| Protect Your Trade Secrets – TUTSA |
| May 30, 2013 - By Sorana Georgiana Ban and Katarzyna Brozynski, M.D. , Looper Reed & McGraw On May 2, 2013, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA). The statut... |
| IRS Temporarily Expands Eligibility for Misclassified Worker Settlement Program |
| February 25, 2013 - By Jason Luter , Looper Reed & McGraw Multiple factors are used to determine if an individual worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The determination generally is made based on whe... |
| Should LLCs convert to S corporations? |
| (The deadline to make the S corporation election is March 15) |
| February 22, 2013 - By Jennifer Gurevitz and Tom Rhodus , Looper Reed & McGraw For the past ten years, the limited liability company (“LLC”) was the entity of choice for most businesses due to the ease of administ... |
| Opportunity For Retroactive 2012 Gift From IRA To Charity |
| But You Must Act Before February 1, 2013 |
| January 25, 2013 -
Opportunity for Retroactive 2012 Gift from IRA to Charity:
But You Must Act Before February 1, 2013
By Norm Lofgren and Jennifer Gurevitz The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 ... |
| The Supreme Court Blesses Arbitration Clauses in Non-Competes |
| December 19, 2012 -
Litigants Can Arbitrate Non-Competes under the Federal Arbitration Act
But is it Always a Good Idea?
By Joe Virene and Jonathan Hyman , Looper Reed & McGraw Non-competes are governe... |
| Act Now to Avoid Paying More Taxes |
| Looper Reed Legal Update |
| December 6, 2012 - By Jason Luter , Looper Reed & McGraw One of the implications of the so-called “fiscal cliff” is higher income taxes beginning January 1st, 2013. Of course, no one knows what Congress and the Pr... |
| Are You Prepared for a Software Audit? You Better Be |
| Looper Reed Legal Update |
| October 16, 2012 - It is a little ironic that in the high tech software world, your liability sometimes comes down to whether you saved the receipt. If you face an audit and don't have the records to support all of the... |
| IRS Unsuccessful in Attack on Gifts of Family Limited Partnership Interests |
| July 19, 2012 - The United States Tax Court recently established new parameters for qualifying gifts as annual exclusion gifts. Under current law, a person has a right to give away up to $13,000 of assets each year,... |
| Q&A on the U.S. Supreme Court's Decision on Healthcare Reform |
| July 12, 2012 - On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling on the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform legislation (see Supreme Court Issues Landmark Decision on He... |
| The Dangers of Misclassifying Landmen: Is The Government's New Settlement Program Too Good To Pass Up? |
| July 5, 2012 - The days of the lone landman driving around the back roads taking leases and visiting courthouses have become a thing of the past. Though there are still a few independent landmen that fit this mold,... |
| Supreme Court Issues Landmark Decision on Healthcare Reform |
| June 28, 2012 - In a long-awaited decision, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The debate centered on the constitutionality of two provisions of the ACA: the highly-publicized... |
| Year End Brings Fiduciary Liability Risk for 401(k) Plans |
| December 14, 2011 - By Terry Sabom As a result of new U.S. Department of Labor requirements, employers sponsoring 401(k) plans will be receiving communications from their "service providers" (mutual funds, investment... |
| Not All Pension Plans Are Created Equal |
| July 25, 2011 - As a series of high-profile states, cities, and large corporations across the country are being forced to shut down their traditional pension plans, the opposite trend is occurring in retirement plan... |
| Is It Really "Loser Pays" in Texas? The Latest Tort Reform Law Explained in Plain English |
| June 16, 2011 - By Tamara Wall There was a lot of press and hand-wringing over the passage of the Texas Legislature's latest version of tort reform. Like many contentious issues, a lot of misinformation accompanied... |
| Take Action Now to Prevent Your Website Being Associated with a Porn Site |
| April 4, 2011 - After much debate, the international body in charge of governing domain names, ICANN, has authorized pornography-based websites to register with a top-level domain of .xxx as opposed to the more comm... |
| Recent Amendments to the FCA |
| August 25, 2010 - Health Care Reform Places Affirmative Duty on Providers to Refund Overpayments From Federal Health Care Programs Health care reform raises many difficult issues for health care providers. Risks that... |
| Health Care Reform Places Affirmative Duty on Providers to Refund Overpayments from Federal Health Care Programs |
| July 2010 - Health care reform raises many difficult issues for health care providers. Risks that now accompany a failure to make timely repayment of overpayments place particularly difficult burdens upon provid... |
