Pro Bono Work
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz is committed towards its mission to take pro bono assignments in every different aspect of business law. Pro bono clients are the firm’s own dedicated clients and there is no partiality or bias whatsoever in terms of dealing with pro bono and other clients of the firm. The legal firm offers training, partner supervision, and mentoring relating to all the aspects of pro bono. The partnering organizations of the firm conduct training classes on pro bono clients and the firm encourages its associates and senior attorneys to participate in the program. Attorneys who participate in the program are most likely to get pro bono assignments in the future. In addition to this, the summer associates recruited through the summer program for a few months are also exposed to pro bono assignments and are made to work in matters relating to pro bono work.
The lawyers with Wachtell have represented the pro bono clients in many different aspects of law. Some of them include civil rights, criminal defense, immigration, housing rights, non-profit tax and corporate law, arts, and real estate. The firm is also very conscious about its contributions to the society and it has therefore come up with a legal outreach program. Through this program, the attorneys at the firm are expected to teach students of middle school aspects of law. They also conduct mock court cases and replicate the atmosphere which would be evident in a typical court scenario. Wachtell has also been a pilot participant in the Street Law or NALP program. Its participation in the program is continuing even today. The attorneys of the firm also volunteer to teach law and similar topics to the students of public high schools in New York. There are several mock cases organized by the attorneys for the students and a conference is held at the end of the teaching sessions.
Wachtell is proud of the contributions it has been making to the society through its legal services and also to the community through its corporate social responsibility initiatives. It is not just the middle schools, but the attorneys of Wachtell have been regularly visiting the best universities in the country as guest faculties. Some of the renowned universities are Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Fordham, New York, Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania. Legal writing, ethics, constitutional law, advanced criminal procedure, corporations, and deal litigations are the concepts covered by the attorneys during their stint as lecturers.
Starting an Online Business – 3 Key Legal Requirements
Many who decide they want to start an online business have never had experience with running a business before. As a consequence, many first time online business owners overlook an extremely important area. That area? Taking care of legal requirements for their new business.
While some may thing that where they are operating a business from their home, they really don’t need to pay attention to laws that pertain to businesses. After all, you simply setting up a small time operation from your home. You can’t simply be held accountable for laws that pertain to brick and mortar businesses….right? WRONG! You are bound by the same laws and regulations that any other business is bound by. Failure to take notice of the various laws and regulations that pertain to your business could land you in court – or with a major tax problem.
The legal and tax requirements in starting an online business vary widely and depend a great deal on what type of business you are opening along with where you are reside. In this article, I’m going to go over some of the legal basics you need to be aware of when starting your online business.
It’s important to understand that I am not an attorney or CPA and that laws vary from state to state and locale to locale. If you have any concerns, be sure to contact a local attorney or CPA.
The best way to approach complying with the laws and regulations that pertain to your business is to simply them one step at a time. It’s really important that you take the time to get things set up correctly before you start your business.
As I mentioned, there are various laws and regulations that pertain to various business types. I’d recommend that you take some time and contact you local Chamber of Commerce, a trade association that is associated with the type of business you are starting and perhaps even the SBA for specific laws and regulations you may need to follow in addition to what I’m going to discuss here.
Employer Identification Number (EIN)
One of the first things you will want to do is to apply for a federal tax ID number, known as an EIN. If you are just starting out and don’t yet have employees, this isn’t a requirement, but I suggest doing it anyway in case you do have them later one. By having the number in hand, you won’t have to wait for it once you do hire employees and more importantly, you won’t forget about it once you do start hiring people.
There are a number of ways you can get this free federal tax ID number. First, you can call the IRS at 800-829-4933 and speak with an agent. They will go through the process with you and assign you an ID number over the phone. Based on my experiences calling the IRS, you’d better have plenty of extra time on your hands if you call them. The hold queue can be quite long. A better option would be to visit the IRS web site and download for SS-4, fill it in and mail it to them.
In addition to needing an EIN for employee related reasons, you’ll also use this number on a number of business related docs such as loan applications, bank accounts among others. If you are a sole proprietor, you can also use your social security number while you are waiting for your EIN to arrive.
Business License
Depending on your locale, you may need a local business license – even if you don’t have people coming to your home to do business with you. Your local Chamber, town clerk, or city manager can let you know if one is needed in your community. In addition to the local level, you will likely need to register your business with the state. You can contact your states Secretary of State’s office for the requirements here.
Resale Certificate
Regardless of the product (or maybe even service) you are selling, you will need what is referred to as a resale certificate in most states. (If you live in a state that doesn’t collect sales tax, you likely will not need this.) The importance of a resale certificate is two fold.
First, you’ll need to report your sales to the state and forward the taxes you collected on your sales to them. Fail to do this and you could end in jail down the road – or at the very least be on the hook for a huge tax bill if they don’t catch on for a long period of time.
Secondly, you’ll need this certificate in order to purchase wholesale goods from suppliers. Legitimate suppliers won’t do business with you without a valid resale certificate. If you live in a state that doesn’t collect sales tax and therefore can not obtain a resale certificate, most wholesale suppliers will accept a state issue business license, or trade name registration certificate in lieu of the resale certificate.
These are just a few of the more common regulations that you and your business may need to comply with. Checking with your local chamber of commerce or city clerk will help you determine exactly what you need to do in order to comply with local, state and federal laws and regulations.
Online Business – Collecting Opt-In Email Addresses
Off the Web, mail marketing is hated by customers. It’s unwanted, uninvited and stuffs mail boxes. But it’s pretty clear that it’s also incredibly popular with advertisers. Why? Because while most potential customers toss away their junk letters with barely a glance, enough take action to make it all worthwhile. They do buy–and in high enough numbers to more than cover the cost of those who don’t.
Email marketing is pretty similar, but with one important difference: on the Web, you can only send marketing emails to people who have already chosen to receive them. A bit tricky. On the other hand, because those people have already chosen to receive your emails, you can be confident that they’re going to buy.
Email is still the most popular and most used application on the Internet. It’s also an efficient means of distributing your message to large numbers of people who have requested that information. As a form of marketing, it generates high response rates–and gives you measurable results with instant feedback.
But because email marketing been so abused, it’s just not accepted any more to send emails to people who haven’t chosen to receive them. Bust that rule, and there’s a good chance you’ll be out of business. That gives you the problem of building up a list of willing subscribers.
When you’re first starting out, there’s often a temptation to simply purchase an opt-in email list. Lots of people sell them and you can easily pick up a million or so addresses for just a few bucks. But while that may appear to be a fast, easy way to build up customers, the names on the list may not be up to date, or even opt-in contacts at all. You could well find yourself inadvertently spamming.
Similarly, there are also programs that surf the Net, recording every email address they find. These will let you quickly build up a huge list of e-mail addresses–none of whose owners will thank you when you stuff their inboxes with marketing material. Forget about them; they’re not worth the effort. It’s much safer, and much more effective, to take the time to build your own list.