Read Business Law Update to stay up to date on legal issues that impact public and private companies on a local, national and global basis. Articles in this issue include:
Labor & Employment
The AI Workplace Dilemma: Innovation, Risk & Regulation
While artificial intelligence is transforming how companies hire, manage and evaluate employees, using AI tools may expose them to legal and reputational risks in unexpected ways. Employers deploying AI tools should aim to build their AI strategies around the core principles of fairness, accountability and transparency and consider implementing several immediate best practices. Continue reading.
Intellectual Property
Don’t Wait Too Long to Assert Your Trade Secret Claims – It Could Cost You Your Case
Trade secrets are becoming an increasingly important form of intellectual property for U.S. companies. A recent Federal Circuit decision serves as a cautionary tale for any company that learns of reasons to suspect misappropriation – the statute of limitations clock starts ticking earlier than many plaintiffs realize. Read more.
New Ventures
The Treasury’s Long Arm: What SSBCI Participants Need to Know About Audit Exposure
The State Small Business Credit Initiative’s compliance regime was built with some serious teeth. Now that many programs are more than halfway through their deployment period, the Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General is increasingly willing to pursue compliance violations, highlighting the need for participants to continue maintaining meticulous records and documentation. Continue reading.
Business Restructuring
When Your Loan Might Not Be a Loan: A Sixth Circuit Concurrence Puts Debt Recharacterization on Notice
A recent concurrence from the Sixth Circuit is sending a signal that should get the attention of anyone who structures investments as a mix of debt and equity: The power of bankruptcy courts to reclassify debt as equity may be on borrowed time. While the concurrence does not overturn existing law, it highlights several practical considerations for lenders, sponsors and companies that rely on hybrid capital structures. Read more.
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