Unfortunately, litigation or the threat of litigation is a fact of life for all businesses. One of the costliest parts of any lawsuit is discovery – the exchange of information and documents relevant to the issues involved. Today, most information is kept in some type of electronic
format. New federal rules have been established to deal with the specific issues involving production of electronically stored information. In addition, some state courts have already adopted these new rules, and it is expected that most courts will adopt similar rules.

Electronic information includes, for example, e-mail and attachments, databases, text documents, spreadsheets, instant and text messages, and digital voicemail messages. Electronic discovery (“EDiscovery”) requirements can be onerous because of the way that
electronic information is created, modified, stored, communicated, and deleted throughout a business’ computer system. It is estimated ... read more

Estate tax laws are transitory and will likely change in the future.  The current federal estate tax exemption is $2,000,000 and it is scheduled to increase to $3,500,000 in 2009.  There is an unlimited exemption amount for one year - 2010, then the exemption is scheduled to be reduced to $1,000,000 in 2011 but there has been a recent proposal to keep the exemption at $3,500,000.  Despite the transitory nature of the estate tax law, a well-structured estate plan requires certain essential elements.

Read the entire article on Estate Planning Essentials

The internal revenue service pays careful attention to whether an employer has properly classified its workers as independent contractors or employees.  As important as the question is, there is no simple answer.  In fact, the IRS' training materials on the subject, which it uses to train its examiners runs a mere 160  pages.

There are however, some  general guidelines that every employer can and should follow in order to avoid incorrectly classifying its workers.

Read the entire article on classifying independent contractors.

We receive a significant number of inquiries from our clients regarding employment issues.  Although employers often feel employees are taking advantage of them by bringing employment related clamins, the truth is that many employers make common mistakes in managing their business.  Here are the top ten errors made by employers, all of which can be easily avoided.

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The general rule is that an employee is an employee “at-will.” This means that the employment relationship may be terminated at any time by either the employer or the employee, with or without cause, for any reason or no reason.  Thus, employees are free to change jobs, and employers are free to make changes in their workforce as necessary in order to meet their business’ needs.

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A real estate lease is a long legal document designed to protect the landlord. Although landlords are often reluctant to revise a pre-printed lease form, they will consider an addendum or rider to the lease. In order to negotiate an appropriate lease it is important to ask the proper questions. This can be done even before you ask your corporate attorney to review the lease.

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The Issue

All too often we get inquiries from clients who have just received notice that one of their customers has filed for bankruptcy.  Invariable, their first question is whether they will get paid the amounts owed to them.  Unfortunately there is no simple answer, for bankruptcy cases involve many variables and technical issues which are controlled by the voluminous United States Bankruptcy Code ... read more »