Making Sure Your Business Doesn’t Collapse If Your Bank Does
Last Friday, Silicon Valley Bank – which was, at the time, among the country’s 20 largest commercial banks – fell victim to a bank run and collapsed. For many SVB accountholders, this was the first major bank run to occur in their working lifetimes, and it was a wake-up call to what “fractional reserve banking” […]
Lawyers: it’s time to upgrade your law firm’s OS
“Warning: Creating default object from empty value.” Ever seen that error message on a website? Oftentimes, the culprit is that the website is built on WordPress, and is running on an outdated version. Most recently, I ran across that error message on a law firm’s website…the irony was not lost on me. Most firms are […]
Is there a legal strategy for shutting down counterfeit altcoins? (TLDR: sort of.)
When distribution becomes cheaper and easier, so does counterfeiting–and crypto is no exception. Prior to 2019, crypto trading was largely limited to centralized exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken. To get a crypto asset listed, a developer would have to go through an oftentimes-rigorous application process. Ultimately, it was up to the exchange to decide […]
You used to call me on my cell phone (until I sued you for treble damages)
If I had to make a top five list of things small businesses struggle with, this would definitely make the list: telemarketing compliance. Calling prospects may feel like a harmless practice, but there are many legal landmines awaiting the unwary. And when I say landmine, I mean it: telemarketing laws can be incredibly punitive. For example, […]
OCR works great…until it doesn’t
Even if you don’t know what OCR stands for, you probably interact with it all the time. “Optical character recognition”–or, in laymen’s terms, text recognition–has become ubiquitous in modern hardware and software. Did you scan a document recently? Chances are, your scanner (or scanner app) used OCR to create a searchable text layer. OCR is […]
Motion to take the “currency” out of cryptocurrency
Blockchain is so much bigger than Bitcoin. Crypto is so much bigger than currency. Yet all the average person knows about crypto is that it’s an alternative form of payment–a poor alternative, the naysayers argue, given its trading price volatility. (Unlike the U.S. dollar…? That statement may not age well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Crypto’s potential as […]
Blockchain for dummies
Ever try reading the Bitcoin white paper? Feel like a dummy afterward? This post is for you! Blockchain doesn’t have to be confusing or intimidating. You also don’t need to understand technology. To prove it, let’s take this discussion to one of the most low-tech places there is: prison. This prison has gangs—15 of them. […]
Stop nickeling and diming your customers who pay online
2020. If there’s one good thing that’s come out of this crazy year, it’s that businesses have been forced to get online. If this whole accepting-payments-online-thing is new for you, it may be tempting to pass on those merchant processing fees to your customers. What a great way to save money during a global crisis! […]
Why no one responds to your emails (and how to fix that)
To summarize in a hashtag: #TLDR.
Who your law firm should hire next
Spoiler alert: it isn’t a lawyer, a paralegal, or a secretary.
