In October, I wrote about How the Practice of Law is Like the NHL. This article was about how rule changes in the practice of law, and changing skill sets in the NHL have made finesse and skill more important than brawling. Recent experience has shown that this trend continues in law, and that
General Business Law News and Updates
Protecting Your Copyright Is Both Easier and Harder Than You Think
By Andy Nikolopoulos on
One of the ironies in the business world is that the foresight and planning that goes into a creative work is often left behind when it comes to the subsequent protection of these efforts. Copyright protection is a concept that many are familiar with on a superficial level. But a lot of confusion exists as…
Here’s How To Enforce a Texas Non-Compete
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
I get questions all the time about the enforceability of noncompetes in Texas. I have to respond in the most-irritating lawyer-like way possible: I say that the enforceability of any particular noncompete all depends on the language of the noncompete and the facts of the case. That response predictably results in a long period of…
Protecting Your Business Name Is Not As Simple As Paying a Visit to GoDaddy
By Andy Nikolopoulos on
When starting a new business, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of putting all of your creative energy into the development of the goods and services that will serve as the backbone of your enterprise. Unfortunately, it is also easy to put important and fundamental components of the business plan on…
One of these things is not like the others: breweries and onsite purchases for offsite consumption
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
When I was a kid I watched Sesame Street and The Electric Company. One of the shows had this bit where there would be four items on the screen. Three were alike, and one was not. The point was to identify which of the four was not like the others. There was a catchy jingle…
American employees get paid for answering after hours emails; French employees can ignore them altogether
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
Over the weekend the Washington Post reported that France has enacted a new law that allows employees to ignore work emails outside typical working hours. According to the Washington Post, the purpose behind the new French law is to reduce the impact of the stress of work on people’s personal time. While the new French…
Handbooks, offer letters, and the employment at-will doctrine in Texas
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
Texas case law is clear. Employment is at will, terminable at any time by either party, with or without cause, absent an express agreement to the contrary. Fed. Exp. Corp. v. Dutschmann, 846 S.W.2d 282, 283 (Tex. 1993). This means that unless there is an agreement limiting an employer’s right to terminate, an employer…
Why do juries matter?
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
I have been writing on this blog about how Dallas County juries have shifted over the years from pro-defense to pro-plaintiff, or at least to a point where most prospective jurors in Dallas County don’t necessarily consider lawsuits a bad thing. In the era of tort reform, this attitude among prospective jurors in Dallas…
What happens now with overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act?
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
Late last month a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction against implementation of the Obama Administration’s new overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The new rules were supposed to go into effect on December 1, 2016, and would have resulted in substantially more employees becoming eligible for overtime under the FLSA. …
Dallas County Juries, part III
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
Previously I posted about Dallas County juries here and here. Last week a federal jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $1.041 billion to six plaintiffs who received defectively-designed hip implants. Of the total verdict, $32 million was for compensatory damages, and the rest was for punitive damages. The federal jury that ordered Johnson…