Do you need a lawyer to draft a lease? My answer might surprise you. In Montgomery County, Maryland, you might be able to adopt a do-it-yourself approach - at least for drafting a residential lease.
By Kimberly Jones
Intern, Press, Dozier& Hamelburg, LLC
JD Candidate May 2013
Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
Did you know that there are roughly 7 billion people in the world, over 2.4 billion of whom use the internet? Of those 2.4 billion internet users, 1.06 billion use Facebook (44%), 1 billion use YouTube (42%), 500 million use Twitter (21%), and 425 million use Gmail (18%).
Last week, we introduced the difference between a listing agent (also known as the seller's agent) and a buyer's agent in a real estate transaction. This week, we review the role of the settlement attorney and the overall settlement process in the purchase and sale of real estate.
In real estate transactions today it can be difficult to figure out who is really representing your interests and who is representing the other side.
A will is an important legal document which every person needs to have. Without one, there's no guaranty that, upon your death, your money will go to the people you want, or that your children will be cared for by a guardian of your choosing.
With any commercial enterprise, there are at least two sides of any question to be considered. In the case of negotiating a publishing agreement, depending on whether you are the creator of the work or the publisher, you will have different goals and therefore different needs to be addressed in the contract. Likewise, whether you are able to achieve some or all of your objectives will depend upon your relative bargaining strength.
If you are in business, then you definitely have trade secrets, also referred to as proprietary or confidential information. What, if anything, are you doing to protect these valuable assets? To answer that question, it is important to understand what kind of information can be considered a trade secret.
When I ask a business person for reasons why he or she wants to operate as a corporation, I often hear, "Because I want to limit my personal liability." Clearly, a worthy objective. But what steps are you taking to preserve your individual limited liability? Is it enough simply to file incorporation papers and the various state and federal tax returns to protect your status? Or, are there other steps you should take to safeguard your limited liability?
The news this fall has been filled with reports of large, well-established companies facing difficult economic circumstances. In a number of highly publicized cases, the federal government (using our tax dollars) has ridden to the rescue. Such relief is unlikely to be granted to the rest of us. That being the case, it is important for you to evaluate how your business will face the economic slow down and what, if any precautionary steps you can take.
Because software plays an increasingly larger role in the operations of most businesses, the issues involved with licensing the software not only is of interest to the developers but the commercial end users.
