Legally Sound | Smart Business

Just as most stories and deals start out, everyone is optimistic, idealistic and full of hope for clear skies. It's a perfect outlook with a perfect setup for the ups and downs yet to come. Peek further behind the curtain and into the first steps of buying a business: the letter of intent. After the first episode, you already have an idea and context of our buyer's situation.  Listen to the call, as we walk through the important points and considerations when drafting our buyer's letter of intent, that happens to include a no-shop provision.   Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business, this is our second episode of Behind the Buy, our series where we take a look at the transaction of buying a business with our client, you get to listen in on our phone calls. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I'm Matt Staub. NASIR: This is our first real episode, I think our first episode was just kind of an introduction of our series, but this is where we really get to the meat. We're goi

When a savvy buyer hears opportunity knocking to purchase a prime positioned business, she decides not to go it alone and taps in the professionals to help navigate what could potentially be a fruitful acquisition. “Behind the Buy” is a truly rare and exclusive peak into the actual process, dangers, pitfalls and achievements, that can occur when buying a business. In this limited series, hosts of Legally Sound | Smart Business provide insight and help you understand the steps that can go into acquiring a business and maybe even a piece of the American dream. Hear the calls and conversations that take place while you listen and learn about all the things that can wrong on the path to getting it right. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our first episode of Behind the Buy Series on Legally Sound Smart Business. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I'm Matt Staub. NASIR: This is one thing that we've been wanting to do for a while which is let people understand what it is like to actually work with a

GrubHub is subject to two "matters of controversy" that have likely become common knowledge to business owners: "fake" orders and unfriendly microsites.

In this podcast episode, Matt and Nasir breakdown the legal issues of the subscription industry's business on the internet. Resources A good 50-state survey for data breach notifications as of July 2018.California Auto-Renewal Law (July 2018)Privacy Policies Law by StateWhy Users of Ashley Madison May Not Sue for Data Breach [e210]Ultimate Legal Breakdown: Subscription Box Businesses [e286]How Subscription Model Pricing Is The Gift And The Curse [e228]Guide to Terms & Conditions for Subscription Box Businesses (January 2015)GDPR v. CCPANegative Options according to the FTC from 2009Negative Options according to the FTC from 2016 Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. We’re two attorneys here with Pasha Law – practicing in California, Texas, New York, and Illinois. NASIR: This is where we cover business in the news and give our legal twist to that news. Today, we are going to really focus on a subscription industry. Pretty much e

In recording this episode's topic on the business buying process, Matt's metaphor, in comparing the process to getting married probably went too far, but they do resemble one another. Listen to the episode for legal advice on buying a business.

Nasir and Matt return to discuss the different options available to companies looking to raise funds through general solicitation and crowdfunding. They discuss the rules associated with the various offerings under SEC regulations and state laws, as well as more informal arrangements. The two also discuss the intriguing story about a couple who raised over $400,000 for a homeless man only to allegedly keep the funds for themselves. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Hi, and welcome to our podcast.My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub.We’re two attorneys here with Pasha Law, practicing in California, Texas, New York, and Illinois. NASIR: And this is where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist to that news.Legally Sound Smart Business – we’ve been doing this podcast for now, I don’t know, I feel like it’s been like five, ten thousand years, something like that. MATT: Well, I don’t know if those numbers are accurate, but there’s a recent story how the podcast industry is oversaturated

Flight Sim Labs, a software add-on creator for flight simulators, stepped into a PR disaster and possibly some substantial legal issues when it allegedly included a Trojan horse of sorts as malware to combat pirating of its $100 Airbus A320 software. The hidden test.exe file triggered anti-virus software for good reason as it was actually a tool that could steal passwords stored through Google Chrome. Flight Sim Labs had to later explain once they were outed by a user on Reddit that the tool was only targeting those who stole the software. In this episode, Nasir and Matt are joined by good friend, entrepreneur, attorney, and podcaster, Marc Hoag. We discuss the legal issues surrounding this mess of a situation created by what seems an overzealous developer / development team, including hacking, malware, terms and conditions of Reddit, defamation and libel, DRM and anti-piracy, and copyright infringement. Credit to MeowCaptain who brought this to our attention outside of the /r/flightsim subreddit with his v

Attorneys Matt Staub and Nasir Pasha examine Mark Zuckerberg's congressional hearings about the state of Facebook. The two also discuss Cambridge Analytica and the series of events that led to the congressional hearings, the former and current versions of Facebook's Terms of Service, and how businesses should be handling data privacy. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. We’re two attorneys with Pasha Law, practicing in California, Texas, New York, and Illinois. NASIR: And this is where we cover business in the news with our legal twist. Today, we’re covering – well, I mean, this has been a pretty big news week when it came to terms of service. I think, Matt, you put it well. What did you say to me? This was like the… I’ve just got to pull that message up. MATT: Yeah, I’m trying to think. It was something along the effects of “this is the most riveting terms of service discussion I’ve ever seen” or something. NASIR: And it was! What he w

