Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP here with an issue for those of you who, from time to time, might find yourselves embroiled in collections litigation over business law, SaaS law, or technology law matters. How often have you seen a debtor issue a check for payment and include on the memo line words to the effect of “as full satisfaction of claim,” “final payment in full of debt,” or some similar words despite the fact that the debtor owes you more than the...
Read More »There is a great article in the July-August edition of the Harvard
Business Review entitled The Early Bird Really Does Get the
Worm. The article summarizes a study which found a
correlation between "morning people" and career
success. This is based on a number of traits which are
commonly found in morning people.
Traits
Agreeable
Optimistic
Stable
Proactive
Conscientious
Satisfied with Life
Being a morning person, of course I loved this! Most days I am the first in the office. I love getting...Read More »
Traits
Agreeable
Optimistic
Stable
Proactive
Conscientious
Satisfied with Life
Being a morning person, of course I loved this! Most days I am the first in the office. I love getting...Read More »
War at its best is barbarism.
Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
--William Tecumseh Sherman
Though he said these words nearly a century and a half ago, General Sherman’s comments apply equally well to litigation, including the world of business law, technology law, SaaS law, and probate law. Litigation is a serious business, not something to be undertaken lightly. And it is often expensive – regardless of...
Read More »Your friendly Indianapolis attorney at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP here with a quick follow up on my first blog regarding collections for our business law, technology law, and SaaS law clients. A link to that post is listed below for those interested.
One of our Saas law clients recently obtained a favorable resolution in one of their cases to collect on a contract from an out-of-state debtor. We had obtained a default judgment for the client and were pressing forward with the proceeding...
Read More »I am an Indianapolis Attorney here at Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP. This is my first blog post – so bear with me. As a brief introduction, my role at ACH is working on our litigation team, both at trial and on appeal if necessary, on issues related to business law, probate litigation, SaaS litigation, and other technology litigation – just to name a few of the areas.
One area often overlooked in the litigation process is the area of collections. Some lawyers might look upon the collection process...
Read More »I recently read a summary of a lecture on applying the seven deadly
sins to software development. The sins are:
The idea is not to sell products leading to the sins themselves...
Read More »
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Lust
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Obsessive or excessive thoughts
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Gluttony
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Over-indulgence, over-consumption
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Greed
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A sin of excess like lust and gluttony, but in reference to
wealth
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Sloth
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Laziness, indifference, apathy
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Wrath
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Uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger
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Envy
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Resenting another because they possess something you do
not
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Pride
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Excessive love of self
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The idea is not to sell products leading to the sins themselves...
You might wonder why an Indiana law firm with a practice in several areas of technology (Indiana Internet Litigation, SaaS Legal Consulting to name just two) finds itself supporting a golf outing that raises money for adoption? "As a firm that prides itself on supporting the local community, we don't always align our charitable giving strictly to serve our immediate demographic. There are many organizations deserving of our support and Adoptions of Indiana is certainly one of them," comments...
Read More »Your friendly neighborhood technology counsel here: The
Indiana Supreme Court recently discussed the ability of a lay
witness to provide "expert" opinions in Sibbing v.
Cave, 922 N.E.2d 594 (Ind. 2010). In that
case, counsel asked the plaintiff what she believed caused her
pain. She responded something to the effect of "the bulging
disc in my lower back", and the opposing party objected based on a
lack of expert foundation. The basic argument to the trial
court was that this lay person...Read More »
Your friendly neighborhood technology lawyer here: As
you know, I'm a bit of a technophile and I've been watching the
iPad craze with interest. There are other similar products
that will be inundating the market in the near future (HP Slate and
the one that I'm watching with anticipation, Notion Ink's
Adam). As I watch, I've come to the conclusion that
tablet computers are the future of litigation, whether you're
talking privacy litigation, SaaS litigation, personal injury
litigation, or...Read More »
Your friendly
neighborhood technology legal counsel here for Part 2 of my
riveting analysis of the dreaded "venue-selection clause" In
Part 1, I scared you with the reality that when you absently click,
"I agree" you are very likely binding yourself to litigate any
dispute in a location that is likely not conducive to your case or
your pocketbook. And I'm sure that the point you've been
wondering about since last we interacted is, "what can I do about
it". Unfortunately, the answer is not...Read More »
There is a good
article on the Mercury News Blog today on How dot-com
start-ups have changed 10 years later. The article
addresses the maturity of both technology companies and
US private equity investors over the last decade. It is
an interesting read.There has been a lot of activity in angel investor groups and venture capital investments in Indiana technology companies over the last few months. 2010 has definitely started with a bang at Alerding Castor Hewitt where we have helped five...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 »
I have taken a few
weeks off of blogging. Honestly, I felt like I needed the
break, but I am excited about getting back on the saddle and
writing again.Since it has been a few weeks, let me give a brief update on what we have been up to. Alerding Castor Hewitt has had an exciting beginning to 2010. On January 1, Bill Boncosky joined us. Bill is a business attorney / technology and SaaS law attorney working with privately held companies, primarily in technology industries. Bill has spent the...Read More »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2010
Contact: Lainey Scheetz
317.403.9012
lscheetz@alerdingcastor.com
ALERDING CASTOR HEWITT LLP PARTNER NAMED TO FORTY UNDER 40
Indianapolis,
IN – Alerding Castor Hewitt LLP is pleased to announce that Michael
Alerding, a partner at the firm, has been named to the 2010
Indianapolis Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list. The list
recognizes local business and professional leaders who have
achieved success and excelled in their field before the age of 40.
