotiation turns hostile, the client suffers. A missed opportunity, dead deal, lost capital or worse. All can be results of negotiations gone bad. I have found that interest-based negotiation can often prevent hostile negotiations and even turn a hostile negotiation more productive.
In a recent article from Law.com, an industry observer stated “[a]lternative fee arrangements are like teenage sex. There’s a lot more people talking about it than doing it—and those that are doing it don’t really know what they’re doing. . . .” While yes, that is a juicy, headline-attracting quote, I tend to agree with it wholeheartedly.
Recently, I was working with a client looking at a potential investment. As I was pouring over the diligence, I noticed some interesting and unfortunate trends. By using quick and simple ratio analysis, I was able to determine that the business was not as healthy as initially thought, nor as the sellers portrayed. A few simple calculations saved my client significant purchase price dollars and buyer’s remorse once they acquired a business in serious trouble.
I think it is important that all business people (including lawyers) be able to understand, digest and interpret basic financial statements. If you are not familiar, I have set forth below a few key financial ratios that you can use to assess the financial health of a business: (more…)
On October 7, 2009, I will be speaking at the Shareholder Communications Symposium in Chicago, IL on the topic of Social Media: Super Power or Kryptonite.
Here is the link for the event. Take a look at the agenda and sign up to attend. There will be some very useful information on communicating with shareholders.
By now, you’ve probably read our recent survey and report on corporate social media use. There has been some great discussion around the Web about it, so we thought it would be interesting to round-up a few of our favorite posts and articles and share them here.
