Handshake to Seal the Deal

You work so hard. You spend so many hours negotiating a deal. Before you turn the agreement to the lawyers to draft it, it happens. You got what you came for- a fantastic deal.  They get up, you get up, and you… handshake on it.  What does the handshake really mean? Do you really have a legally enforceable agreement or …

Before You Decide to Sell Your Business

Business owners work so hard to establish and grow their business but at some point, for various reasons, a business owner may decide to move to another business or sell his/her business.  Many think that if the business is slow, it may mean that they have a bad business acumen or the business is simply not good anymore.  For others, …

Trump’s Executive Order and What It Means

What is happening? Many of you wonder what is happening with the U.S. immigration law and whether these changes affect me, Family member or a friend. What happened yesterday is that Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) banning refugees from seven Muslim dominated countries:  Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. What does it say? MUSLIM SYRIAN REFUGEES: The …

The Thorny World of the Operating Agreement

The Operating Agreement (OA) is an agreement prepared to govern the business relationship between members of the LLC.  The OA is similar to by-laws in a corporation and acts as the constitution of the company through which members’ rights and duties are defined.  The OA outlines each member’s role, right, duty and entitlement; this includes membership interest, capital accounts, distribution …

The U.S. Treasury Department Announces Key Regulations and Legislation to Counter Money Laundering and Corruption, Combat Tax Evasion

On May 5, 2016, The U.S. Treasury Department announced several actions to strengthen financial transparency and combat the misuse of companies to engage in illicit activities. Treasury announced a Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Final Rule, proposed Beneficial Ownership legislation, and proposed regulations related to foreign-owned, single-member limited liability companies (LLCs).  Together, these efforts target key points of access to the …

H-1B Cap Reached for 2017 Fiscal Year

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Thursday that it had reached the mandated annual cap for H-1B petitions for skilled guest workers less than a week after it began accepting applications.  USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that …

What is the Difference between Sublease and an Assignment of a lease?

In today’s ever changing business environment and the constant change of business needs to operate and expand or minimize work space, a company should closely observe its business plan and negotiate flexible terms when negotiating a lease. Despite of all of the preparation and negotiation, business may unexpectedly increase or for any reason business may drastically decrease.   In both cases, …

The Patriot Act for Businesses

The Patriot Act requires banks and businesses to verify the identity of any new customer seeking to open an account or to engage in large purchase and sale transaction. The Act requires that financial institutions need to have in place a system for customer identification, verification, record keeping, customer notice, and data list screening. The Act also requires that the …

Revocation of Visas

Recently many non-immigrant visa holders received notices from U.S. embassies and or Consulates informing the visa holder that his/her visa has been revoked and that s/he must visit the US Consulate so that the visa can be physically cancelled. The holder is also told that s/he can no longer use his/her visa and travel to the US. If the non-immigrant …