I am Janet Monroe, a business law attorney with Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP. I help clients with their corporate legal needs and work with them as they structure and grow their businesses. In this blog I'll discuss some of the issues that business owners face and some of the best practices that help them to succeed. I focus my practice in the areas of business formations, entrepreneurial law, contract negotiations, mergers and aquisitions, SaaS licensing, legal technology consulting, information technology law, securities law, and venture capital law.I am Janet Monroe, a business law attorney with Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP. I help clients with their corporate legal needs and work with them as they structure and grow their businesses. In this blog I'll discuss some of the issues that business owners face and some of the best practices that help them to succeed. I focus my practice in the areas of business formations, entrepreneurial law, contract negotiations, mergers and aquisitions, SaaS licensing, legal technology consulting, information technology law, securities law, and venture capital law.
Alerding Castor
Hewitt, LLP is a business law firm that works with many
technology start-ups in their formation stages and in assisting
with the legal aspects of dealing with private equity
investors.The entrepreneurial spirit of our clients is inspiring, and I am looking forward to attending Techpoint's 2010 Innovation Summit that will be held in downtown Indianapolis today.
An annual event that Alerding Castor Hewitt is proud to sponsor, it will feature keynote speaker Nicholas Carr who is a...Read More »
Alerding
Castor Hewitt, LLP is a law firm that does a
substantial amount of legal work with clients in SaaS law and as
technology legal counsel. So much so that we were asked to
contribute to Corporate Blogging for Dummies, a
best practices book that our friends Douglas Karr and Chantelle
Flannery were approached to write.As a law firm that utilizes blogging to reach our current and potential clients, the Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP website was featured as an example within these pages....Read More »
Something that women and/or minority
business owners may want to consider is registration with the
Indiana Department of Administration Minority and Women's Business
Enterprises Division to become certified as a minority-owned or
woman-owned business.Established in order to give such businesses an equal opportunity to participate in the state purchasing process, the criteria considered for such certification include that the minority/woman member possess:
- ownership of the business (at least...
This
morning I attended the Techpoint event: What it Takes
to Lead a Successful Entrepreneurial Venture Today and was
reminded of some fundamental leadership qualities that I see in
many of the successful business owners we work with as a business,
entrepreneurial and information technology law firm.Speaking today were Daniel DeHayes, a Professor Emeritus of Business Administration with the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and Delphia Croft, the Managing Principal of...Read More »
Today
is an exciting day for Indianapolis with the establishment of a
brand new local eatery called "Pure" located in
Fountain Square at 1043 Virginia Avenue. Working with the business owners through Indiana entrepreneurial law, I checked in to see what the place had to offer this afternoon. I couldn't be more excited about the fresh flavors and the funky atmosphere. With original artwork and high ceilings, it has a Chicago vibe with a menu focused on fresh honest food. Perfect.
Today I chose... Read More »
A
software service level agreement is an important
component to your engagement with a client, as this gives them an
insurance policy that you will provide the software as a service at
a level that satisfies them. The SLA should include your
services, availability, performance, priorities, responsibilities,
guarantees, warranties and specifically define the what the
"level of service" to be provided will be. However, a software service level agreement can be somewhat tough to negotiate because...Read More »
Working
in the area of Indiana entrepreneurial law,
I see dozens of business plans that are incorporated into the
equity raise documents of budding new companies.With those business plans are financial projections that are based on newly formed companies with limited operating histories, unproven track records, and often times plans for entry into a mature and highly competitive marketplace.
Needless to say, it can be daunting as an entrepreneur to come up with a compelling reason why investors... Read More »
Congratulations
are in order to Brian Hewitt, the newest parter of Alerding Castor
Hewitt, LLP, who was recognized this week as one of Indiana's 2010
top 50 Super Lawyers.Brian concentrates his practice on estate, trust, and guardianship planning, administration, and litigation; and mediation and business law.
He is a Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and a member of the Probate Litigation Committee of the... Read More »
Keeping
up with software clients can be a challenge for technology legal
counsel. The software as a service industry evolves quickly, time-lines are condensed, and the playing field yesterday can look decidedly different than it looks today. The name of the game for a SaaS company is to stay ahead of the pack and become known as THE leader in its industry.