The Trump presidency has led to a major increase in ICE immigration enforcement. It's critical for business owners to both comply with and know their rights when it comes to an ICE audit or raid. Nasir, Matt, and Pasha Law attorney Karen McConville discuss how businesses can prepare for potential ICE action and how to properly respond if ICE shows up at your door. They also discuss the different types of action ICE can take and distinguish between a judicial and administrative warrant. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to the podcast!My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub.Well, usually two attorneys here with Pasha Law, practicing in California, Texas, New York, and Illinois, but we have a special surprise guest for this episode. NASIR: Surprise!Yeah, we have our third attorney at Pasha Law here, Karen McConville, based out of the Bay Area, Northern California, and she is our business corporate attorney with a nice little twist of a legal background of immigration and criminal law which is p

New years always bring new laws. Effective January 1, 2018, California has made general contractors jointly liable for the unpaid wages, fringe benefits, and other benefit payments of a subcontractor. Nasir and Matt discuss who the new law applies to and how this affects all tiers in the general contractor-subcontractor relationship. Click here to learn more from "Can My Business Be Sued for Something an Independent Contractor Did?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to the podcast!My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub.Well, usually two attorneys here with Pasha Law, practicing in California, Texas, New York, and Illinois, but we have a special surprise guest for this episode. NASIR: Surprise!Yeah, we have our third attorney at Pasha Law here, Karen McConville, based out of the Bay Area, Northern California, and she is our business corporate attorney with a nice little twist of a legal background of immigration and criminal law which is perfect for today’s episode.Karen, welcome to our podca

With a seemingly endless amount of new mattress options becoming available, it is unsurprising that the market has become increasingly aggressive. As companies invest in more innovative solutions to get in front of customers, review sites, blogs and YouTube videos have moved to the forefront of how customers are deciding on their mattresses and how companies are attempting to battle for their business. With affiliate marketing becoming a colossal business for v/bloggers with the most coveted traffic, mattress companies are willing to pay influencers high affiliate commissions, but when relationships sour those same companies are just as glad to pay their attorneys. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to the podcast! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. Two attorneys here with Pasha Law, practicing in California, Texas, New York, and Illinois. NASIR: And this is where we talk about the business in the news and, also, add our legal twist to that business news. MATT: This is going to come ou

In recent months explosive amounts of high profile allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and varying acts of inappropriate behavior have transcended every sector of our professional world. With a deluge from Hollywood and politics, and the private workforce, accusations have inundated our feeds and mass media. This harassment watershed has not only been felt within the constraints of high profile communities. It has affected every echelon of our society and impacts businesses, religious institutions, education, entertainment and government. We have seen a multitude of brave faces, who Time Magazine calls the Silence Breakers, come forward and stand up to Cosby, Weinstein, Trump, Ailes, Conyers, Moore and Spacey. No longer can businesses neglect the need to educate and protect themselves as well as their employees. This pivotal moment is a call to action for business owners, supervisors and employees to focus on the policies and culture they contribute to in the workplace.; In this episode Nasir and Mat

If you are not familiar with the EB-5 program started in 1990 to give green cards to certain qualified investors in the United States, then you may not have been alone a few years ago. Currently, the EB-5 program has since exploded since its inception and now hits its quotas consistently each year. The program has brought tens of thousands of jobs and billions of foreign investment. The program has two main requirements: (1) An investor must put in a $1,000,000 investment or $500,000 for qualifying new commercial enterprises; and (2) create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs within two years of admission to the United States. Generally, most investments fall in the $500 thousand level, but both thresholds are expected to be increased soon. The businesses that only require $500 thousand dollar investment are those that are in a “TEA” or “targeted employment area.” There are two types of targeted employment areas or “TEAs”. Either its a rural area (an area far from cities and with low population) OR an ar

Government requests come in multiple forms. They can come in as requests for client information or even in the form of investigating your company or your employees. Requests for Client Information General Rule to Follow Without understanding the nuances of criminal and constitutional law and having to cite Supreme Court cases, any government requests for your client's information are rarely urgent and contemporaneous, i.e. usually they are made through formal channels and you are given time to comply. In such cases, it is only prudent to procure legal representation. Failure to do so could open yourself to liability in the event that you release information when you should not have or if you do not release information when you should have done so. The more difficult situations arise when a police officer or other government official shows up at your business' lobby, such was the case at the hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City Hospital Nurse Arrest Incident A Utah nurse was aggressively arrested w

