Hi! I’m Michael Oswald. I am a business guy who also happens to be a lawyer. I love living in Boise, Idaho! I’ve also had the pleasure of living in Silicon Valley, Colorado Springs, Austin, and Orange County, CA. I started this blog so business owners and senior execs could find actionable guidance on common legal issues. Titles of posts I have previously written include: “The Managerial Overtime Exemption, and How to Keep It,” “Using a Sales Contract that speeds up Getting to Yes,” and “Tone at the Top is Vital for Preventing Sexual Harassment!” I provide a wide range of business-savvy legal services to small and medium companies and nonprofits. I am also certified to teach Real Estate Law by the Idaho Real Estate Commission. My favorite thing to do for a business is to take their standard sales contract and strip it down from an unintelligible 20-page monstrosity to a concise, 3-page doc that is easy for their customers to understand and to sign! I have experience in a number of industries, including Real Estate, Construction, Defense, and Technology (Hardware, Software and E-Commerce). I look forward to collaborating with you!

COVID Lockdown Order in PA Ruled Unconstitutional

A Federal judge in Western Pennsylvania has ruled that the governor’s open-ended lockdown order violates the 1st Amendment and the Due Process and Equal Protection provisions of 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Let’s “Manage by Data” when dealing with COVID19

The time I worked at SEMATECH (a semiconductor industry R&D consortium in Austin) was one my career highlights. I got to work with some of the brightest people in the chip world.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons there, including (i) everything in life involves trade-offs; and (ii) the importance of Managing by Data.

Is COVID-19 Putting Your Trade Secrets at Risk?

Working from Home and an Economic Downturn Are Creating a Perfect Storm for Increased Theft of Trade Secrets.

Use Your Contract to Deal with Recurring Problems

Some industries have problems that happen again and again. Construction has a handful of things that go wrong so often that the U.S. Government created some if-then clauses that go into virtually every government-funded construction contract.