| Restructuring Debts In and Out of Court |
| June 30, 2010 - There are many reasons why a company may become financially distressed. Once it reaches a point of insolvency, however, management may consider a restructuring of the company's financial obligations ... |
| What Does Health Care Reform Mean For Physicians? |
| April 19, 2010 - Last month we saw historic changes made to our nation's health care system when President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care a... |
| Offshore Anti-Abuse and Foreign Provisions in the HIRE Act |
| March 31, 2010 - The President recently signed into law the "Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010" (the HIRE Act, P.L. 111-47). The HIRE Act includes a comprehensive set of measures to reduce offshore ... |
| SEC Adopts Enhanced Proxy Disclosure Rules for the 2010 Proxy Season |
| March 9, 2010 - By Mark Wigder and Paul Leitner, Looper Reed & McGraw As companies begin preparing their 2010 proxy statements and other periodic reports, they should be aware that the SEC has recently adopted am... |
| Who Pays for the Well After the Lease Terminates? Wagner & Brown v. Sheppard - The Rest of the Story |
| December 11, 2009 - By Charlie Sartain and Josh Weaver, Looper Reed & McGraw Wagner & Brown, Ltd. v. Sheppard* is well-known for its holding that termination of an oil and gas lease for land that was part of pooled u... |
| Do You Own Your Company Name (and Can You Even Use It)? |
| August 29, 2009 - Imagine After significant planning and exhaustive efforts to gather seed money, you are finally ready to start up your new business in Texas. You have come up with a clever name for your company, an... |
| IRS Announces "Quiet Disclosures" No Longer Accepted |
| August 28, 2009 - Voluntary disclosures have been with us for many, many years. It is a procedure by which a person who has committed a tax crime, either failure to file tax returns or income tax evasion, or any of th... |
| A Guide to Buying Distressed Assets |
| August 18, 2009 - Many people are looking for companies, real estate, and assets that, for any number of reasons, are "distressed," which normally means priced at less than market value. However, how do you determine ... |
| Document Retention: The 800 lb. Gorilla |
| June 10, 2009 - Document retention is a matter of growing importance for both lawyers and clients, but could be characterized as an 800 lb gorilla in the corner of the room that no one wants to talk about. Lawyers a... |
| Oil and Gas Operator Liability Addressed in Recent Texas Supreme Court Rulings |
| April 27, 2009 - The Texas Supreme Court has issued two important and related opinions affecting mineral owners and their lessees. In Exxon Corporation v. Emerald Oil & Gas Co., L.C.,2 the Court held that a private ... |
| 2009 Changes to COBRA: What Employers Need to Know |
| March 19, 2009 - Whether you think the federal stimulus package is a great idea or a bad one, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 became law on February 17, 2009. Of the many changes made by the Recov... |
| Alert Regarding "Compliance Services" Solicitation |
| March 9, 2009 - Recently, an entity calling itself “Compliance Services” with an address in Austin, Texas, mailed solicitations entitled “Annual Minutes Requirement Statement” to numerous Texas business entities. Th... |
| About Face: Significant Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act that Affect Your Business Right Now |
| March 4, 2009 - In the fall of 2008, President Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (the “Amendments”) which became effective January 1, 2009, and make changes to the Americans with... |
| A-Rod v. Employee Drug Testing? |
| March 2, 2009 - You are in your office before the day starts reading an article in the paper about Alex Rodriguez’ impressive baseball career when your assistant bursts in announces that an employee you sent out to ... |
| A Guide to Employee Terminations |
| February 26, 2009 - By Brent Dyer and Cleve Clinton, Looper Reed & McGraw Most employers know that Texas is an “employment at-will” state, meaning that—unless there is an employment agreement guaranteeing employment ... |
| Dallas County Ordinance Targets Apartment Complexes |
| February 9, 2009 - In January 14, 2009, the Dallas City Council passed Ordinance Number 27548 1 to amend certain provisions of the Dallas City Code pertaining to apartment complexes. The ordinance links crime rates to... |
| Justice Dept Challenges Offshore Private Banking |
| December 3, 2008 - Federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service are getting serious about pursuing Americans who have parked money in offshore bank accounts. Last month, the government disclosed the indictment... |