The new drone toy you got for Christmas comes with some heavy federal issues. When the Federal Aviation Administration established guidelines and licensing procedures for how commercial businesses and operators were permitted to use drones two years ago, the technology’s user base was mostly comprised of two groups: first responders,…
What are the local sick leave laws that could affect local businesses? 3 New Sick Leave Laws could affect your business. The State of Illinois Employee Sick-Leave Act (IESLA) becomes effective January 1, 1917; A new Cook County Sick-Leave Ordinance becomes effective July 1, 2017; A new City of…
Blockchain and Chicago Businesses In September of 2015, the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software and Society’s World Economic Forum[1] predicted that by 2025, 10% of GDP will be stored on blockchains or blockchain related technology. If you are a Chicago business owner and you are unsure what…
Equity Crowdfunding – The Future of Investing? While nearly everyone has heard of crowdfunding, the concept of equity crowdfunding is not as well known. For those Chicago business owners that are new to this developing area, prior to May 2016, crowdfunding was available only to accredited investors or those with…
Luddites and technophobes have no place in the modern practice of law, as least not according to recent changes in the rules of professional conduct. Technology has found embedded itself into the practice of law. Technology advances are constantly changing the way we practice just as technology is changing our…
Dentists face new problems with overtime for their employees. The Fair Labor Standards Act[1] (FLSA) sets forth standards for both minimum wages and overtime pay as well as record keeping for businesses. Whether your dental practice consists of two employees or a hundred employees spread across three office locations, federal…
It seems that every other news story involves Hillary Clinton,[1] emails, and the use of private servers, putting the topic of email deletion at center stage. But what can a Chicago business owner learn from the Hillary Clinton email story? There was a time when owning a business did not…
The Democratic National Committee is not the only victim of computer hacking[1]. In June of 2016, Bloomberg[2] reported on black market access to 70,000 hacked corporate and business servers. Even LinkedIn was victimized by computer hackers[3] who obtained 117 million passwords. To further complicate things, these types of cyber attacks…
A law firm recently announced that are employing IBM’s Ross to work in their bankruptcy practice, which currently consists of 50 lawyers. What is interesting is that Ross is “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney” combining apple’s Siri voice technology with IBM’s Watson cognitive computer. According to the firm’s website,…
Small investors in Illinois will soon be able to invest in start-up businesses in exchange for a piece of the action, but without some of the onerous oversight previously required by regulatory agencies. Signed by Governor Rauner in July, 2015 the Equity Crowdfunding Act (HB 3429) is a game changing…