Cairncross & Hempelmann is proud to announce that thirteen CH& attorneys have been honored by their peers as “Washington Super Lawyers” for 2016, and three have been named “Rising Stars.” In addition, three Cairncross & Hempelmann attorneys were named “Top Women Attorneys in Washington.”

In the world of venture capital financing, one of the most important terms, behind price/valuation, is liquidation preference. As a startup company founder, having a solid understanding of liquidation preference is incredibly important, as it could mean the difference between whether or not you collect any proceeds from a sale of your company.

You’ve toiled away for years on your startup and you’ve worked really hard to land a big investor or to strategically position your technology startup for acquisition.

In a surprising decision, on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit validated the 2011 Rule by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) prohibiting tip pooling programs that include “back of the house” employees and other workers who are not customarily and regularly tipped (e.g., cooks, dishwashers).

The state House of Representatives may soon send noncompete agreements down the way of the dodo bird . . . toward extinction.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is taking a fresh look at the “accredited investor” definition with regard to Rule 506 (the securities registration exemption upon which most startups rely when raising angel and venture capital money). This could affect your ability to raise money for your startup.

There is a tried and true structure for capitalizing a technology startup: conventional common stock to the founders, conventional common stock reserved for employees in a stock option pool, and preferred stock to investors.

The federal Department of Labor (“DOL”), the agency charged with enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), recently published an Administrative Interpretation clarifying the test businesses must apply to determine whether workers are properly classified as independent contractors or if they are, in fact, employees.