General Law

Here’s something that probably happens all the time. A longtime client called me the other day with this story: He found a used car that he really loved: a 2005 PT Cruiser Convertible in perfect condition with 17,000 miles on it. He agreed to buy the car on Thursday. The dealer signed the purchase agreement, but refused to take a deposit even though my client offered twice. On Monday, the dealer told him that they had sold the car to someone else. My client called me to explo

As a US lawyer who lives outside the US, I am often asked to notarize documents for US citizens. This should be pretty simple. After all, I am a New Jersey Notary by virtue of the fact that I am admitted to practice law in New Jersey. Since I can practice law while I am outside New Jersey, I should be able to notarize when I am outside New Jersey. Pretty simple- but not so fast. There are those who say that a notary can only notarize when he or she is physically located in hi

I had a famous relative who used to say: “Never hire a lawyer not on a contingency”. Is that true? Let’s consider the positives and negatives of a contingency arrangement. To those who aren’t familiar, a contingency agreement with a lawyer is an arrangement in which the lawyer earns a percentage of a client’s recovery, rather than charging an hourly rate. This arrangement is ubiquitous in some areas of law, e.g., personal injury, but doesn’t lend itself to others, e.g., crimi

Last week, I wrote about mistakes that Startups make when raising capital. Now, I want to shift the focus to what Startups should do, not what they should avoid. These tips differ from most of the advice that I give in that they aren’t strictly legal advice. But 25 years of being around Startups has taught me a thing or two. Raise Money Before You Need It This may seem wrong at first blush. Raising Money takes a lot of energy and effort, and when you have Money, you tend to

I represent a lot of startups. Over the last few months, I’ve seen three types of mistakes that they make in early funding rounds that they could easily avoid. Representing startups is a lot of fun. Entrepreneurs have a great energy about them- they want to get things done, and they are often blazing new trails. Their enthusiasm is contagious, but sometimes in their haste, they do things that a mature company would avoid. I’ve seen these mistakes when helping these companies