The Fiduciary Rule, “Regulation Best Interests”, and Suitability Standards: Trump's Rollback of Obama Investor Protections
It should come as no surprise that since he entered office Pres. Trump has undone the investor protection regulations that President Obama instituted in 2015. Five years ago under orders from Pres. Obama, the Department of Labor proposed regulations that would have implemented the “Fiduciary Rule”. This rule would have expanded the fiduciary obligations that already apply to investment advisors by also making them apply to brokers and insurers who sell investment instruments (e.g., stocks, bonds, annuities, life insurance, etc.) or provide related advice. Such fiduciary requirements mandate that investment professionals provide their clients with duties of loyalty and care, among other protections, thereby putting the client investors’ interests and needs above their own financial and other interests.
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A Huge Game Changer! NY Joins CA and Eliminates "Severe or Pervasive" Standard in Workplace Sexual Harassment Cases, Marking Next Level of #MeToo Movement
On June 19, 2019, New York State’s legislators passed a law that also gets rid of the draconian “severe or pervasive” standard and utilizes the more sensible “single incident” approach as described above; and NY lawmakers also made secret settlements illegal, just like California. This is truly wonderful news! No more inappropriate touching, sexist commentary, or pornographic videos at work! Certainly such a standard is long overdue, and employers and workplace creeps had better heed the call of a new day.
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Disarm and Destroy: School Policies Prohibiting Attorney Representation in Administrative Proceedings - and How to Fight Back!
An attorney can do much for a student or other individual facing a school in an administrative grievance, investigation, hearing, or appeal, be it reviewing the facts and properly advising the individual, drafting correspondence or other documents in the dispute, negotiating with the school, representing the individual at hearings, filing complaints with governmental bodies, or preparing the foundations for litigation against the school in the court system. Schools know this, and that’s why they scurrilously try to prohibit attorney representation for individuals - be they students, teachers, or staff - in such disputes. It’s far easier for schools to remain unopposed, to intimidate you, and to take your money and time and leave you holding your head on the curb after it’s all over.
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Apples and Peppers: Allowing End Users as well as Developers to Sue Apple for App Prices Violates Valid Precedent
There's no evidence of any explicit or even any implied conspiracy between app developers and Apple to price fix. It stretches reason to think that every app developer has somehow entered into an implied conspiracy with Apple to raise the price of the app by Apple’s 30% commission! App prices are based on competitive principles. Consider the plethora of $1.99 apps. Without Apples’s 30% commission, those would be priced at $1.39, you think? Nope.
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The Facebook Hearing, the ‘Tech Company’ Misnomer, and the Luddite Gap in Congress
It’s ridiculous to suggest that Facebook should independently monitor every third party’s advertisement on its site to make sure that the advertiser and the ad are legitimate, authentic, and safe for general consumption; but frankly between its “flag” feature where users can report problematic ads or behavior on the platform, its Artificial Intelligence surveillance, and its team of 10,000+ ad auditors (which Zuckerberg stated in the Senate that he’s increasing to 20,000 soon), Facebook is doing exactly that. So what more could we reasonably ask? On top of that, it’s Facebook users who are choosing to share so much private information about themselves with the public on their Facebook profiles!
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Will Farmers or 3rd Party Repair Shops Sue John Deere for Allegedly Contractually Prohibiting Unlicensed Tractor Repairs?
In the last couple years, tractor manufacturer John Deere (formally Deere and Co.) has allegedly been limiting the ability of purchasers of its tractors to independently work on these tractors or from having any third party parts & repair providers work on said tractors unless they are licensed by John Deere to do so.
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No Housing, No Arts, No Community! — Oakland’s “Ghost Ship” Fire Born of Rental Pandemic
To stop the inevitable migration of artists, middle class families, and progressive white collar professionals from our nation’s cosmopolitan centers to outskirt towns and emerging middle American metro-areas, we need more aggressive housing safety regulations, much more expansive rent-control laws, and more affordable housing projects in Oakland and the cities across the nation like it, from Brooklyn, NY and Somerville, MA to LA, Austin, Seattle, and Portland.
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Tort-Reform: Why Other Peoples’ Lawsuits Cost Us So Much Money & What To Do About It
Next time you hear about somebody suing somebody else for money to try to make up for some injury, more likely than not remember this: We are paying for it in the long run. We pay for the Courts and the Judges. We pay the legislators who spend their time making regulations (laws) that provide remedies for victims protected by such laws.
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Obama Universal Health Care Plan Is Unconstitutional, and Other Broken Promises of the Obama Administration
During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised us to create a meaningful universal health care law that would provide all Americans with necessary health care coverage. I suppose by that he meant that he would institute the Republican, pro-insurance industry requirement that we all get in line to spend what little money we have to purchase private insurance policies from big insurance companies, lest we be held liable for violating the ironically named "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Law" - an Orwellian name for a law that is itself unconstitutional.
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Overview of US Patent Litigation and US Patent Law
Many business professionals often lack a sufficient understanding of the fundamentals of US Patent Law. To bridge the gap and make my professional conversations with clients more useful and time-effective, I offer the following synopsis of US Patent Litigation and Patent Law. Please note that this synopsis is only for basic informational and entertainment purposes and should not be relied upon as legal advice. You should consult with me personally to discuss your Patent Litigation matter.
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Identity Theft and Your Business’s Liability to Your Clients’ Safety
It is best to review your business’s policies and procedures in maintaining the highest available levels of security for your databases and online accounts, be as organized and diligent as possible in your data management and online security practices, and take all the necessary precautions by training your personnel appropriately. Since nobody is impervious to online attacks, as we learn from Mr. Honan’s unfortunate example, it is important to also clearly inform your clients of such possibilities in your contractual language.
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Overview of California Trade Secrets Law and Trade Secrets Litigation
From my experiences as a bicoastal business attorney practicing in CA, NY, WA, DC, and MA, our nation’s most progressive business startup states, I know that many startup founders are brilliant intellectuals who have created winning positions in their field by way of their professional creativity and personal drive. Yet simultaneously these individuals often lack any real legal knowledge and high-quality legal representation to help them avoid Intellectual Property litigation and understand the power and nuances of Trade Secrets Law. To that end, I have prepared this brief outline of California Trade Secrets to help startup professionals understand the legal and rational underpinnings of this area of the law, helping them to better communicate with me during legal representation.
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DIY Lawsuit? – Legal Protections for Small Businesses, DIY Culture, and the Maker Movement
I truly believe that the single best piece of advice that any lawyer can give is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is well worth your time and money to consult with an attorney and to hire an attorney to prepare the legal foundations of your business, including crucial contracts and other legal brochures and papers that you can use to try as best as you can to protect yourself in your dealings with various individuals and companies. That way, if you are sued or otherwise involved in any sort of legal problem, you may find yourself in a safer and stronger position that you may have otherwise been.
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Keep Your Word: A Contract is a Contract
A contract is a contract. When you promise to pay a man for work he performs for you, you have to keep your word. Regardless of whether you can slip through the cracks into anonymity, foist some false-hearted or meager defense, or point to his relative wealth in comparison to your own financial austerity, we must all keep our promises to the very best of our abilities.
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Business Investment Fraud on the Rise
In this poor economy, our nation is seeing a sharp spike in the number of reported business fraud cases being reported by investors, as reported in a USA Today article written on August 5, 2010 by John Waggoner - "Investment Scams Thriving; Folks with Big Stock, 401(K) Losses Have Taken Some Hits." According to the USA Today article, investors who are seeking to recoup major losses from their retirement plans are falling prey to con-artists posing as entrepreneurs seeking venture capital or investment moguls seeking partners.
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