How does Legally Informed Strategy add value to business transactions? I have previously argued that this is one way to break down the insidious barriers between business and legal silos. Another part of the answer turns on an attorney's role in a business transaction. In a typical business transaction, an attorney advises on the legal...
Does your attorney need to understand your business? And if your lawyer does not have a strong grasp of your company and your industry, does it matter? Certainly, the answers matter for entrepreneurs. Some lawyers will say that they do not need to have a deep understanding of your company. They might say it is...
In many companies, business and legal operate as separate silos. On the business side, there is business development, corporate development, marketing, finance, and human resources. On the legal side, there are in-house attorneys and outside counsel. Business sees legal as a cost center, not as a value driver. Unfortunately, this separation of business and legal...
In this post, I advance a simple argument: A combined Strategy, Law, and Organization lens provides superior solutions to difficult business and legal problems. Good business lawyers understand that legal problems are necessarily business problems. Yet, understanding the law, by itself, is insufficient to understand and solve complex business problems. Examples include mergers and acquisitions...
Business lawyers often argue that involving a lawyer early on in a transaction is cheaper than fixing a problem later. Clients sometimes want to negotiate a deal on their own and then have a lawyer write it up. The concern might be cost or the attorney's grasp of the business issues. Further, an attorney who...
Do lawyers understand law firm strategy and business models? My last post asked whether greater value add would accompany higher hourly rates in 2010. It appears lawyers were not listening. Today's TexParte Blog summarized the results of a LexisNexis survey. And the results do not instill confidence that lawyers fully grasp the problems with their...
China's Anti-Monopoly Law, implemented in August 2008, continues to take shape. The National Development and Reform Commission recently issued draft regulations regarding price monopolies. The proposed regulations apply to monopoly price activities both within and outside China, when the activities outside China affect price competition in the domestic market. What The Proposed Regulations Cover The...
Greenwashing involves attempts by companies to convince consumers that their products or services are environmentally friendly. As companies increasingly want to be seen as green, the practice has become more common -- and dangerous. In light of recent Federal Trade Commission actions, your business needs to understand the Commission's guidelines for environmental marketing claims. Recent...
In this post, I continue to examine how small businesses and startups can avoid common misconceptions about intellectual property. This time, I turn to patent issues that small and emerging companies must consider to maximize the value they create and capture from their intellectual property. As noted in the previous post, these misconceptions come from...
Small businesses often worry about protecting their intellectual property. Yet, they also hold misconceptions about how to strategically manage their intellectual property. The New York Times recently cited five common misconceptions that small businesses often make concerning their intellectual property. To remain competitive, small business owners need to make smart investments in their intellectual property...