Business Law Section | State Bar of Wisconsin

The Business Law Section brings together members who work in the fields of corporation, banking, partnership, securities, antitrust, trade regulation, commercial law, employer-employee relations, insurance, intellectual property and other areas of business law. Members are focused on developing and improving the law in their areas of expertise.

The State Bar of Wisconsin offers its members the opportunity to network with other lawyers who share a common interest through its 24 sections. Learn more at http://www.wisbar.org/groups.

Website: https://www.wisbar.org/forMembers/Groups/Sections/BusinessLawSection/pages/home.aspx
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Latest from Business Law Section | State Bar of Wisconsin

The current legal landscape might be comparable to an alien world in a sci-fi movie, exceedingly complex and constantly changing. Myriad statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances, case law, and other sources of law create a legal multivariate calculus problem. Due to practical necessity and ethical requirements, attorneys are required to understand applicable law in order to provide guidance to their clients.

Regardless of the preparation that law school provided, that preparation will be insufficient for legal problems that attorneys eventually…
Continue Reading Tips for Lawyers: Keeping Pace with the Law

Our firm has been actively communicating with clients regarding – and monitoring multiple lawsuits challenging – the federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) ahead of its upcoming Jan. 1, 2025, reporting deadline for entities formed before Jan. 1, 2024.

The CTA requires most entities to report their beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Kelly Gorman, U.W. 2023, is an associate attorney with Fox, O’Neill, & Shannon, S.C., in Milwaukee, where she focuses her practice…
Continue Reading Federal Court Blocks Corporate Transparency Act Enforcement Nationwide

In April 2017, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, acting in response to a request of the Business Court Advisory Committee, established a pilot large claim commercial case docket for the assignment of commercial cases. The purposes of the pilot commercial court (which some refer to as the business court) were
to ensure that large claim cases involving Wisconsin employers or businesses, or which involve complicated disputes, are resolved expeditiously and with the least amount of cost so as to (a)…
Continue Reading Contracting for Dispute Resolution After the End of Wisconsin Commercial Courts

The economic loss doctrine is a judicially created rule that prevents parties from pursuing tort claims, such as negligence or misrepresentation, when the only damages they have suffered are financial in nature and stem from a breach of contract.

The doctrine aims to maintain the distinct boundaries between contract law and tort law, ensuring that contractual remedies are used to address economic losses arising from agreements between parties.
Development Through Case Law
Wisconsin’s economic loss doctrine is among the…
Continue Reading A Deep Dive into Wisconsin’s Economic Loss Doctrine

Transaction practice lawyers constantly face a barrage of choices for their legal documentation when trying to provide quality, fast, and efficient legal services to their clients.

Most do not have the luxury of unlimited time and resources to provide these services. Often, practitioners look for existing materials to use as samples for documenting agreements between their clients and opposing parties.

One possible tempting option to address this predicament is to use the so-called real estate practitioner preprinted form agreements…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Real Estate Board Business Purchase Agreements: Traps for the Unwary

As a result of key cases decided in recent years by the Delaware Chancery Court, the Delaware legislature adopted new statutes, which were signed into law by the Governor of Delaware. A Foley & Lardner article in its corporate governance blog details the adoption and considerations related to the cases and the new law. Summary of Cases and Statutes in Delaware Clyde Tinnen, Columbia 2006, is a partner in the Milwaukee office of Foley & Lardner LLP.
Continue Reading Changes to Delaware Law for Mergers and Acquisitions – Will Wisconsin Follow Suit?

Just about every business lawyer will negotiate commercial contracts on behalf of their clients. This can be daunting for a new lawyer, particularly because the client will frequently know more about what needs to be in these contracts than they do.

This article aims to demystify the process, providing practical tips and insights to empower new lawyers and attorneys new to business law to negotiate and counsel on commercial contracts with confidence and competence.
What is a Commercial Contract?
Continue Reading 101: How to Negotiate a Commercial Contract for Your Client

Certainties of life include birth, death, and taxes, and for attorneys, continuing legal education (CLE) reporting requirements.​

CLE credits are a critical constant for attorneys, not just a duty as part of being a professional, but essential for maintaining a professional edge and upholding standards of competence and responsibility.

Previous articles, like this one from Nov. 15, 2023, InsideTrack, discuss various methods for earning CLE credit that you may not know about, such as: Whether you are a…
Continue Reading Paths to CLE Opportunities

As the U.S. economy transitions to slower growth, I observed as a Wisconsin corporate attorney that most businesses, including Wisconsin law firms, are concerned about three factors for the rest of 2024:

  • whether the Federal Reserve would be able to bring the inflation rate to the 2% generally acceptable level;
  • whether the U.S. would be able to avoid a recession; and
  • whether businesses can reduce costs and increase productivity by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their workflows.

Certainly, while…
Continue Reading Business Law and 2024-25 Economic Trends

Intellectual property (IP) is commonly thought to confront technical matters that require a certain amount of scientific or engineering background in order to wrap one’s head around them. In actuality, IP is a diverse ecosystem of intangible property rights that offer extreme value.

Virtually all businesses have some type of IP at play, but they may fail to recognize it if they have a misunderstanding of what IP exactly is. Furthermore, they may fail to take the steps necessary…
Continue Reading The Business Practitioner’s Quick Guide to Intellectual Property

On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted an amendment to the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.”

After a two-year process involving intense lobbying from global industry leaders and influential climate groups, the 3-2 vote in favor of adopting the rule prevailed.

The final rule seeks to meet investors’ demand for “consistent, comparable, and reliable information…
Continue Reading The Impact of the SEC’s New Rule on Climate-related Risks

In her recent Business Law Blog article, “The DEI Landscape in Law Firms,” Mary Purdy focused on how law firms specifically in the Milwaukee market could establish their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. In this article I expand this discussion, by focusing on women in law and the obstacles and opportunities in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that law firms face on a national scale. Women as the Majority: A Crack in the Glass Ceiling? For the…
Continue Reading Breaking Barriers: The Rise of Women in Law Firms and the Shifting Landscape of Legal Associates Across the Nation

In her Business Law Blog article, “The DEI Conundrum for Companies,” Nadelle Grossman explored both obstacles and opportunities that companies face in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

In this article, I expand that discussion, noting and commenting on ways that law firms can establish or build upon their DEI efforts to overcome challenges they may have.

Mary E. Purdy, Marquette 2024, is interested in practicing in corporate and business law.

Uncertainty in…
Continue Reading The DEI Landscape in Law Firms

More than 20 years ago, the Federal Trade Commission asked Congress to pass a federal privacy law. Congress has not done so, and perhaps as a result,
privacy has been one of the top areas of change in the law for many years.

Today, privacy remains one of the fastest growing areas of the law, and recent years have seen a chaotic and exponential increase in privacy legislation. The number and scope of enacted privacy laws and pending…
Continue Reading Privacy Program Basics for Businesses: Managing the Chaos

Companies are facing competing pressures in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. On the one hand, many companies identify the economic and institutional benefits of having a diverse workforce that reflects the different views, experiences, and ideas of their constituents. On the other hand, companies worry about being attacked for engaging in discriminatory practices.

In his recent article in this blog, Clyde Tinnen reviewed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc.
Continue Reading The DEI Conundrum for Companies

On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its monumental decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. UNC (SFFA opinion). The Court’s decision dominated headlines for weeks, and passionate public discourse has ensued over its impact among government officials, academic institutions, the media, and citizens. The Court’s decision included not-so-subtle clues as to how this Court will interpret similar provisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of…
Continue Reading Will U.S. Supreme Court Ban Corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives?