Founders often come to us before they have formed a legal entity, seeking advice about the type of entity to form –usually it is between the two most common entity types, limited liability companies (LLCs) and corporations. The type of entity will not determine whether the business succeeds or fails. Still, entity selection merits consideration. […]
I’ve been keeping up on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 story/debacle, which has many fascinating aspects to it, among them: how a storied company like Boeing, whose brand is entirely dependent on the perception of safety, could sacrifice safety for short-term gain, and what happens when regulators can no longer keep up with the companies […]
Just about everyone can relate to the challenge of trying to get work done in the face of an endless torrent of emails and the expectations of constant availability and immediate response. Yet the reality is that this situation is incompatible with completing work that requires extended focus (which is to say, most work). We […]
It’s a question I sincerely wonder about. (If any big-company GCs are reading this — call me!) I often represent startup clients in negotiations with counsel for large companies, and strangely, while the caliber of their attorneys is generally high, the quality of their contract forms is, on average, awful. How can this be?
Fred Wilson (always worth reading) has once again posted some views in the (perhaps a bit tired) debate about whether entrepreneurs should raise seed financing using convertible notes (or their close cousins, SAFEs) or priced equity. (Wilson’s original post was all the way back in August 2010.) Amazingly, though posted only a month ago, there are 98 […]
In the days of yore, when dinosaurs roamed the earth (or thereabouts), goodcounsel offered “fractional general counsel” services. The idea of providing part-time counsel to growing, entrepreneurial companies (like those for which I had previously worked) was sound, but offering it a certain number of days each month was, in retrospect, flawed. If the billable […]
66% of small law firms on Mac. But limitations of Word for Mac deny us software options @officeformac #ClioCloud9 pic.twitter.com/PajPntNGvL — Kenneth Obel (@MyGoodCounsel) September 23, 2014 I tweeted this earlier today. To add a little detail: I’ve long been interested in “document automation” and “document assembly” as a way to make the document drafting […]
Last year, I posted about the silly lawyer drafting practice of representing a number with both numerals and words. It’s a bad habit that many lawyers continue to use unquestioningly, and as I pointed out in that post, it can lead to potentially problematic contractual inconsistencies. I continue to come across examples of the problem. Here’s another. […]
I loved the piece in Inc. entitled “5 Ways to Stop Legal-Fee Madness” by Howard Tullman, a legendary Chicago entrepreneur who recently became the CEO of 1871, one of the premiere startup incubators in the area. I agree with just about everything Howard says. Stop for a moment, go read it, and come back and […]
Anyone who is interested in the future of the legal profession should read this article from the New Republic. Of course, it’s not news that the legal profession is in a state of crisis to some degree. There is severe overcapacity, clients are spending less and those lawyers who have jobs at the larger firms […]