by Benjamin I. Fink and Neal F. Weinrich
As we have reported in prior issues of this newsletter, Georgia’s non-compete law has recently undergone significant changes. The new Restrictive Covenants Act, O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq. (the “Act”) was supposed to take effect last November following the approval of a ballot …
By Kenneth N. Winkler and Matthew J. Simmons
The ever-increasing connection between an individual’s use of social networking media and their job generally presents two major risks for employers: (1) the potential for violating the law by firing or taking adverse action against employees based on their use of social media; …
By Jeffrey N. Berman
At BFV, we recently investigated moving a substantial portion of our data to the “Cloud”. Simply stated, cloud computing is an emerging, fast, and potentially simpler way to add computing power, storage, and services with minimal technology infrastructure, management effort, or service provider interaction. While many companies …
By Neil F. Weinrich
It may be difficult to think about this past winter as the mercury makes its ascent to the balmy spring and summer temperatures to which Atlantans have become accustomed. However, it was not too long ago when Georgia endured one of its most severe winters in recent …
By William J. Piercy and Thomas E. Sowers
In 2009, business start-ups reached their highest level in fourteen years.[1] This is an exciting statistic, and shows the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive and well in this difficult economy. Many of these new businesses are founded by “corporate refugees,” those who were …
By Neal F. Weinrich
For over a century, Georgia law has been extremely hostile with respect to the enforcement of non-competes and other restrictive covenants in the employment context. An employer who sent a cease-and-desist letter to its former employee after he went to work for a competitor and was calling …
By Kristin N. Zielmanski
At the beginning of 2010, the Georgia legislature joined the heavily publicized country-wide movement to institute a ban on texting while driving. Beginning on July 1, 2010, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241.2 made it illegal for drivers over eighteen years of age to “operate a motor vehicle on any …
By Anne E. Andrews
In Part One of this two-part series on social enterprise, we explored several examples of this new mixture of business and mission, and discussed how the growth of social entrepreneurial strategies throughout the marketplace is changing the way companies do business. In this second and final part …
By Alan E. Lubel
In Georgia, as well as in virtually all other states, implied in every contract is a duty of good faith and fair dealing. This common law implied duty requires that parties to a contract exercise good faith and honest judgment in carrying out their rights and …
By Jeffrey N. Berman
The end of our current office lease is rapidly approaching. As a result, we have started the process of deciding do we stay in our current office, do we move to a new office, and what our next office will look like. For us, like many businesses, …