Millennials. Everyone has an opinion, especially us. We are “entitled,” “spoiled,” and “lazy” to some; “diverse,” “educated,” and “confident” to others. Try this: “resilient.” Millennials rode the 90’s boom straight into the dot-com bust. We watched the World Trade Center fall on live TV. We endured (and continued to endure) more than 20 years of conflict on foreign soil—the best among us serving, fighting, and too often sacrificing terribly. We kept our spirits as New…

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. – Sen. Dianne Feinstein The Supreme Court of Texas issued an Order back in August 2020 setting forth various amendments to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. A portion of the amendments took effect on January 1, 2021, and apply to all cases filed on or after that date unless filed in justice court. The rules…

“At what point do we simply say . . . this statute is an ill fit for current technology?” – Justice Clarence Thomas Nearly 3 decades before Zack Morris ascended to the fictional governorship of California in NBC’s reboot of Saved by the Bell, he was America’s best known Preppy—the cool kid with politician hair toting the raddest, most cutting edge, must-have gizmo his Dad’s money could buy: a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. Yes, I mean…

Most businesses are familiar with the concept of trademarking a word, logo, or slogan that serves as a unique identifier of their goods or services. After all, those are the markers that first come to mind when you think about a certain brand. But clients and practitioners often overlook another aspect of trademark protection relating to the total image or overall appearance of the brand. Trade dress is a subset of trademark law that refers…

Hashtags for women entrepreneurs and female owned business are becoming more prominent. Tag lines such as “Mom-preneur” #girlpreneur #womenceo, #girlboss #solopreneur #entreprenuerher abound in social media posts in the fashion industry. It is not easy to be a female entrepreneur but with the rise of e-commerce more and more women are forming businesses and successfully selling their products. According to Visa’s 2020 State of Female Entrepreneurship report, though 79% of female entrepreneurs in the U.S.…

How can you be an effective trustee appointed in a chapter 11 case if you cannot retain counsel when the case first begins? Well one bankruptcy court in North Carolina explained that a trustee’s retention of counsel is not an automatic right in some chapter 11 cases. First, let me lay the predicate. The New Act. There is a new category of chapter 11 trustees statutorily appointed under the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019…

In light of all the negative new stories in 2020 and the statistics about the rise in divorce rates, it does not hurt to point out that there is a plus side to the pandemic: more requests for premarital agreements means more people are choosing to get married. Whether through chosen quarantine in the early stages of a relationship or slowly getting to know a new love through FaceTime, 2020 has allowed many people to…