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Washington Bench Trial or Jury Trial? How the Choice Can Change Your Entire Case Most litigants treat the jury demand as a routine filing, one more box to check during the pleading stage. In Washington, that can be a costly mistake. The choice between a bench trial and a jury trial affects how the case
Trade Secrets in the AI Economy: Why Businesses Need Stronger Protection Now For many businesses, the most valuable asset never appears on a balance sheet. It is the information competitors cannot see and cannot easily copy: source code, pricing logic, training methods, customer data, internal workflows, manufacturing processes, supplier knowledge, and the operational know-how that
Washington State Arbitration Clauses: When They Help and When They Hurt The Arbitration Clause Is Not Harmless Boilerplate An arbitration clause is a risk-allocation provision. It can limit discovery, narrow your remedies, increase your costs, and leave you stuck with a bad result. Too many businesses treat arbitration as standard contract language. They should not.
The 8 Biggest Mistakes Foreign Companies Make in U.S. Litigation A foreign company gets sued in the United States and makes a common mistake: it treats the case like an ordinary business dispute. Management assumes the complaint is mostly leverage. Someone decides to wait before involving counsel. Employees start emailing each other about what really
When a Puerto Vallarta Retreat Collides With Cartel Reality: Can You Recover Your Deposit? Recent violence tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel has unsettled companies and families planning travel there. For years, Puerto Vallarta has been viewed as a controlled destination for executive retreats and high-end gatherings. When cartel-related violence in Jalisco dominates national
Named in a Lawsuit You Had Nothing to Do With? Getting Out Is Harder Than You Think. You open your email and see a complaint with your name in the caption. You never signed the contract. You never negotiated the deal. You barely knew it existed. Yet you are personally named in a breach of
What to Expect in a Business Mediation and How to Avoid Costly Mistakes This post started as an email. We were preparing to mediate a large cross-border litigation matter for a Vietnamese client. The case had many moving parts: complex international legal issues, multiple parties, and a lot at stake. I wrote a detailed briefing
Enforcing US Judgments in Spain: Recognition, Strategy, and Reality You won a final US money judgment against a Spanish defendant with assets in Spain. Now you want to get paid. Here is the reality: a US judgment does not enforce itself in Spain. To collect in Spain, you generally need a Spanish court to recognize
Trade Secrets and How Your Business Can Protect Its Most Valuable Information In today’s AI driven economy, trade secrets often represent a company’s core competitive advantage. Yet many businesses spend far more time and money protecting trademarks and patents than safeguarding the confidential information that actually drives revenue. Two recent federal disputes show how quickly
Chrome Hearts v. Neil Young: Band Name Trademark Lessons For Brands And Musicians Neil Young has survived record label fights, feuded with Spotify, and picked public battles with politicians. Now he faces a different opponent: a luxury fashion brand that says he stole its name. Chrome Hearts, the Los Angeles based label that has dressed
