Indianapolis: The Midwest Silicon Valley (or is it Silicorn Valley)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011 by Chris Stephen
I don't often re-post articles in full glory, but I couldn't resist with this one.  This is a great article from the OMMA (a magazine of online media, marketing & advertising).  There are some great quotes from quite a few movers and shakers in the Indiana technology area.  As a technology legal counsel located in Indianapolis, it warms my heart to see this kind of great press for the area.  Personally, I think all technology firms should move or open offices here.   

Big hat-tip to Jay Baer for...Read More »

Team ACH on the links for charity

Thursday, June 23, 2011 by Meg Shireman
Once again, Alerding Castor Hewitt sent at team to participate in the O'Reilly's Irish Bar & Restaurant golf scramble, benefitting The Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership.  

On Monday, June 20th, Team ACH assembled a crack team of two litigators, the client relations manager, and our Butler intern - who just happens to also be on the Butler Women's Golf Team - for an fantastic day out of the business law office and onto the links.

Team ACH





















Maribeth, Meg, Scott, and Chris

Meg and Maribeth
Ready to get our Rory McIlroy...Read More »

Lawyered

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 by Meg Shireman
"A champion is someone who is ready when the gong rings - not just before, not just after - but when it rings."
-Jack Dempsey

GONG

Tooting your own horn, ringing your own bell...We've decided to bang our own gong.  

Welcome the newest fixture to the Alerding Castor Hewitt office, the official New Client/Wrapped Mediation Gong.

The litigation and transaction teams didn't have a celebration worthy of new business, so partner Michael Alerding came to me with the idea to buy a ship's bell to ring for each...Read More »

Seventh Circuit decides SaaS litigation case

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 by Chris Stephen

There is a new Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that is likely to have a significant impact on SaaS providers.  In Digitech Computers, Inc. v. Trans-Care, Inc. (link here), the 7th Circuit focuses on a SaaS agreement for Digitech to provide certain management software licensing components for Trans-Care (an ambulance and medical transportation service).  The Court ultimately upheld a breach of contract claim in favor of Digitech, significantly reduced Digitech’s damages award, and...

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Slingshot SEO raises the bar again and again

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 by Meg Shireman
Slingshot SEOOn Friday, May 6th, Slingshot SEO announced in a meeting with Governor Mitch Daniels and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard that the company will create up to 114 new jobs by 2013.  As one of Alerding Castor Hewitt's most beloved clients, we could not be more thrilled to see how far the search engine optimization firm has come since its 2006 founding.

In just three short years, Slingshot has seen a dramatic increase in employees from 9 to its current 65, and the companIEDC Press Conferencey plans to invest upwards of...Read More »

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 2011 - Attorneys for Tatas

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 by Meg Shireman
The Alerding Castor Hewitt faithful braved the chill and the rain of Saturday, April 16th to participate in the 2011 Susan  G. Komen Race for the Cure.   We're proud to announce that the team surpassed its goal of raising $1000 to assist the Komen Foundation's mission to end breast cancer forever and had a fantastic time walking in downtown Indianapolis.

We'd like to send a big 'Thanks!' to those who donated to the team's efforts and share a special 'Way to go!' with the team members, along with...Read More »

Facebook v. Winklevoss et. al. : The end has arrived

Monday, April 11, 2011 by Chris Stephen
The end is finally nigh for the ongoing litigation roller coaster that is the Facebook/Mark Zuckerberg v. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss saga.  This has always been an interesting piece of software litigation based upon (a) the personalities involved and (b) the scale.  It is safe to say that when you are one of the fastest growing companies in the country, you are going to face litigation.  In fact, that's why you call me.  And it is equally logical that when you are creating a website or working...Read More »

Congratulations to the partners

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 by Chris Stephen
I know there will be an "official" congratulatory press release in the near future, but I thought I'd take a moment to congratulate the Alerding Castor Hewitt partners on being included in the 2011 Indiana Super Lawyers. 

Brian Hewitt received the nod as one of the Top 50 Super Lawyers in the state.  This is, of course, a recurring honor for Brian, who has been a Super Lawyer for the past several years.  Brian's practice focus is on business and probate litigation and mediation.   

The voters...Read More »

Entreprenuers Must Understand Cash Flows

Thursday, February 17, 2011 by David Castor
I have said it a million times since learning the lesson myself in a failed entrepreneurial effort a couple of years ago, the CEO of any entrepreneurial venture must understand the importance of managing cash flows and how to use cash flow analysis for the strategic growth of the company.

Trust me, I am all into the Six Sigma approach of throwing a couple of innovators together, rolling out a v1 product as quickly as possible, and slowly scaling the company from hobby phase to a successful...Read More »

New York guarantees lawyers to foreclosure debtors

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 by Chris Stephen
 The first caveat is that I'm sorry I haven't posted anything recently.  Work here at Alerding Castor Hewitt has been going like gangbusters and yours truly has been up to his distinguished eyeballs in work.  Trust me, however, I'm now dutifully committing myself to continue providing insight and humor as your Indiana Internet Litigation guru. 