Nasir and Matt suit up to talk about everything pertaining to employee dress codes. They discuss the Federal laws that govern many rules for employers, as well as state specific nuances in California and other states. The two also emphasize the difficulty in identifyingreligious expression in dress and appearance, how gender-related dress codes have evolved over time, and what clothing and grooming items are more susceptible to claims of employment discrimination. Dress Codes in General In general there is no federal law governing employee dress codes. Employers may implement whatever dress guidelines they feel are appropriate; however, it is when these dress codes violate a law as a result of implementing such a dress code. For example, an improper dress code policy may discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, or any other federally protected status in direction violation of Federal law. There are lots of different dress code policies that are completely legal. Though there can somet

Nasir and Matt discuss the life cycle of a negative online review. They talk about how businesses should properly respond, how to determine if the review is defamatory, the options available to seek removal of the review, how to identify anonymous reviewers, whether businesses can require clients to agree not to write negative reviews, and the prospects of suing Yelp, Google, Ripoff Report, or other review sites. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our podcast! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. We’re two attorneys here with Pasha Law. NASIR: This is where we cover business in the news with our legal twist. Today, we’re covering the ultimate legal breakdown of online reviews – something that we’ve dealt with a ton with our client businesses, right? MATT: Yeah, probably more than I was expecting to ever but we’ve had clients where that’s been the only thing that’s been an issue. But, even for the clients that we do a lot of things for, it seems to be popping up with them as well, and I

On this episode of the Ultimate Legal Breakdown, Nasir and Mattbreak down social media marketing withguests Tyler Sickmeyer and Kyle Weberof Fidelitas Development. They first discuss contests and promotionsand talk about where social media promotions can go wrong,when businesses are actually running an illegal lottery, and the importance of a soundterms and conditions. Next, they talk about the recent press release from the FTC tomarketing influencers about necessary disclosures in online marketing and how to avoid problems like those that occurred at the Fyre Festival. They wrap things up with a discussion on intellectual propertyinfringement, including issues caused by rogue ex-employees, affiliate relationships, and copyright infringement claims. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. We’re two attorneys here with Pasha Law. NASIR: Welcome to the podcast! Today, we are doing the ultimate legal breakdown of social media pr

On this episode of the Ultimate Legal Breakdown, Nasir and Matt go in depth with the subscription box business. They discusswhere subscription box companies have gone wrong(4:30), the importance of a specifically tailoredterms and conditions(6:30), how to structure return policies (11:45), product liability concerns (14:45),the offensive and defensive side of intellectual property (19:00), forming partnerships(23:30), when to form multiple entities (31:45), and rules and logistics for shipping (34:00). Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business! My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub, and we’re two business attorneys with Pasha Law. NASIR: Yeah, welcome to the podcast today. We are doing our ultimate legal breakdown of the subscription box business. MATT: Yeah, looking forward to this one. it’s a pretty fun topic because subscription boxes can offer many different things. I’m sure that most listeners have probably either ordered their own subscription box or maybe hav

Nasir and Matt discuss the suit against Apple that resultedfrom a car crashed caused by the use of FaceTime while driving. They also discuss howforeseeable use of apps can increase liability for companies. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Hi and welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business! I’m Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. Two attorneys here with Pasha Law – offices in California, Illinois, New York, and Texas. NASIR: Welcome to the podcast for a little short break we had between our last episode and this is where we discuss current business news with a legal twist. Today, we are talking about how developers – especially mobile app developers and other business owners in that space – can deal with possible liability for their software apps and their products. In this case, it’s a sad story of an Apple app that actually caused, well, it’s alleged to have caused a deadly accident. MATT: Yeah, let’s do a little bit of the background here on how we first started discussing this. There was a car accident ba

The guys kick in the new year by first discussing Cinnabon's portrayal of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia soon after her death, as well as other gaffes involving Prince and David Bowie. They alsotalk about right of publicity claims companies could be held liable for based on using someone's name or likeness for commercial gain. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Hello and welcome to Legally Sound Smart Business. I’m Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. We’re two attorneys here with Pasha Law, practicing in California, Illinois, New York, and Texas. NASIR: Yeah, welcome to the podcast where we cover business in the news with our legal twist. Today, we are discussing some of the do’s and don’ts of celebrity endorsements and what to be aware of when using their likeness and recent gaps in the year 2016 f these instances. MATT: Yes. I mean, I guess, when people listen to this, it will be 2017 – unless they’ve hacked into both of our computers and pulled the audio files for whatever reason. NASIR: Or they could