Two primary doctrines protect the relationship between a client and attorney: I’m sure all of you have heard of attorney-client privilege; it allows clients to speak with their lawyers honestly and without fear. Many of you may not have heard of the work-product privilege; this protects attorneys (and those working at their direction) so that […]
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the primary federal law governing how businesses engage with consumers through phone calls, text messages, and faxes. The TCPA includes limitations on the circumstances under which businesses may contact consumers (including how often and when) and may use an auto-dialer. Noncompliance can result in significant fines, including statutory […]
In this post, we address “dispute resolution” provisions in contracts, an often neglected but crucial part of the boilerplate at the end of contracts. (You know, that legal mumbo-jumbo you have always ignored.) No one wants to think too much about dispute resolution, because no one wants to think there will be disputes. And, anyway, […]
These words, uttered by former FBI Director James Comey last month in response to a baseless federal criminal indictment brought against him, simultaneously sent a chill down my spine — and stiffened it. Comey, with these words, defies our president — a petty, vindictive autocrat determined to exact revenge on those he perceives as political […]
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (still trying to accept that this is really the name) just sweetened an already pretty sweet QSBS tax deal. Until now, you had to hold qualified small business stock (QSBS) for five years to get the famous 100% capital gains exclusion under Section 1202. Sell earlier than that? No […]
The state has expanded the Illinois Angel Investment Tax Credit program, which we last wrote about in 2019. Securing this tax credit could be very important to potential investors, especially during this challenging fundraising period. Illinois now offers investors a 35% credit to their Illinois income tax liability for investments between $10,000 and $2 million […]
[WARNING! I AM HUMAN, AND CAN MAKE ERRORS TOO!] As businesses integrate artificial intelligence in their operations (including goodcounsel, which we’ve written about here), state legislatures are taking steps to regulate its use, particularly when there are civil rights and consumer protection implications. Much of the early focus has been on preventing algorithmic discrimination in […]
Five years ago, we wrote a blog post about how Illinois was a pioneer in passing a comprehensive statute protecting biometric information, and how other states were following suit. Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), enacted in 2008, protects these biometric identifiers: fingerprints, retina scans, iris scans, hand geometry scans, voiceprints, and face geometry scans. Illinois […]
I am fortunate to be in Europe for a couple of weeks. It’s always striking to see the quality of public infrastructure here. The Paris Metro is a marvel—beautiful, fast, and extensive. (Why the Metro operates so much better than the NYC Subway, given its smaller operating budget, is a story for another time.) This […]
As is often the case with President Trump, the corruption is out in the open. As a lawyer, it sickens me that the president continues to get away with this. Are people okay with this? CEO Makes Shocking Admission About Why He’s Buying Trump’s Meme Coin (Yahoo! News) A crypto mogul who invested millions into […]