Category Archives: Business
Game of — Pawns?
The FBI tells the story of Glenn Shriver, a former college student from Michigan who learned Mandarin and lived in China in 2004. He made some friends who encouraged him to find a job with the US government. He received some $70,000 merely to apply for such a job, but by the time the FBI arrested him, he realized that his friends were actually intelligence agents wanting to place a mole inside US agencies.
National agencies are not the only targets. US companies are also subject to foreign espionage. Just last month, the Justice Department announced indictments of five members of China’s military for stealing US companies’ trade secrets.
Unclassy Action
By Andrew Jacobson The class action lawsuit that engineers brought against seven of the biggest Silicon Valley companies has been tentatively settled for about $324 million. Divided equally among the 64,000 class members after paying attorneys’ fees, each engineer would get about $3,500 – about one paycheck per engineer, hardly the mother lode some were […]
Forming a Business Entity… Which Entity is Right for Your Small Business or Start-up?
By Daniel Richardson One of the most common questions I am asked by owners of small businesses and start-ups is whether they should form a business entity, such as a corporation or limited liability company (LLC), and, if so, which is best for them. This is a vital question for any business. Limited liability is […]
Shallow Pockets
By Andrew Jacobson The first question plaintiff lawyers ask when a new lawsuit comes their way is “where are the deep pockets?” Suing the villain is fine, but winning only gets a piece of paper called a judgment. You need to sue and beat someone with money to pay for a judgment – deep pockets. […]
Scam Alert — Court “Notice of Appearance”
by Andrew Jacobson If you receive a “court notice” via email, don’t open it — it is a scam designed to add to your computer malware designed to get you to give over control of your computer to somebody else. We started receiving these a few weeks ago, but it may only just have started getting […]
Crowdfunding Your Business – An Intro to Title III of the JOBS Act
By Daniel Richardson On April 5, 2012, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) became law. The JOBS Act seeks to “increase job creation and economic growth by improving access to the public capital markets for emerging growth companies.”[1] Title III of the JOBS Act or the “Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and […]
Entrepreneurial Trap
Entrepreneurs in California sometimes want to organize their companies in other states, like Delaware or Nevada. They learn that companies can pay less in franchise fees in Nevada, or that Delaware is seen as the state for great corporations. There are good reasons to organize in those states, but for many companies operating in California, […]
Sins of Wages
Both employers and employees need to review their wage statements for the new year, because California has amended Labor Code 226 to identify nine types of information that has to be on each wage statement: (1) gross wages earned, (2) total hours worked by the employee, except for any employee whose compensation is solely based on […]
How Much for an Attorney-to-Be?
Lawyers love Latin — it makes the sordid sound sophisticated. After reading the below, ask yourself cui bono? Who benefits? Judge William Pauley recently knocked down an attorneys’ fee request: “”Astonishingly, Kramer Levin attorneys, paralegals, and staff amassed 5536.4 billable hours on this matter, employing four partners, three special counsel, ten associates, eight paralegals and a […]
Business Owners: Keep Your Networks Secure
Just in case the business owner didn’t have anything to worry about, here is a new headache to avoid. EPN Inc., also known as Checknet, Inc. is a collection agency that also provides electronic payment and e-commerce services. Unfortunately, Checknet has recently settled charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that Checknet failed to maintain […]
