The Spotlight strives to provide a forum to discuss the latest news and compelling issues impacting fiduciaries and those to whom fiduciaries owe duties. Whether you are an officer, director, trustee, beneficiary, trust...more
9/12/2025
/ Beneficiaries ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Estate Planning ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Trust Administration ,
Trustees ,
Trusts ,
Wealth Management
Picture this: A trustee receives an email notification that a “governance proposal” needs their vote, because the trust owns tokens in something called a DAO—and suddenly, they’re not just holding digital assets, they’re...more
9/11/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Diligence ,
Estate Planning ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Smart Contracts ,
Tokenization ,
Trusts
In baseball, teams play just one team at a time and in one location. That is not always the case for their owners. The ongoing saga of the Seidler Family — owners of the San Diego Padres — being duked out in both Travis...more
9/10/2025
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Business Entities ,
Business Litigation ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Estate Planning ,
Family Businesses ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Jurisdiction ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Probate ,
Probate Courts ,
Trusts
Recently, during a virtual meeting of a board-of-directors committee, the chair noticed one of the absent committee members had suddenly appeared in attendance. But after closer review, the chair realized it was not the human...more
The Spotlight strives to provide a forum to discuss the latest news and compelling issues impacting fiduciaries and those to whom fiduciaries owe duties. Whether you are an officer, director, trustee, beneficiary, trust...more
Transactional attorneys play a key strategic role in drafting essential documents, such as corporate formations and contracts, on behalf of corporate clients. With a client’s current needs at the forefront—often accompanied...more
When representing a client, it is helpful when law and logic align in an obvious manner. But alignment of law and logic sometimes appears murky at best, and often directly at odds. An example of this is when you need to...more
It’s unlikely the extended Evenstad family, former owners and heirs of the Upsher-Smith company, will be celebrating Thanksgiving together this year. After all, the last time the family got together was likely for the 16-day...more
The Spotlight is the result of ongoing collaboration between our national trial practice and estate planning groups, with the goal of providing a forum to discuss the latest news and other issues impacting the trusts and...more
Unless you rely solely on streaming services, at some point in recent years, you have likely seen Tom Selleck pitching reverse mortgages as a retirement strategy. Is that a product for you? Or your parents? This article won’t...more
ESG—environmental, social, and governance—has been the new hot topic for the last several years. Yet companies are still trying to come to grips with what it means and how they can address these varying and often competing...more
Picture this. Years after leaving your in-house counsel role at Company A, you find yourself being deposed in a litigation matter with Company A’s adversary inquiring into your legal notes and internal privileged...more
One of the perceived benefits of closely held corporations is their ability to keep secrets. Indeed, closely held corporations can legally hide a great deal of information. Family businesses are especially likely to keep...more
There is no shortage of ways in which parties in closely held corporations or partnerships can find themselves at odds. Those shareholders who control the majority of a company’s stock generally set the corporate strategies...more
Workplace dynamics can be fraught with peril. Family dynamics can be even more treacherous. Add them together into a family business and the result can create a recipe for complex fiduciary relationships and potential...more
The Spotlight is the result of ongoing collaboration between our national trial practice and estate planning groups, with the goal of providing a forum to discuss the latest news and other issues impacting the trusts and...more
Scores of retailers have closed stores, reduced hours, changed business models overnight, and continue to generally mull how to deal with employee and customer safety and health issues. Governments are imposing a patchwork of...more
It might be tempting to use software to track your employees, whether it’s to increase their productivity or to figure out if you’ve been left out of the e-vite to your coworker’s big barbecue. ...more
With retailers reporting huge online sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, now seems like a great time for an update on the online sales tax issue. In our recent article we mentioned that a group of online retailers that...more
The days of lamenting the dinnertime telemarketing call seem to have faded, but as communication technology ? particularly cell phone and smartphone usage ? has become ubiquitous, advertisers have found new avenues to...more
Most retailers consider the true cost of an item’s production to be proprietary, confidential information. After all, if customers knew the product’s markup, they may not be willing to pay the full retail price. But, some...more
Our houses and stores are getting smarter every day, with the addition of everything from “smart shelves” to track inventory to fridges you can peek into on an app on your phone if you’re at the grocery store and forget...more
In the 1999 Disney Channel original movie Smart House, the Cooper family learned the dangers of living in a house that learns to cater to their every need. Less than 20 years later, Smart House seems more reality than...more
One of the biggest trends in retail today is dynamic pricing, where retailers can quickly change prices based on data-driven algorithms that incorporate demand, inventory, and competitors’ prices. This pricing technique...more
With the advent of online shopping, countless retailers have capitalized on daily deals and flash sales, some even devoting their entire business model to the concept. It seemed (at least to this online shopper) that this...more