Those...
For SaaS companies, the customer agreement is critical.
Why? A SaaS relationship is not a 1-time purchase of software
to be installed. The SaaS customer agreement is a
document which will govern (what you hope will be) a long-term
relationship with your client. It must cover the software
license aspect of the relationship, the ongoing maintenance,
upgrading and use of the software and - often overlooked - the
professional services to be provided by the SaaS company to the
client. The...Read More »
Closing
in on the end of 2009 I have to say that I am quite pleased
with the commitment Indiana showed this year to be a State that
supports and promotes innovation, entreprenuership and business
growth.This week I had breakfast with Larry O'Connor, Executive Director of Butler University's Business Accelerator. Larry is a former CEO of Bank One Indiana. Following his "retirement", Larry became CEO of The IndianapolisMuseumm of Art, and recently took the position to lead theAcceleratorr...Read More »
The other day I wrote a post on my reasons not to use the term
"affiliates" in licensing agreement negotiations. See post here. My
general point is that the term has no common meaning in the law and
may create ambiguity in the contact.
I addressed several different definitions of the term in laws, but the term is not only defined differently in law, it is also used differently in business.
For accounting companies, for instance, the Interstate Commerce Commission defines the term as companies...Read More »
I addressed several different definitions of the term in laws, but the term is not only defined differently in law, it is also used differently in business.
For accounting companies, for instance, the Interstate Commerce Commission defines the term as companies...Read More »
New technology businesses usually face two hurdles to get their
product to market. The first is proof of concept. The
second is proof of scale.
Both are intended to solve the “Ability” stage of the business plan process and move the business into the "Meeting" stage:
Proof of concept is simply the proof that the business can develop a working prototype that...Read More »
Both are intended to solve the “Ability” stage of the business plan process and move the business into the "Meeting" stage:
Recognition of Market ->
Recognition of Market Opportunity -> Ability to Meet Market
Opportunity -> Meeting Market Opportunity at Profit
Proof of concept is simply the proof that the business can develop a working prototype that...Read More »
What are your metrics for business success? I attended a
non-profit board meeting this past week where the directors were
working through this question - "How do we measure
success?"
A common metric that was discussed was # of volunteers in the organization in ___ years. Although this metric does measure growth, it does not measure the quality of growth. What if the volunteers are under committed, under trained or just plain lousy at their job? You may meet your metric but find that your...Read More »
A common metric that was discussed was # of volunteers in the organization in ___ years. Although this metric does measure growth, it does not measure the quality of growth. What if the volunteers are under committed, under trained or just plain lousy at their job? You may meet your metric but find that your...Read More »
There are several business blogs that I follow. Most of these
are written by SaaS law / Internet law clients of mine or other
Indiana businesses in technology industries. Lately I have
been falling behind on them. This morning I am trying to
catch up.
I came across a very good, brief video on Kristian Andersen + Associates' blog.
The video is from the Bigger Ideas/Smaller Indiana conference this past summer. In the video Kristian Andersen shares his feelings on central Indiana's business...Read More »
I came across a very good, brief video on Kristian Andersen + Associates' blog.
The video is from the Bigger Ideas/Smaller Indiana conference this past summer. In the video Kristian Andersen shares his feelings on central Indiana's business...Read More »
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