Let us now praise opposing counsel. The good they do can live after
them.
Ropes to Skip and Ropes to Know In the Operation of Your Small Business
The Inside Story on Choosing and Using a Lawyer
A tenant under a commercial lease (the “affected tenant”) may have a claim of constructive eviction against a commercial landlord who/which fails to take action to force another tenant who in breach of its own lease (the ‘breach tenant”) causes harm to the affected tenant. While the commercial lease may state that the landlord is not responsible for the acts of the breach tenant, the court found that once the breach tenant breaches the lease then the landlord has the right and the duty to step in to cure the harm. This comports with the affected tenant’s reasonable expectation to call the landlord, not a lawyer. The affected client complained to the landlord, but the landlord said that it had no power to act under traditional property law because a lease is a “conveyance” of property. The affected tenant lost at the trial court level but prevailed on appeal.
In this economy many highly qualified people cannot find jobs. This includes veterans, retirees, new grads, and the unemployed or under-employed workers who need to create their own job.
The firm often receives calls asking about the price of X, where "X" is, say, an LLC. How do you know you need "X?" Y may be much better for you…
"There is no court house to run to in the middle of the Ocean." Specifying applicable law, like the CISG, discussed below, and the forum for resolution -- often through international arbitration in London or Geneva – is absolutely essential. Without such designation and agreement as to what law will apply and where the dispute will be heard, the parties can literally be "nowhere" in terms of dispute resolution and contract enforcement.
Two out of three new clients come to our firm because they have a problem with their signed contract or existing legal documentation. For example, their LLC does not have an Operating Agreement, so ownership and authority issues are unclear. The company does not have buy-sell agreement setting forth the conditions and terms under which business partners will part company (So money which might have been spent on "business as usual" afterward or orderly split, is spent on unproductive litigation). I could go on...
Many of my business law clients come to the firm, not because they have recognized a need and seek to avoid or prevent some problem or event from happening, but in response to that problem or event after it has occurred. In other words, the demand for our legal services is reactive, not preventative. This response-based, as opposed to prevention-based, approach to legal services has several consequences to and for the firm and the client:
An understandable, but false, assumption of some potential law firm clients is that a small case will cost less than a big one. After all, if I buy a small coffee I expect to pay less than I would pay for a larger size, so why do legal fees not adjust to the size of the case?
As a lawyer, or sometime in your life, you have probably heard the saying by Abraham Lincoln: "He who would be his own lawyer has a fool for a client." (Mr. Lincoln also said "A lawyer’s time is his stock in trade." a useful motto in our profession. My hometown lawyer had that sign above his receptionist's desk.)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote the essays Self Reliance and Compensation, among others, would have loved my law firm clients who, just to name a few of their good character traits, tend to be hard-working, self-reliant, persevering and intelligent. In short, they have "character." Too often, however, these good character traits cause them to fail. "How can this be?" you may ask. The purpose of this chapter is to answer that question. (From the book "Minding Your Own Business" by Donald W. Hudspeth).
Partnership disputes can occur for a number of reasons, including lack of money, false expectations, personality conflicts, or differences of style and vision. Where the company was founded by one majority owner, often that founder can be so dominant in terms of operational control that the practical and legal rights of other owners, even of significant owners, can be ignored.
A prospective new employer may not hire an employee who is subject to non-compete; the former employer may not release the employee from the non-compete because it keeps the employee off the market during the non-compete period. This scenario is especially likely where the employee leaves under unfavorable circumstances.
