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The USCIS Adjustment of Status Memorandum Since USCIS published Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 on May 21, 2026, immigration lawyers, employers, universities, and foreign nationals have spent the last several days trying to assess the practical and legal implications of what may become one of the most consequential immigration policy shifts in decades. The initial reaction understandably
Registering a Trademark in Venezuela: What International Businesses Need to Know Venezuela is seeing more trademark filings from international companies than it has in years. The reason is not complicated. As Venezuela moves toward some degree of economic normalization, and as its relationship with the United States and the broader global community continues to shift,
Buying Property in Portugal in 2026: What Foreign Buyers Need to Know Before They Sign Portuguese property rules vary by region, municipality, property type, buyer status, and transaction structure, with important differences between mainland Portugal, Madeira, and the Azores. Portuguese tax, immigration, rental, and municipal rules have changed repeatedly in recent years. Tax rates, visa
Buying Property in Spain: What Foreign Buyers Need to Know Before They Sign The First Decision: Who Is Protecting You? 1. Do I need my own Spanish lawyer? Yes. This is the first rule of buying property in Spain. The seller’s lawyer represents the seller. The real estate agent is usually paid by the seller.
Deepfakes, Voice Cloning, and AI Impersonation: The Global Rules Are Already Here, and They Don’t Agree A cloned executive voice. A fake endorsement. A synthetic campaign ad. A deepfake intimate image. Each of these can now trigger criminal liability, consumer-protection claims, platform-removal obligations, or identity-rights lawsuits—depending on where your business operates and which country’s law
DMCA Agent Requirements for Online Businesses A DMCA Agent Is Easy to Designate. Real Compliance Is Harder. Most online platforms treat the DMCA agent filing as a one-and-done administrative task. That is a mistake. They designate an agent, post a policy, and assume they have handled the issue. Then an actual dispute arrives. A notice
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
