Articles Posted in Securitieslegal

In a publicly traded company, you are required by state corporation laws and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to keep your shareholders informed and to protect their rights by holding an annual shareholders meeting. The details of how that meeting is conducted and the reporting requirements are well defined in each state.…

As a company executive or board member, you have a responsibility to periodically report the financial condition of your company to your investors. To do that in a professional way, to be accurate, and to protect yourself against liability for mistakes or intentional misrepresentations, you have your outside auditors perform an audit and present the…

Business financing is significantly different than personal financing. As a person you can go to your bank and apply for a loan. The bank will review your credit score and history, verify your employment, then appraise the value of the collateral you are offering to secure the loan, before making a lending decision. When your…

Conducting due diligence is a common practice in the business and legal industries, but what is it and why is it considered necessary in establishing workable relationships? It is a comprehensive, systematic investigation of a business, investment, or legal partner to evaluate legal risks, verify financial data, and confirm operational realities before finalizing a deal.…

You received counsel from a business lawyer when you started your business, to draft the agreements, obtain the necessary licenses, and choose the right organizational structure. Now you are ready to expand your business to serve more customers and increase your profits. You are now an experienced businessman so you should be able to do…

If you are considering purchasing a business or a merger with another business, maybe you are thinking you can handle the whole transaction with one comprehensive contract. Something like Congress did with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Hold on. That is a bad idea for two main reasons. First, when the contract is completed and…

When business costs continue to rise, your first thought might be to look for expenses where you can make cuts to keep your bottom line profitable. This is a common scenario for all businesses, whether you are managing a startup or a public company. The choices are usually hard, because cost cutting can bring negative…

Has your company ever been denied access to banking or other financial services for any reason other than standard credit risk criteria, violation of terms of service, or excessive unexpected activity? Such practices are now illegal. This practice is called debanking and often occurs without a clear explanation to the customer, leaving individuals or businesses…

A U. S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study, released in January of 2023 found that “Third-party litigation financing (TPLF) is an arrangement where a funder that is not a party to a lawsuit agrees to provide funding to a litigant (typically a plaintiff) or law firm in exchange for an interest in the potential recovery…

Regulatory agencies, including the Department of Justice and other federal and state authorities, have increased their focus on compliance with artificial intelligence (AI) risk frameworks, particularly within financial institutions. The rapid and widespread adoption of AI has introduced complex risks that traditional control systems were not designed to address. AI is no longer experimental. It…