What Is In A Title?

Monday, February 28, 2011 by David Castor
Agreement titles are funny things.  In their best use they quickly describe the general subject matter of the contract.  For most situations a simple title is helpful.  E.g., "Services Agreement" helps differentiate between a contract for services and one for goods.  That is helpful.  Many contract titles are more descriptive (e.g., "License Agreement", "SaaS Agreement" or "Software Service Level Agreement" to describe the technology nature of the agreement). 

Where a client is using form...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 »

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 »

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 »

Funding Law – TechPoint Innovation Summit

Thursday, October 21, 2010 by David Castor
Next week I am moderating the plenary panel at TechPoint’s Innovation Summit entitled Funding Innovation

Check it out: TechPoint Innovation Summit
 
Also check out the sponsors page.  I counted today, and nine Alerding Castor Hewitt clients are sponsors of the Summit.  That is awesome. 

This year’s panel members represent private equity investors, angel investor groups, successful entrepreneurs and grant funding organizations which look for funding and investment opportunities in Indiana...Read More »

Dave Castor to Host Compendium Blogware Webinar

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 by Lainey Scheetz

Firm founder and partner, David Castor, is slated to host a Compendium Webinar entitled "The Legal Landscape of Corporate Blogging." The webinar takes place on November 3rd from 2:00p-3:00p EST.  

Dave plans to address the do's and don'ts of online marketing, how to protect your intellectual capital and protect your company's bottom line.  Participants were asked to submit questions for Dave prior to the webinar. 

The firm has a strong SaaS law practice, SaaS litigation practice as well as...

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I Am Still Here

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 by David Castor
So I have been a bit behind in blogging these past few weeks.  With the new addition to my family (my 3rd son), life has been hectic.  But, I am back and ready to role.

As a general update, Alerding Castor Hewitt continues expand as technology legal counsel in SaaS law, funding law and entrepreneurial law fields.  We have some exciting new Internet-based and SaaS clients.  This month we helped a client negotiate a stock purchase deal and have handled no less than thirty SaaS or software licensing...Read More »

SaaS LAW AND BUSINESS LAW – CLIENTS CONNECTING

Friday, October 15, 2010 by Scott Kreider

Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP here with some exciting news about a SaaS law client and a business law client:  ExactTarget and O’Reilly’s Irish Bar and Restaurant.  Once its build-out is complete, ExactTarget will be moving some of its people into a new space across the street from us in the Century Building.  This is a company that continues to grow, and we are excited to witness it happen and wish ExactTarget continued success.

 

To help celebrate and...

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TRADEMARK DISPUTE – YOU CAN SUE A HAM SANDWICH, OR AT LEAST DISPUTE THE NAME OF A HAMBURGER

Thursday, October 14, 2010 by Scott Kreider

In the spirit of entertaining legal stories like the one below that Chris recently shared with our Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP audience, I thought I would share a story I ran across yesterday about a trademark dispute.  Also, because Chris is a connoisseur of fine comfort food, I’m sure that he will enjoy it. 


A restaurant in Bellevue, Washington, John Howie Steak, has come up with a caloric-intensive burger that starts with grilling a 12-ounce ground chuck patty and then tops it with Kurobuta...

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Entrepreneurial Law - The "Must Haves" of a Good Business Model

Sunday, September 19, 2010 by David Castor
I guest lectured at Purdue’s Entrepreneurship Capstone course again last week.  I love it – for an hour I talked about my experience in entreprenuerial law, business law and funding law to Seniors in Purdue's entreprenuership concentration program on issues consider when structuring a new company.  Honestly, I thought I had them bored out of their minds (yes, there was that one Greek letter wearing frat guy who was asleep about 10 rows back), but I was impressed when we got to the Q&A time...Read More »

SAAS LAW CLIENT PREVAILS IN CONTRACT INTERPRETATION DISPUTE

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 by Scott Kreider

Your friendly Indianapolis litigation associate at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP here with another blog post.  About a month ago, in an aspirational piece, I piggybacked off of a post by Michael P. Alerding at Alerding & Co. on the importance of words and how they should mean something.  You can read my prior post here and the one by ACH’s Dave Castor re-posting Mr. Alderding’s original post here. 