Second caveat is that this post actually has nothing to do with privacy litigation, software litigation or really any other technology law issues. ...Read More »

ALERDING CASTOR HEWITT LLP PARTNER TO TEACH HARRISON COLLEGE COURSE

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by Lainey Scheetz

Indianapolis, IN – Mike Alerding, founding partner of Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP, is slated to teach Business Law at Harrison College this spring.  The course combines the understanding of legal theory with the acquaintance of the various forms of contracts.  Students will be taught the essentials of the legal environment of business, tort law, contracts, commercial transactions, government relations and property. 

“I am teaching because I enjoy the process of observing the improvement and...

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TECHNOLOGY LAW FIRM – THE SEASON OF CELEBRATION

Monday, December 20, 2010 by Scott Kreider

Your friendly neighborhood litigation attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP with a final post for the year to all of our business, Indiana internet litigation, and technology law clients.  Saturday, December 25th will no doubt be a date of celebration in many homes.  As you spend time with your family, remember how special the day is and all of the changes that have taken place in the last 20 years.

Some of you might wonder what I mean exactly.  I’m not referring to Christmas.  And for those...

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Two interesting non-Indiana internet litigation rulings related to 47 USC 230 protection

Monday, November 29, 2010 by Chris Stephen
I hope that you all had a thankful and fulfilling turkey day.  Your friendly neighborhood technology legal counsel stuffed himself horrendously.  But, I digress.  I know that I owe you all part 2 of my discussion of the legal landscape of corporate blogging, and I promise that I will get that posted in the near future, but two recent opinions in some non-Indiana Internet litigation piqued my interest and I had to talk about them.  Both rulings involve application of the liability...Read More »

Funding Law - Know Your IRR

Monday, November 22, 2010 by David Castor
It has been said a million times already on this blog – a CEO, especially one which is seeking funds from private equity investors, needs to understand finance.  Often a basic knowledge of sources and uses and cash flow analysis is enough, but in many early stage investment rounds, savvy investors expect the CEO to know the company's internal rate of return (IRR) - and why it matters. 

I meet many entrepreneurs who have served as VPs or middle managers before embarking on their entrepreneurial...Read More »

The Sources and Uses Statement: One of the Most Commonly Missed Opportunities for the Entrepreneur

Monday, November 15, 2010 by Sam Schmutte
“What are you doing with my money?”  No, it’s not your mom or dad asking or your friend you lost a bet to on a college football game – it’s your potential investor and they’re asking one of the most fundamental questions in a capital raise.  Why?  Because you forgot to answer it ahead of time!  You’re not alone, though, too often a sources and uses statement is overlooked.  Many entrepreneurs simply rely on the financials, general statements in the text of the business plan or...Read More »

INDIANAPOLIS LITIGATION--COLLECTING ON YOUR JUDGMENT

Monday, November 15, 2010 by Scott Kreider

Here at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP, one thing that we are called upon to do as business law, SaaS law, and technology counsel for our clients is collect on a judgment.  I have previously posted on other topics in the collections world, which you can find here and here.  Today’s topic is in answer to the question we sometimes get:  how long is my judgment good for?

A decision today by the Indiana Court of Appeals in the estate case of In the Matter of the Unsupervised Estate of Dwight M. Wilson...

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The Legal Landscape of Corporate Blogging - Part 1: Introduction

Monday, November 15, 2010 by Chris Stephen
I can read your mind.  You are thinking, "oh, great and insightful technology legal counsel, what do you mean by a 'legal landscape' and what does that have to do with blogging?"  My initial response is that, (a) you've asked two questions and (b) if you plan to use blogging as a component of your business model, you need to know what potential pitfalls exist.  That is the legal landscape of blogging.  It is made up of the hills and valleys that must be overcome or avoided to reach blogging...Read More »

New interface for Creative Commons search engine

Friday, November 12, 2010 by Chris Stephen
Thanks to the wonderful folks over at Compendium Blogware, I presented a fun webinar last week on the Legal Landscape of Corporate Blogging.  Don't fret, dear reader;  I intend to put together several posts over the weekend that hit the highlights of my presentation.  Overall, I discussed topics like privacy litigation, copyright, defamation, Section 230 protections, etc.  The fun stuff of blogging. 

One area that I discussed and have had several questions about is Creative Commons.  For those of...Read More »

Are we losing sight of the "social" aspect of social media

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 by Chris Stephen
I know that you are expecting witty and poignant analysis of some new and exciting aspect of technology and / or privacy litigation, but that's not really the point of this post.  Rather, the impetus of this concoction of literary excellence is a realization that I had regarding social media.  In the last two weeks I have experienced the following (all on a large social media site that shall remain nameless but that has a movie):  (1) received birthday announcements and pictures of my niece in...Read More »

INDIANAPOLIS LITIGATION—EMPLOYER-PROVIDED HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 by Scott Kreider

Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP here with an overdue update with some possible interest for our business law clients.  Back at the end of September, the Indiana Supreme Court decided Bingley v. Bingley, a marriage dissolution case, and concluded that the employer-provided health insurance benefits of a retiree constituted an asset once they had vested and should be included in the marital estate for the distribution of property.  You can read the full opinion he...

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