Commercial Law

Today, everything seems mobile. Legal professionals have been slightly less hurried to embrace the wonders of mobility as a part of their work. Certainly, they use mobile devices and apps in their personal life just like everybody else, but because of tradition and habit, many have been hesitant to adopt these things as part of their working lives. However, this is changing ' and in some cases dramatically.

2016 is in full swing and we will soon be conducting the 2016 Mattern & Associates Cost Recovery Survey. We've been conducting this bi-annual survey since 2004 and, during that time, it has become an industry resource for tracking the cost recovery practices of law firms across size and geography.

2015 was an eventful year for tax legislation for law firms, their clients and their employees. In addition to the extenders package, that has become an annual tradition in Congress, there were some other significant tax bills that passed over the summer.

Ah, the good old days. When the America Invents Act was being pushed through Congress in 2011, proponents of the proposed changes expounded on the virtues of a system that mirrored the patent practices of the majority of the industrialized world. But the unforeseen consequences of both the AIA and the seminal 2014 Supreme Court decision in Alice v. CLS Bank have created a hostile environment for patent portfolios, which has negative implications for investment in innovation and startups.

Much has been written lately about this recent business concept that appears to be changing the way people work, and the nature of traditional jobs. Some of these companies have already become familiar household names ' Uber, Lyft, Airbnb and TaskRabbit ' and new companies that embrace this business model continue to emerge.

This article briefly summarizes the ACA's employer mandate and highlights the anti-retaliation provisions applicable to complaints of ACA violations. Next, the article summarizes the "Break Time for Nursing Mothers" law added to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by the ACA, and highlights the anti-retaliation provision applicable to this law. Last, the article suggests ways for employers to reduce the risk of employee retaliation claims.

Many startup businesses collect and store vast amounts of personally identifiable information (PII) from consumers, but often fail to adequately protect the privacy of this consumer information. There could be many reasons for this, but it is likely the result of limited budgets and priorities.

Many local governments operate live event venues. Unlike dealing with private venues, concert promoters and producers might bring First Amendment free speech claims against government-controlled event facilities over how a local government chooses which promoters/producers with which to work. There's also the issue of whether the governmental authority or a private promoter owns ticket subscriber information that the private promoter generates through its live events work at a government-controlled venue.