 

Today’s post is to tell you about a recent victory that one of our SaaS law clients achieved in a...

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Business Law - Hire Good, Smart People To Ask Good Questions

Sunday, August 29, 2010 by David Castor
I was reminded today of something told to me by a friend last year:

Good people who are smart ask good questions

Bad people who are smart ask bad questions

Good people who are not smart ask bad questions

 
In business we are always looking for answers – but what we really want are good answers.  Today the issue is never whether we have enough data (we arguably have too much), it is whether we can properly utilize that data to make better decisions.  I see this especially in my Internet Law /...
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Business Law - Consider Your Social Media Policy

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by David Castor
I probably hate the word "policy" as much as any word in the English language, but I think company policies can be helpful - in both giving employees information on what is available to them and what conduct is expected of them. 

In the last couple of years I have noticed a rise of social media policies in company employee handbooks.  Most larger companies have Internet use policies stating that employees may not use company time or computers for personal Internet usage.  The main goal here is to...Read More »

ALERDING CASTOR HEWITT LLP: OUR CLIENTS, OUR PARTNERS

Monday, August 23, 2010 by Scott Kreider

I recently caught a glimpse of the logo for one of our SaaS Law clients, ExactTarget, while flipping through the television channels.  It was an episode of TLC’s “American Chopper” that first aired last Thursday for a bike built for Window World.  The bike was unveiled during the ceremonies surrounding the Indianapolis 500.  ExactTarget’s logo appeared briefly on the side of the pavilion and again on one of the race cars.

As cheesy as it might sound, I was excited to see one of our client’s...

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Never underestimate your staff, but rather, allow them to envision and strive for excellence

Sunday, August 22, 2010 by Chris Stephen
The ACH litigation team had its first ever (as far as I'm aware) litigation retreat this weekend, and as I reminisce on our time, I am struck by the realization that to be a successful business, you have to allow your team to envision and strive for excellence with you.  This weekend we had some great discussion and "vision-casting" on the areas of privacy litigation, Indiana probate litigation, business law, Internet litigation, banking law, SaaS litigation, and several other areas where we are...Read More »

INDIANAPOLIS LITIGATION—COMMISSIONS AND WAGES

Thursday, August 5, 2010 by Scott Kreider

It’s not often that we at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP run into issues regarding the payment of commissions for our business law, SaaS law, and Indiana technology clients.  When the subject does arise, however, it usually occurs when an employee separates from employment and makes a wage claim for unpaid commissions.  The debate about whether the commissions are wages centers on whether the employee was entitled to the commission at the time of sale OR when the client pays for the product,...

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INDIANAPOLIS LITIGATION--AN ETHICS LESSON FOR BUSINESSES AND LAWYERS

Thursday, August 5, 2010 by Scott Kreider

Your friendly Indianapolis attorney and Partner In Success at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP here with another post, this time for both business entities and lawyers who find themselves in the trenches of business law, SaaS law, internet laws, and privacy litigation and probate litigation.  Partner and fellow blogger Dave Castor sort of beat me to the bunch by pointing out a great blog post by Michael P. Alerding (ACH’s Mike Alerding’s father) at Alerding & Co., LLC, which Dave re-posted below.  I...

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Business Law - What Happened to Business Ethics?

Monday, August 2, 2010 by David Castor
The post below is fantastic.  It is by Michael P. Alerding, CPA (my business partner's father) at his accounting firm's new blog site.  He gave me permission to re-post it here (thank you Alerding & Co.).  Check it out:  Alerding & Co. Blog


What Happened to Business Ethics?
By: Michael P. Alerding, CPA

Every time I get a contract to sign, I find it almost impossible to spend the time reading the fine print and trying to understand all of the future implications of the agreement.  As my son,...
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