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If your business has firmly decided to seek equity crowdfunding when it becomes legal next year, this article describes some of the steps you can take and some of the information you will need to compile, based on the requirements listed in the JOBS...
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This article discusses a couple of reasons why stable startups with valuable patentable intellectual property may want to consider taking the step of obtaining patents at an earlier rather than a later stage.
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This article discusses the need for businesses to treat unpaid interns like interns and not like paid employees and the consequences for misclassifying interns, and lays out the federal test for determining whether an internship program and interns...
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This article notes the development of the equity crowdfunding industry, including the development of trade groups that seek to become SEC-endorsed self-regulatory organizations and the announcement of new and existing companies that want to become or...
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This article discusses some of the legal and practical benefits, particularly for small businesses and start-ups, of providing employment perks, such as free meals, gym memberships, flexible schedules, or even allowing pets into work, as opposed to...
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This article discusses some basic methods every business should undertake to limit its exposure to legal liability.
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This article briefly discusses how an attorney can help your business with the process of securing a commercial real estate lease, and identifies issues you can and should be discussing with an attorney during that process.
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This article discusses some considerations your company should have when deciding how to split equity among the initial team when forming the company, with some suggestions for how to handle the prospect of founders leaving the company at an early...
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This article discusses the recent Maryland legislation, the first in the nation to prohibit employers from requiring prospective or current employees provide access to their personal social media accounts
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This article discusses a recent decision by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals that the copying of a proprietary computerized trading system program from Goldman Sachs did not fall under the statutory definition of theft in the National Stolen Property...
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This article discusses some of the benefits traditional legal services versus online business formation services such as LegalZoom.
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This article discusses the various options LLC members have for federal income taxation (and states which follow the federal scheme) -- disregarded/partnership taxation, C corp taxation, and S corp taxation.
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This article discusses the trend towards increasing employee privacy, noting recent court decisions striking down company policies requiring medical documentation to support employees' use of their sick time as violative of the Americans with...
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Some crowdfunding proponents are concerned, or even angry, with the regulations on crowdfunding imposed by the CROWDFUND Act recently signed into law by President Obama. This article explores two additional hurdles that crowdfunding may face before...
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This article lays out the various provisions of the CROWDFUND Act portion of the JOBS Act which recently passed both houses of Congress and is awaiting signature by the President. Issues and shortcomings with the Act are also identified.
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Bank business loans are hard to come by, and you're reluctant to give away equity to investors, so now you're considering using credit cards to fund your business' operations. This article discusses some of the benefits of using credit cards to fund...
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This past week's legal news issue has been the revelation that companies have been asking prospective hires for access to their Facebook, Twitter, and other social media or email profiles, ostensibly in an attempt to discover if prospects have gang...
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The Boston metro area is considered by many to be the #2 entrepreneur and startup scene, behind Silicon Valley, but other cities such as New York, Seattle, and Chicago are gaining fast. This article discusses some legal, and livability, improvements...
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This article briefly describes the different organizational forms and the formation process of a non-profit organization.
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The Senate is currently debating reforms to the securities laws intended to make access to capital easier for startups and small businesses, particularly the Jump-starting Our Business Start-ups Act (JOBS Act) and the popularly-known "crowdfunding"...
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Some state and local governments are beginning to debate whether employers -- including small businesses -- should be required to provide their employees with paid sick leave. This article provides a few suggestions for small businesses to give their...
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In this final part of the securities series, other securities registration exemptions -- Section 4(2), Section 4(6), Rule 701, and Regulation A -- are discussed.
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In Part 2 of this series on securities and federal registration exemptions, the exemption rules pursuant and related to the SEC's Regulation D -- the ever-popular Rule 506, as well as Rules 504 and 505 -- are briefly explained.
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In this "Slaying the Securities Dragon" series, my aim is to provide entrepreneurs with some knowledge of how their businesses can raise capital through sale of equity while still complying with the securities laws. Here in Part 1, I begin with an...
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A startup that keeps poor financial records, or co-mingling the personal funds of owners and the funds of the business, risks problems with the government as well as the likelihood of difficulties in raising capital from banks or VCs. This article...
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In the early weeks and months of a startup, there are certain legal documents that entrepreneurs should have prepared. This article identifies some of the importantly early documents startups should obtain and the reasons why they are important for...
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Socially-minded ventures have been getting a lot of press lately with the introduction of the business form known as the benefit corporations in several new states this year. However, in other states entrepreneurs with a social mission have another...
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Although some startups hire some workers as independent contractors in order to avoid the administrative and monetary expenses of having employees, classifying workers as independent contractors when in reality they operate as employees can have...
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Often the budgets of startups constrain their options for obtaining labor for skilled tasks (such as building a website) or hour-intensive menial tasks (such as compiling potential sales leads from a search engine). Crowdsourcing, whether it is of...
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This article briefly reviews the opinion in Auriga Capital Corp. v. Gatz Properties LLC, passed down this week by the Delaware Chancery Court, which involves LLC manager/majority stakeholder fiduciary duties, and discusses the case's implications for...
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Entrepreneur Sean Blanchfield recently blogged about an idea for a new form of business for starts coined the "startup cooperative" -- essentially, an organization that gives entrepreneurial teams the flexibility to learn if and how well they work...
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Companies of all sizes and ages that must take the risk of disclosing proprietary information to employees and third parties in order to enable them to do their jobs often protect themselves through the use of nondisclosure and noncompete agreements....
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Traditional financing for startups that come from banks and venture capitalists may become less available in 2012. For entrepreneurs who still need to finance their ventures this year, this article gives a brief overview of several non-traditional...
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Trade secrets are an overlooked yet critical part of the intellectual property of many startups and small businesses. This article gives a brief overview discussing what a trade secret is, what a business must do to protect its trade secrets, how...