Wisconsin Business Law and Litigation
A blog dedicated to Wisconsin business law and business litigation matters, authored by Chris Moander of the Moander Law Firm.

Last week, Milwaukee County passed a binding referendum requiring employers to provide sick leave to all workers; eleven or more employees requires one hour of sick time per thirty hours worked (nine days a year), whereas ten or fewer employees requires only five days of sick leave.  For clarification, a referendum is "the process of referring a state legislative act or important public issue to the people for final approval by popular vote" - the voting public decides whether to apply a law as written. 

So how does this referendum affect you, a Milwaukee County business owner?  It is hard to tell this soon after the vote, but my friend, fellow attorney, and employment lawyer Mark Goldstein, of Mark J. Goldstein, S.C., outlined several possible reactions by local businesses:

                            Some employers are concerned about yet another employee-related cost that
                            cannot be passed on to customers and the administrative hassle of managing
                            yet another category of leave. Others ask if this will be a disincentive to
                            businesses that are contemplating locating, or staying, in Milwaukee
                            (Washington D.C. and San Francisco are the only municipalities with a “paid
                            time off” ordinance). Still others take a more pragmatic view, suggesting
                            they will simply reallocate time and dollars previously allocated to paid
                            vacation, paid holidays or other benefits to the new paid sick leave.

Now is the time to think and plan if you are affected by the change.

Chris Moander is an independent attorney based in Milwaukee who is passionate about helping growing business navigate the legal waters of Wisconsin.

I know it is an overused statement, but the world is smaller than ever.  Thus it is no surprise that even extremely small businesses will interact with companies outside the United States.  Naturally, cross-border relationships bring with them unique legal complexities.  A fine example of this thorny issue is the effect of U.S. treaties with other nations. 

The Constitution, in it’s Supremacy Clause, tells us that treaties (along with other laws) are the supreme law of the United States.  The Supreme Court confirmed that valid treaties override state law several times over the life of our nation, the first case (Ware v. Hylton, 3 U.S. 199) focusing on the post-revolution treaty with England.  So, it is well established that, if your business partner’s home nation has a treaty with the U.S., that treaty may have a substantive impact on both how you transact business with that business partner and the subject matter of your business relationship. 

So what if treaties override other law, including state law?  That’s the kicker for the entrepreneur.  The longer you are in business and the closer you are to your attorney, the more familiar (and comfortable) you will become with Wisconsin law.  Treaties change that familiarity - new terms and interpretations may be introduced to an agreement, or whole sections of law may be disregarded in favor of the treaty.  For example, a given nation may have a treaty with the U.S. that does not obligate any businesses from that nation to follow Wisconsin franchise law and regulations.  Normally, failure of a company to meet such requirements is a red flag to an attorney and the business owner, but a proper treaty changes the analysis.

Chris Moander is an independent attorney based in Milwaukee who is passionate about helping growing business navigate the legal waters of Wisconsin.

I wanted to let all my readers know I recently moved into a new office.  Feel free to come visit me!

Chris Moander is an Attorney handling business law matters, business litigation, and collections matters throughout Wisconsin.

My friend Jon Groth has food for thought for employers and employees on election day. 

The lesson here - employers should be prepared for reduced workforce on election day(s). 

Chris Moander is an independent attorney based in Milwaukee who is passionate about helping growing business navigate the legal waters of Wisconsin.

This is a short week, since I am heading out to the Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference tomorrow (I am speaking on Friday), so I am pitching out other blogger’s material today. 

Mark Toth, the CLO of Manpower, shares some of Wisconsin’s rather silly laws.  Every place has a few.  I am impressed, but not shocked, at how effective the cheese lobby has been in insulating their racket by requiring a slice of cheese with each slice of apple pie AND requiring a license to make limburger cheese. 

Chris Moander is an independent attorney based in Milwaukee who is passionate about helping growing business navigate the legal waters of Wisconsin.

I cannot explain how ecstatic I am about this article on the death of the billable hour.  In particular, think the following quote explains why I avoid the billable hour in most of my work.

A lawyer sells intellectual capital. The true value of which is not measured by time at all.

How does this help you, the client?  Several ways:

1. You are not writing a blank check to the firm; rather, you have a fixed and budgetable cost.
2. I, as the attorney, lack any incentive to pad hours for more profit.  Rather, the pressure is on me to complete quality work in reasonable amount of time - the attorney bears more risk than in an hourly fee arrangement.
3. The attorney must spend more time with the client outlining the problems to be solved - the result is a better relationship between attorney and client with the bonus of having each stage of work outlined with precision.

Realizing this blog is about client needs and not my ego, I must say I firmly believe that hourly rates do not connote quality of lawyer.  My goal is to be a trusted advisor to each client, a person to whom a client can come to with any issue knowing that, if I cannot help them, I will find someone who can.  Value billing allows me that ability.

Chris Moander is an independent attorney based in Milwaukee handling business law matters, business litigation, and collections matters throughout Wisconsin.

Two prominent conferences are going on in the Greater Milwaukee area over the next few weeks that will prove useful to the small and growing business owners and entrepreneurs.

October 4-5 is BarCampMilwaukee3, hosted at Bucketworks and sponsored by several local companies and groups.  Hopefully I will run into a few of you while I’m there. 

October 9-10 is the the Midwest Fall Business Expo 2008, sponsored by the CKME Group and a few other entities. The focus of this expo is the small and growing business, those who often cannot afford the high price of other expos.  Additionally, the event has an array of seminars and networking events.  I also hope to see some of my readers at the networking summit (October 9th from 5:30-8pm). 

Chris Moander is an independent attorney handling business law matters, business litigation, and collections matters throughout Wisconsin.

Dear Readers,

I want to give some much-deserved credit to my fellow attorney and friend Jon Groth, author of Jon Groth’s Personal Injury Weblog, which focuses on personal injury law in Wisconsin. His blog effectively address personal injury matters in light of local events - two good examples are his posts on the recent Burkosky family tragedy in Oconomowoc. Please check out his blog and drop him a line.

Jon also is a member of the Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference Planning Committee. He has been and will continue to work tireless on one of the great bar events in Wisconsin.

Dear Readers:

I will be attending the Small Business Times BizTech Expo for the next few days. If you have not had a chance to sign up, come on down. I’m very excited about this event because it’s drawing some major national speakers and some quality local speakers. Aside from the usual expo set up of booths and chit-chat, there well over ten individual business strategy seminars that are free to people attending the event!

If you do come on down, I will be the guy likely having a great time meeting new folks, learning about new technologies, and talking shop with everyone and anyone.

I came across a link that I think outlines the basics of how venture capital works. The slideshow shows key elements of the financing process. What I find particularly important and useful is the explanation of why VC firms need and, frankly, deserve preferred stock in companies in which they invest - I love the fact the author uses the term “mischief” to describe the alternative of giving VC’s common stock.

I also think the author has the right idea in emphasizing that both investors and entrepreneurs have something to gain from transparency in the financing process - if everyone understands the terms, a true “meeting-of-the-minds” occurs and each side is happy with the deal.