Starting on July 1, 2021. the NCAA permitted student-athletes throughout the country to profit from their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”). This decision marks a major shift from the NCAA’s longstanding amateurism model. Twenty-eight states have also enacted their own NIL laws, and sixteen of those—including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio,
Popular Franchise Funding Source (EB-5 Program) Rocked by Two Major Developments
With Ali Brodie
EB-5 Investments are a popular way of raising capital for franchise expansion. So it came as a bit of a shock last week the EB-5 Program was rocked by two major developments.
EB-5 Modernization Rule Struck Down (For Now)
On June 22, 2021, Magistrate Judge Jaqueline Scott Corley from the U.S. District
Franchise Agreements in Bankruptcy Cases and Business Restructurings
Please join Elizabeth Rose of Caiola & Rose LLC, Jason Binford of the Texas Office of the Attorney General, and me, John Gotaskie, on July 14th for a 90 minute CLE sponsored by the ABA Forum on Franchising discussing Franchise Agreements in Bankruptcy Cases and Business Restructurings.
Bankruptcy and other forms of business restructuring
Pennsylvania Edges Closer to Normalcy
Big News from the Office of Pennsylvania
Governor Wolf today! While there does not yet seem to be an Order, the Governor’s Office issued a press release today outlining significant changes to targeted COVID-19 business restrictions in Pennsylvania.
On April 4, 2021, the following changes will be implemented:
- Restaurants
- May resume bar service for the
Women Returning to the Workforce: Tips for New Franchisees
The idea for this blog comes from Sahara Pynes. Sahara is a member of our Labor and Employment team and presented her own Tips for New Entrepreneurs in our California Employment Law blog. Thanks to Sahara for this idea, and please check out her post!
The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on
Winter of Despair followed by . . . a Spring of Hope?
Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities famously opens with “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
Unintended Consequences? The Employment Battle Threatens Franchising
The one-two punch of state and federal employment standards activity poses an existential threat to franchising; many commentators, including this one, have acknowledged that fact. But why? Did the California legislature or the Obama Department of Labor intend to deliver a knock-out punch to a very popular business structure that creates tens of thousands of
New COVID Restrictions in Pennsylvania Hit Franchising . . . Hard
At 4 p.m. today, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (who himself has tested positive for COVID) and Secretary of Health Rachel Levine issued new, “limited-time”, targeted COVID mitigation orders. The orders hit the franchise industry hard. About the only silver-lining is that, unlike the indefinite restrictions imposed last spring, these new restrictions have a specific time
Franchising on the Precipice: Unknowns in Transition
Over the last 8 years or so, the ever-changing landscape of employment laws has arguably posed an existential threat to franchising. The franchise business model may not make sense if franchisors are legally defined as the employers of their franchisees or joint employers of their franchisees’ employees. But what is an “employee” and who is
What Do You Know About Cryptocurrency? (Probably Not Enough)
Five years ago, “Bitcoin”, “blockchain”, and “cryptocurrency” were not in the common lexicon. Five years ago, Bitcoin, the seminal cryptocurrency, was valued at approximately $275.00 (a staggering 2,749,900% return on investment for those who obtained it for less than a penny in 2010), but very few accepted it as a method of payment. In fact,