Did you just get your first professional job offer? As excited as you may be, reign in your enthusiasm so that it doesn't override your common sense. Tell your prospective employer that you need a couple of days to go over the offer. The company has invested a lot of...
Is it time to sell your small business? Maybe you're ready to close up shop and retire or maybe you've been offered a price that's too attractive to refuse. Either way, you need a contract that covers the sale. Make certain these things are included: 1. Identify the...
There are lawyers in practice today that probably weren't even born when the band known as "Jefferson Starship" was at its peak back in the mid-1970s and 1980s. For the record, they were pretty famous. Famous enough that the name still carries a significant amount of...
If you fail to live up to the terms of a business contract, or "breach" it, does that relieve the other person in the contract from his or her end of the deal? The answer is more complicated than most people think. How do you define breach of contract? If you make a...
Contracts are part of doing business -- you won't be in business long if you don't get a clear idea of what it takes to make a contract valid and legally enforceable. In order to protect yourself and your business, keep the following facts in mind: The basic elements...
There's a rule in business that applies to almost any situation: When you're in a deep hole, stop digging. If the authorities in the Florida legislature had heeded that advice, they might be done with a problematic lawsuit and a long-overdue bill for a website that...
There's an old adage that "an oral contract is worth the paper it's written on," but that isn't always true -- and people who underestimate the legalities of a handshake bargain sometimes find out, to their dismay, that they're going to be held to their word. This was...
There's a big difference between a simple agreement and a legal contract. For one thing, breaking an agreement might not make you any friends, but it probably won't land you in court. Break a contract, however, and you can just about count seeing the inside of a...
Knowledge is power -- especially in a society that is increasingly being driven by ideas and technological innovations. As a result, employers are increasingly anxious about losing control of their intellectual property. From an employer's perspective, that means it...
No matter what type of business you run, you need to know something about contract law in order to survive. At its most basic form, a contract is any agreement that's legally enforceable -- unlike a simple agreement between friends, there are certain rules that have...
