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Corporate executives in Wisconsin often receive a large portion of their compensation through restricted stock units (RSUs), stock grants, or employer equity awards. As your shares vest, they can quickly become a significant part of your net worth—and with that comes complex questions about taxes, transfer planning, and probate exposure.
One of the most effective strategies to gain more control over how your vested shares are handled is transferring employer stock into a trust. For Wisconsin executives, a trust

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Continue Reading Should Executives in Wisconsin Put Employer Stock Into a Trust?

As a business owner, it’s essential to protect your business from liability. Whether you own a gym, resort, recreational facility, daycare, dance studio, rent boats, kayaks, bikes, other outdoor activity equipment, or offer event space for weddings and other parties, there are many circumstances when you may want to use a liability waiver. Many insurance carriers require customer experience type businesses to utilize waivers. Some public libraries even require them for their Makerspace activities.

But liability waivers present a…
Continue Reading Does My Wisconsin Business Need a Liability Waiver?

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Limited liability companies, or LLCs, are comprised of owners identified as “Members” under the LLC’s organizational document, which in Wisconsin is called an Operating Agreement.  A Member’s ownership interest is typically denominated in units and expressed as a percentage of overall units called “Membership Interests.”  The number of units issued is typically tied to the Member’s capital contributions to the LLC.  When a Member is considering a sale or transfer of the Member’s Membership Interests in the LLC, proper…
Continue Reading Five Considerations When Selling Your Limited Liability Company Membership Interests  

Ferrara Candy Company, the maker of Nerds, recently filed a lawsuit against the maker of Dweebs candy. What looks like a quirky fight between two playful names is actually a cautionary tale for startups and small businesses building their brands.

Ferrara has spent decades growing Nerds into a cultural touchstone. In 2024 alone, sales topped $870 million in the United States. To protect that investment, Ferrara holds trademarks on the Nerds name, the irregular pebble shape of the candy,…
Continue Reading Trademark Trouble in Candyland: Lessons for Growing Brands from Nerds vs. Dweebs

Health care joint ventures can create an important vehicle for combining resources and expertise, in addition to improving health care product and service access. However, these arrangements often come with complex legal, regulatory and operational challenges that may affect timelines and the profitability of these arrangements. Significant delays or modifications to the anticipated commencement of joint venture operations and the scope of operations may cost the parties in terms of both resources and goodwill. Below are five key factors…
Continue Reading Five Key Factors That Impact Health Care Joint Venture Timelines

The rush to integrate AI is understandable. New tools promise faster drafting, richer research, and smoother operations. Adoption alone, however, is not enough. When powerful systems land in people’s hands without a shared understanding of how to use them well, the risks expand as quickly as the possibilities. A parallel track in AI literacy changes that. It develops users who are curious, appropriately skeptical, and legally careful. It also tends to produce better work.

By AI literacy, I mean…
Continue Reading Adopt the Model, Train the Human: AI Literacy as the Parallel Track to Integration

While the required use of disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) in federal and state contracting appears to be on thin ice in the current political environment, contractors should still be cautious about compliance with applicable legal requirements. As the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kousisis v. U.S., 145 S.Ct. 1382 (2025) shows, the government retains powerful tools to prosecute procurement fraud cases related to the use of DBEs, even if the government accepts the work and the defendant did…
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Wire Fraud Conviction for DBE Fraud, Notwithstanding Lack of Economic Harm

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The complex world of health care mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) involves intricate processes that require effective integration of systems and services to maximize value. A Transition Services Agreement (“TSA”) is a contractual agreement that can play a crucial role in ensuring a smooth transition post-acquisition. The purpose of a TSA is to ensure continuity and stability during the integration phase of a transaction, allowing the buyer time to integrate the acquired assets smoothly.

A TSA outlines the services that,

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Continue Reading Navigating Mergers and Acquisitions: The Science and Art of Transition Service Agreements

Whenever we address an issue, it is important that we understand the actual issue. That involves a lot of questions to poke around in all of the corners of the problem. Sometimes those questions are uncomfortable. The person answering is sometimes embarrassed about what they know is hiding in the shadows, but more often, they are scared that they don’t know or don’t remember what is there. That can make those harmless little dust bunnies seem much more dangerous.
Continue Reading Framing Isn’t Just For Pictures

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On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law a major budget reconciliation measure known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (“OBBBA”). Enactment of OBBBA answers several months of speculation regarding how Congress would implement key elements of the Administration’s legislative agenda.

OBBBA will have broad implications for the nation as a whole. Much of the public attention has centered on certain high-profile provisions, such as extending or making permanent several provisions from the 2017 Tax…
Continue Reading One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Notable Tax Changes for Organizations and Individuals in the Health Care Sector

Within the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, is the new “No Tax on Overtime” rule that may positively impact many hourly workers as it relates to their payment of federal taxes starting in 2025. However, this change in the law also presents new challenges for employers and ambiguities that will need to be addressed.

For starters, the new overtime provision is limited to overtime wages paid by employers to employees qualifying for…
Continue Reading Issues Related to the “No Tax On Overtime” Provision

word TAXES written on wooden cube block stack on black background, business concept
word TAXES is written on wooden cubes standing on a black background

The U.S. tax code just underwent its most significant overhaul since 2017. On July 4, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law, a far-reaching tax reform law that touches nearly every corner of the tax system, including estate and gift taxes, business deductions, international provisions, and individual income tax rules.

Some provisions apply as early as tax year 2025, while others begin in 2026 or later, making it important to understand the…
Continue Reading One Big Beautiful Bill Becomes Law: What the Sweeping Tax Reform Means for You and Your Business

When estate and gift tax exemptions are high, clients may feel it’s time to take their foot off the gas when it comes to their estate planning. In fact, these are perfect times to turn your attention to the non-tax portions of your planning to ensure that special assets and unique family circumstances are planned for properly. Business interests, family cabins or farms are just a few of the assets that require specific planning. It’s also important for clients…
Continue Reading Time to Turn Off the Cruise Control: Advanced Planning Considerations When Exemptions Are High

Startups move quickly. Founders are focused on building, shipping, and staying alive. Legal work tends to come in later, often after something has already gone wrong. At that point, fixing the issue usually costs more than it would have to prevent it.

After years of working with startups, I have seen a handful of problems show up again and again. They are simple to avoid if you ask the right questions early. Here are the five conversations I wish…
Continue Reading Start Smarter: The Legal Basics Every Startup Needs

Operating a company or a department within a company is quite an adventure. With adventures, a lot can go right and a lot can go wrong and a lot can go absolute nowhere and waste a whole lot of time. In order to get as much to go right as possible, we need a plan. Preferably a well thought-out plan that adapts as needed. Yes, we can just start off pell-mell and see what happens, but that seems messy…
Continue Reading Plan Our Adventure

Health care and other federal funding recipients face new risks on multiple fronts in their use of diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) programs. The Executive Branch has undertaken a concerted effort to reshape the interpretation and enforcement of federal civil rights laws impacting DEI practices through the issuance of Executive Orders, as discussed here, and by directing the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) to implement its policy objectives, as outlined here.
Continue Reading As Executive Branch Scrutiny of DEI Programs Intensifies, Companies Must Assess All Aspects of Their Policies and Business Practices to Ensure Compliance with Civil Rights Laws