I recently read an article in Entrepreneur magazine about Search Engine Optimization titled What You Don't Know About SEO.
What I DO know... Read More »
How
many times have you signed up for a service on-line, scrolled past
all the legal jargon, and clicked "I Accept" or "I Agree"
without taking the time to actually read the terms and conditions
you're agreeing to? Admit it. We all do it.
But, just as a warning to be careful the next time you're purchasing that new mp3, or more importantly signing your company up for something on-line... those shrink-wrap and click-wrap agreements have been held by the courts to be binding.
Contracting in...Read More »
Alerding
Castor Hewitt, LLP is proud to announce the addition of Indiana
technology lawyer Bill Boncosky to the firm. The former General Counsel for ExactTarget, Bill has tremendous experience as technology counsel for one of the most successful technology start ups based right here in the heart of Indianapolis. A company that had just over a dozen employees when he joined, Bill has substantial experience in licensing agreement negotiations, ASP Law and Cloud Computing Law serving in that role...Read More »
Employers
invest so much time and effort into (a) finding and hiring the
right candidates for the team, and (b) developing those individuals
to work at their most efficient levels for the company. Let's face it, it can take years to get a company up and running effectively, and certain key individuals play a huge role in making that happen.
You don't want to lose them.
While I firmly believe that everyone is replaceable, some employees are just harder to replace than others because they add so...Read More »
So
you've launched your company and hired a web-developer to breathe
life into the idea you've poured your heart and soul into
developing over the past several months, perhaps even
years...Maybe you never even thought to ask the question, but at the end of the day who actually owns "your" website? You or the web designer?
Indiana software litigation in a ruling by the Supreme Court of Indiana, Conwell v. Gray Loon Outdoor Marketing Group, points to the fact that hiring a contractor for the...Read More »
I saw
a great article awhile back in Entrepreneur and thought
I should post the article for those in the formation stages of
their next business venture.
I can't stress enough how much time and energy it takes to launch a
start-up, and just how
much the success or failure of a budding new company rests on the
people involved. I see it everyday as an Indiana
technology lawyer involved in Indiana entrepreneurial law.
You can count on spending hours upon hours of the day with your
business...
Here
at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP, often times we work with clients
who have software that inherently transcends state and national
borders. Not just brick and mortor storefronts, many of our clients have customers nationwide and around the world.
Such is the realm of cloud computing law, and it's up to us as technology legal counsel to answer the inescapable question of what state, federal, or even country's law applies should a lawsuit arise.
Well, if you haven't contracted for this simple...Read More »
Operating
under Indiana entrepreneurial law, I have seen a great number
of contracts across my desk, and many for new business owners
plunging into a world of negotiations. Fresh out of the gate,
it's important for savvy business owners to get up to speed quickly
on essential provisions that should be included in their
contracts.For instance, for business owners who are retailers, wholesalers, or merchants who otherwise sell "property" (essentially, products that you can pick up and move), they...Read More »
It's
exciting to be apart of the city of Indianapolis, and even more so
when you get to be involved with those who are shaping
the future of Indiana technology.
Business law firms are a great place to practice as a
technology attorney. I am fortunate to live in a
world where software start-ups and fresh business ideas
(that often times are solving tomorrow's problems) crop up everyday
and are a way of life. You would be amazed at some of the
exciting new software developments that are underway...
In the world of legal technology consulting, it's my job
to turn that glossy marketing piece that sold you on new software
development into a binding contract that ensures you actually get
what you paid for. When hiring an independant consultant or
outside firm to create software or technology for your
organization, I have two recommendations: (a) negotiate the terms
wisely and (b) get it all in writing. Nothing is worse
than paying a huge consulting and services fee and not get...Read More »
There
are several obstacles to face with a young start-up company, and
typically one of the main concerns is raising capital in compliance
with funding law. One method companies can use is offering
the sale of stock or membership interest in their company through
private placement offerings to a limited number of private
investors. A private placement offering is differentiated from a public sale of securities that must be registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission, namely because of...Read More »
Powered by Compendium