General Law

I’m not sure who originated this idea, but it goes something like this: Find something you love, get good at it, and you’ll find yourself a successful career that meets all your expectations. That’s great advice, but does it really work? Sure, I can see it working for musicians and athletes, but what about the other 99.9% of us - the lawyers, accountants, and sanitation engineers of the world? A better formulation would be to find something you like and try to make a go of it

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

Recently, a well-publicized case was dismissed because the Statute of Limitations (SOLs) had run. I’m referring to the case where Yeshiva University and three individual defendants were accused of sexual abuse against students at Yeshiva University High School. This case had special meaning to me because I attended High School during the time when the alleged abuse occurred, and I attended Yeshiva College. In addition, I know two of the individual defendants relatively well.

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