Articles posted by Team Rosten Law

Lawyers are not immune from the travails of business divorce. They must address the same issues that any small business must address when business partners no longer want to be in business with one another. They must decide whether one or more of the partners will continue the law firm or dissolve the law firm. This article looks at one of the most contentious matters in law firm dissolutions: what happens to pending matters when a law firm dissolves.

Half of acquisition deals close. The other half don’t. I recently represented a client in a transaction in which the deal died. She offered to share lessons learned from an unsuccessful acquisition. In this article, she has given us four lessons learned from the ultimately unsuccessful negotiations. These are the four major lessons she wanted to share with other potential purchasers of small businesses: lesson 1: seek legal guidance early on; lesson 2: be specific about due diligence requests; lesson 3: early misalignment is a sign of the future to come; and lesson 4: better understand certifications for government contractors.

Foreign markets offer the allure of 96% of the world’s consumers. Small businesses are keenly interested in export markets. If you are new to these markets, you should familiarize yourself with the resources provided by the Small Business Administration. For the uninitiated, legal dangers lurk under the surface. We have discussed the general regulatory scheme applicable to export controls. In this article, we discuss some common export mistakes that we see exporters make when they attempt to navigate the export controls regulatory landscape without proper guidance.

Entity-choice-after-tax-reform. When you are ready to form your new small business, you probably have reviewed with your small business attorney various entity choices. The small business attorney likely discussed possible legal entities such as corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies (LLCs). Which entity is the best form for your business depends on many variables such as structure, liability, management as well as tax considerations. You have likely heard that there was a big change to the United States tax code starting in 2018 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Many of the tax reform provisions affect businesses. In this article, we will discuss how these changes may affect the calculus in deciding which legal form your want to choose for your startup business.

I recently came across a nonprofit in which the chairperson, who had recently died, bequeathed her interest in the nonprofit to a close relative. Little did she realize that a nonprofit is not property that you can transfer or otherwise give away. A nonprofit is fundamentally different from a for profit organization, such a corporation which issues stock. This article describes some corporate governance aspects of nonprofits.

If you are a small business and are interested in government contracting work, then the most likely entry point will be an arrangement with another company. How you structure this cooperation will be a critical and significant element of success. This article discusses teaming agreements and summarizes some structures that may appeal to small businesses.

If your small business is exporting weapons or arms, then you will fall within the ambit of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). You will probably find your export on that list if it has anything to do with arms or weapons. If you find your intended export on that list, then you are subject to the strict requirements of the ITAR. If your intended export is not on the list then you still have to comply with the export control laws, but the less strict export administration regulations. This article provides a brief summary of the applicability of the export administration regulations and why every business, even a small business, should be concerned about the applicability of the regulations to your business.

Even a small business may have to be concerned about export control rules and regulations. This article covers International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which deals with arms export controls. Not many small business owners are exporting weapons as such, but as we discuss in this article, even components that may be used in weapons may fall under the ITAR. ITAR regulates the export, reexport, retransfer, and brokering of ITAR-controlled defense articles (hardware), technical data (technology including software), and defense services. If hardware or technology is subject to the ITAR, their reexport from, or retransfer within, a foreign company is also subject to the ITAR restrictions.

This articles provides an overview of export control laws for the small business. If your small business is selling weapons to foreign governments, you probably should have guessed by now that you need to be concerned about export control laws in the United States. We introduce some of the major export regulations that may affect your business. U.S. companies that export goods from the U.S. can be subject to several requirements under regulations that have been implemented to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Failing to comply with export laws and regulations can have significant consequences for the business and the owners of the business, including civil or criminal fines, imprisonment, loss of export privileges, and debarment from government contracting. In other words, even a small business owner needs to take these regulations very seriously.

Some businesses simply don’t make it. We have discussed reasons why small business owners may decide to dissolve a business. The procedures that a small business must follow differ depending on where you may have organized your company. In this post, we will summarize the procedures for dissolving your limited liability company (LLC) in various popular states for small businesses. We focus on business dissolution of LLCs in DC, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and California.