Crooked Capital Markets and the “Shareholder Value Myth”

Your browser does not support the audio tag. Try updating your browser or downloading Google Chrome or Firefox. Read the transcript: Today, you’re going to hear my interview with Lynn Stout. Now, Lynn Stout is a rock star, and I’m not saying that…you know, everybody calls people rock stars…she…

Ch Ch Ch Changes – A Redlined and a Plain

I used to represent a now defunct hedge fund that had a whip smart general counsel. Her standards were high and she prized speed and competence. At one point, I was helping her get licenses to a bunch of algorithms. I drafted the first version of the license agreement,…

The King(sley) of law geeks on subletting clauses

This guy is Kingsley Martin, a lawyer and computer software programmer. On his blog, Kingsley pulls apart boilerplate and makes sense of it. In the world, he writes game changing software. I love his blog (tho I don’t have permission to use his image). Here he is on subletting clauses….

5 Reasons Venture Capitalists Demand a C-Corp

Forms. The holy grail of cheap legal fees is standardized forms. VCs have their own contract forms for investments in C-Corporations and they want to keep it that way. It is more efficient for them to use their own forms: their lawyers can get through them and the VCs…

Surprising Threats to Business (and Beer) from Minnesota Shutdown – Part 2

  Folks, two weeks ago, we wrote about how Minnesota’s state government shutdown would keep businesses from getting financing, registrations and licenses. We even had a chart. But, we never imagined that it would also stop the flow of beer from the keg. Seems that without government services, bars…

How One Lawyer’s Simplification is Another’s Mistake

One of my favorite lawyers – a dashing Italian fellow who could teach all three Heathers a thing about accessorizing – said I got something wrong in my book, Birth to Buyout: Law for the life Cycle of Your Business.  Kindly and almost embarrassed, he pointed out how I…

A Great Example of an Agreement Acceptance Page

I just joined Windows Live to try its blogging software. During sign up, I was so impressed by the contract acceptance page, I thought I’d share it. But, first – a law note. Law Note: Online contracts are enforceable as long as they have the three contract elements: offer,…

The 4 Types of Entities (sorry, it’s pretty dull)

Everyone always wants to know: which entity should I pick? Let’s try and answer that once and for all. Here, we’ll talk about the types of entities. Down the road, we’ll talk about how to think about them. First, you should know that all business entities are creatures of…

Yes, Your Business Needs An Entity

You absolutely need an entity. Here’s why.

Hidden Laws, Confusing Regulations

Regulations, which we need to keep the business playing field fair, ought to be rewritten, simplified, colorized and visualized. Compliance should not be a privilege of just the companies who can afford lawyers.