BW INSIGHTS

Are You Ready if a Sexual Harassment Scandal Hits Your Business? - Part II

By Michael Dee | 12.20.2017

Does your business have a handle on its policy enforcement? As outlined in our earlier post, charges of sexual harassment have always posed the potential for very serious liability. Historically, however, sexual harassment has been relatively difficult to prove from the legal perspective. That tide is turning, however, as technology and social... Read More

Are You Ready if a Sexual Harassment Scandal Hits Your Business?

By Michael Dee | 12.07.2017

Does your business have the basics covered? For the past several months, we have been inundated with daily news about entertainers, media personalities, and politicians being accused of sexual harassment and worse. Victims of such conduct are no longer remaining silent – and rightfully so. The era of responding to an employee’s allegation of... Read More

Mobile Technology

By Danielle Smid | 11.17.2017

Mobile technology continues to become more and more a part of our daily lives. While experts debate what this means in the context of personal lives and family lives, there’s no question it also introduces some unique issues to the workplace. Employers should consider potential legal implications of technology in the workplace with respect to... Read More

Iowa's Next Energy Frontier - Microgrids

By Haley Van Loon | 10.19.2017

Living in Iowa, you have likely driven within sight of a wind turbine farm with its tubular towers sprouting up hundreds of feet above the local farmer’s crops, or noticed angled solar panels in tight groupings along some shadow-free earth or perched on the edge of a new building’s rooftop. After such an observation, did you pause to wonder how... Read More

Should You Invest Your I.R.A. in Friends, Family or Charitable Work?

By BrownWinick | 10.10.2017

BrownWinick tax attorney William Brown was featured in The New York Times on Friday, October 6, 2017. The article, "Should You Invest Your I.R.A. in Friends, Family or Charitable Work?" discusses self-directed I.R.A.'s, which allows investments in "alternative assets" and not just traditional stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Read More

Iowa Certificate of Need Law Under Constitutional Attack

By BrownWinick | 09.21.2017

Iowa has become the latest battleground in a nationwide effort to challenge state “certificate of need” laws. Since 1977, Iowa’s certificate of need (“CON”) law has required approval for any “new or changed institutional health service.” The Iowa General Assembly enacted the CON law to avoid unnecessary duplication of healthcare services and to... Read More

Use of Microgrids During Natural Disasters

By BrownWinick | 09.01.2017

The nation’s attention is focused on the devastation brought to Texas and Louisiana by Hurricane Harvey, but there is one positive development that deserves our attention: the use of microgrids to ensure the continued operation of essential services in the face of natural disasters. An electric microgrid is broadly defined as a local network of... Read More

Tight Limits on Where Patent Lawsuits May Be Filed

By Michael Dee | 06.01.2017

On May 22, 2017, the United States Supreme Court unanimously, and drastically, limited the rules for where patent infringement lawsuits may be filed. In TC Heartland, LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands, LLC, the Supreme Court held that the patent venue statute, 28 U.S.C. §1400(b), allows a patent infringement lawsuit to be brought only in the... Read More

New Guidance on Dental Labs as Business Associates

By BrownWinick | 04.07.2017

In March 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed that a dentist does not need to sign a business associate agreement with a dental lab when the dentist shares with the lab protected health information for purposes of treating patients. The OCR guidance, which was provided in an e-mail to the... Read More

Every Business Needs to Actively Manage Its Intellectual Property

By Jordan Meggison-Decker | 03.24.2017

You and your neighbor have been tinkering in your garage for weeks and you are ecstatic that you have finally developed a new product…a hair dryer. You know you want to develop a business around your hair dryer idea, but what is the next step? One of the first steps to consider is protecting your business’ intellectual property. You may be... Read More