Certain preconceptions of corporations follow the historical belief that corporations exist solely to maximize profits for shareholders. As such, a profit mandate gives those in charge much less of a choice than they might prefer. With the advent of businesses moving to a social awareness business model, this has put constraints on the traditional corporate legal model. So, what if a corporation was able to seek profits while also considering their potential benefit (or detriment) to society? The answer in most states has been the adoption of benefit corporations (“B-Corp”). During the summer of 2015, Indiana passed legislation to join those states allowing the registration of B-Corps. As of the fall of 2015, there are thirty states that have enacted legislation allowing for this particular type of entity.

Think back to the last time you made a purchasing decision. How many friends did you confer with? How many websites did you consult? How many stores did you visit? People are hungry for information, especially when making decisions – and legal information is no exception.

The Department of Labor is in the process of making significant changes to two exemptions that could significantly impact your company: the white collar overtime exemption and the exemption for highly compensated employees.  The final rule has not been published, but employers should consider making preparations now based on the proposed rule. 

This blog was originally written as a guest post for Indiana on Tap in November 2015. 

In my last blog post, I touched briefly on how breweries should go about enforcing their trademarks and protecting their brand. This blog post is going to jump in and discuss some different anecdotal tales on how breweries have enforced their trademarks and avenues that are available to do so.

Earlier this month, I was given the opportunity to speak with an entrepreneurship class at Purdue University, regularly taught by Tim Peoples – who is also the Director of Entrepreneur Services and Programming for the Purdue Foundry. My goal going into this class was to give the students a basic understanding of the options and processes that go into forming a company.