Hiring a new employee is an important business decision that can impact your business’s success. You must take the necessary steps to protect both your business and keep your employee happy, especially today when the unemployment rate is at a historic low . If your San Jose business is considering…
Startup companies often use stock options to attract new quality talent. If you have decided to do so, there are some special considerations when deciding the best approach to compensate your employees. Two common approaches include restricted stock and stock options. What is Restricted Stock? Restricted stock is a stock…
It may seem simple to try and put together a shareholder agreement on your own. However, a carefully drafted shareholder agreement is imperative to how your business functions in the present, but more importantly how you might need to handle things in the future. You will want your shareholder agreement…
It seems almost once a week there is data breach in the news-Facebook, Experian, Target, Delta Airlines. The list goes on and on. San Jose business owners have a legal obligation to protect their customers’ personal information (also called Personally Identifiable Information or PII). Every business, regardless of the size,…
Securities law is something you might hear in the news because of some violation or in relation to white-collar crime. With the wild ride that the stock market, including the gradual introduction of permissible, legal trading of cryptocurrencies (like bitcoin) and tokens from initial coin offerings (“ICO’s”), has securities laws…
Uber is almost an institution in many of our daily lives, much like Google, Amazon, or Apple. But even though many of us may simply think of Uber as the name that fulfills many of our transportation needs, it is still a company – it has offices, hires people, fights…
Palo Alto business owners are faced with heavy competition in the Silicon Valley, all of which are looking for the best practices, methods, and trade secrets. Some of a company’s most valuable assets can be found in your intellectual property. Each year intellectual property theft costs businesses billions of dollars.…
A lis pendens, or Notice of Pendency of Action, is a legal notice which is filed with the recorder’s office that provides notice that there is legal action pending against the parcel of real property at issue. This area of law can be complicated, but at a minimum, it is…
Many companies conduct business in California without having incorporated under the laws of this state. While this is entirely lawful, it does expose such businesses to civil liability. This risk can be mitigated by filing a Certificate of Qualification. This process enables a foreign corporation to operate in California with…
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have recently become a popular new source of funding for Silicon Valley businesses. They are new and exciting, but they can also be risky. It is important for business owners considering an ICO to understand both blockchain processes and the securities laws which apply to digital…