Newly Enacted Illinois Laws
I am proud to write that the Illinois legislature passed quite a bit of substantive legislation that was signed into law by Governor Pritzker. Business owners need to be aware of what new laws are passed every year. This post shares summaries of a limited number of business-related laws that Illinois companies should know about. […]
Have You Really Thought Through Your Due DIligence?
Due diligence identifies potential risks before closing a deal. The goal is to find problems that may lead to renegotiating, reducing the purchase price, or walking away from a deal. Yet many issues remain hidden despite rigorous due diligence. Earlier in my career I read about issues that were raised in a bankruptcy asset sale […]
Choosing A Law Firm: Supersizing Often Fails
Would you hire a vendor that does not properly regard conflicts of interest? Fails to abide by basic business rules and laws? Loses you in the shuffle of other and larger clients? Violates its own internal procedures? Of course not. Yet business owners do this every day when engaging law firms. So please accept this […]
When Does The Threat of Lawsuit Become Tortious Interference With Prospective Business Relationships?
Business owners regularly threaten litigation to protect their companies. In most cases, this threat does not create any potential liability to the party threatening litigation if a case is not ultimately filed. But this does not mean that the possibility exists. Likewise, business owners should be advised that they may potentially have a viable claim […]
Liquidated Damages In Real Estate Agreements
Liquidated damages provisions must be given careful consideration when negotiating a real estate agreement. Liquidated damages provisions usually appear as “earnest money” or a “non-refundable deposit” to set forth the negotiated amount of money that a seller can retain if a buyer breaches a purchase and sale agreement. Buyers are generally entitled to a return […]
AI and the Future of Contracts
Contract negotiations and interpretations present unique challenges for AI. For millennia contract law has been all about contextual understanding, personal analyses, concern for the future, and preventing (or creating) ambiguities. These issues are why solely relying on AI to draft contracts is unwise. Unsurprisingly, AI-generated contracts lack the ability to adapt for changes in the […]
AI: Choice of Law Provisions
One of my favorite “boilerplate” provisions now needs even more analysis. With state legislatures passing legislation and state court starting to issue rulings the choice of law governing your contract is more important than ever. The most notable state is California. Straightforward compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act is not the whole battle because […]
Protecting Limited Liability
A recent case in New York serves as an important reminder to follow corporate formalities to protect against “piercing of the corporate veil.” In RPH Hotels 51st S. Owner, LLC v. Icon Parking Holdings, LLC, the defendant holding company was found liable for the debts of three wholly owned subsidiaries. Applying Delaware law, the Court […]
Supply Chain and Pricing
“Supply chain issues” is the post-Covid version of saying “the check is the mail.” It is a perfect analogy. When a person blames the post office, that person is blindly blaming everyone from the clerk at the post office to the person who delivers your mail plus an untold number of people who have […]
General Thoughts on Remote Work
Rejecting all requests for remote work is the easiest legal solution. But it might leave a company with few or no employees. A less extreme concept would be limiting remote work to short periods not to exceed sixty or ninety days within a calendar year but this might not be feasible either in this employment […]
