Five Common Mistakes Made by Business Owners

Over my 25-plus years of practicing law I have seen some repetitive mistakes made by many different business owners.  The following list represents five of the more common mistakes: FAILING TO OPERATE AS AN ENTITY   If you go to the trouble and set up a corporation or...

Independent Contractors and Copyright Ownership

You pay someone to create a masterful work for a client and you find that it can be used as a template in your business for other clients.  Because you paid for it, you may assume that you own the copyright and can re-use and create derivative works from this...

Are You Prepared for the Unexpected?

As an estate planning attorney, I see on a much too regular basis the aftermath of the “unexpected” and what happens when people are not prepared. Being prepared is not something you do for yourself:  being prepared is something you do for those you love. ...

Branding with Trademark Law in Mind

In a world flooded with information, branding becomes the key to standing out against competitors, even in relatively local markets.  Picking the right brand presents a marketing challenge, in that you need to find the message, the emotional tone and the specific...

Contract Aspirations

Contracts — not a particularly exciting or sexy concept —  are fundamental to doing business. Contracts are all around us in business: whether selling or buying goods or services, we enter into contracts all the time. Sometimes we create contracts without...