Convertible Notes

This one is pretty law geeky, so stay with me. When you go to raise money for your company, you have to decide what you are going to give your investors in exchange for their cash. Your choices are usually a promissory note (if you call the cash a…

I’ve Read the Government’s Arguments to Screw Amazon Workers and I’m Furious

There’s a monumental case at the Supreme Court that has got me obsessed, bewitched, enraged and mildly despondent. Technically, it’s called Integrity Staffing v. Busk. It actually is Amazon v. Amazon’s warehouse workers. (Integrity Staffing is the subcontractor stooge hired by Amazon to employ its warehouse workers). After Amazon…

Court Ruling ‘Unravels FedEx’s Business Model’ (And We Haven’t Even Heard From Tracy Morgan Yet)

For the last 20 years, big companies have been able to work their truck drivers like dogs without having to take responsibility for bad things caused by their workers. Big companies do this by requiring each driver to be an independent contractor or his own small business. I love…

LegalSifter Demystifies Legal Contracts

A disruptor has developed software that scans a contract to tell you what’s wrong with it. It’s billed as a solution for non-lawyers. Lawyers will freak, but that’s not why I like it. I like it because it could be a quality control tool for lawyers – like me…

Lessons Learned from the Casey Kasem Fiasco

Casey Kasem did a terrible job of planning his estate. Here, a bunch of my brilliant Bryan Cave colleagues give some sage advice about what you can do to avoid the storm. I have a different, less technical piece of advice: try and raise kids and pick partners who…

The Rule that will (Hopefully) Reopen the Portal to Big Money Accountability

The President’s new rule requires companies that sell $1 million worth of stuff to the federal government to let their employees’ cases go before a judge. Believe it or not, this tiny technical point could have giant repercussions. Here’s why: Judges, politicians and a rabidly well organized big business…

6 Stories to Get You Through the Day

Check out How Much the Billionaires’ Tax Dodges are Costing YOU | Statista $1,259. That’s how much more you will have to pay in taxes to make up for the taxes not paid by rich people and companies who park their money or paperwork outside the U.S. Every action has a…

Top 5 Weekly Reads

How Not to Sell Things on the Internet (Legal Edition) –EricGoldman.org 23andMe lost when they tried to enforce their terms of use – because they stuck the link to their terms of use at the bottom of the site. Listen up, web sellers: imagine going to a car dealership and getting…

Eight Articles You Need to Read

This poem, written by Emma Lazarus and engraved on a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty, represents the United States as the land of the immigrant; the land of the free. Today, some people have lost sight of the fact that this great nation was built upon the…

The Periodic Table (of Lawyers)

I’ve spent my adult life in Big Law, but I’m not on this earth to help the rich get richer. I’m here for the wanna-be’s.  I want to help the climbers, the strivers, the innovators, the world changers. That’s why I wrote Birth to Buyout and that’s why I’ve got…