E-Mail retention policies that can protect your business

By Mary Budge, CEO-Budge Law

A lot can be written about e-mail policies - whether it is e-mail etiquette, e-mail discovery, or retention, but I guarantee no two opinions will be alike! As former in-house counsel I fought hard with the business units to create an e-mail retention policy. Why? Because from a legal perspective one of the greatest risks is that electronically stored data, which includes e-mail, is generally discoverable in lawsuits. Compliance with e-mail discovery is mandatory and can be extremely costly. Companies don't have e-mail retention policies are definitely at risk for costly discovery because the more e-mails that exist when the discovery duty arises, the greater the expense will be to search and retrieve relevant e-mails.

Source: The White House Project. Don't take your passions lightly. Invest your time in whatever it is that you love. Become an expert. You never know when one of your talents could help you start a business, get a promotion, or help you transition into a new career.

2. Find a mentor. Find a mentor-a friend, acquaintance, colleague-to bounce ideas off of. Getting advice from someone who has the experience you need can help you make decisions. Ask them the "questions" you wouldn't ask anyone else.

April brings an annual opportunity to focus awareness on sexual violence, the culture that perpetuates this violence and its prevention. The goal is to not only change the institutional policies and practices that support the behaviors encountered every day, but also to change the cultural norms so that this type of behavior is not expected, accepted or tolerated. Sexual Assault Awareness Month brings programs together to make a loud and unified statement throughout Minnesota that the current status of women and children in its society is no longer acceptable.

Chicago/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ Little less than a year after a young Mississippi woman captured national headlines successfully challenging a local school policy that denied her ability to wear a tuxedo to a public high school prom, a Chicago area high school senior also successfully overturned such a discriminatory policy.

In a letter sent to Proviso Township School District on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, lawyers for Belinda Sanchez asked the school to reverse its decision to deny Sanchez the opportunity to attend the prom in a tuxedo, explaining that its decision violated her constitutional rights. The Proviso East High School prom is scheduled for later this month. Sanchez's lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois were informed in a letter from the school's Superintendent that her request has now been granted.

St. Paul, MN. More than 13 million older adults are economically insecure, living on just $21,780 a year or less. Every day, these seniors and Boomers have to choose whether to pay for food, housing, utilities, or medical costs. They live one bad break, one accident, or one layoff away from economic disaster.

To spotlight their struggles-and call for change- ElderNomics Minnesota and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) are launching One Away, an innovative national advocacy campaign that uses video to allow older adults to tell their own stories. One Away videos and stories are available at http://www.oneaway.org/ In the first three-minute campaign video, Maria of New York describes her longing for one bite of steak; Andre of Chicago explains why he felt safer sleeping in his car than in a shelter; and Bettye of Seattle says she has $62 left per month after rent and health insurance.

By Liz Johnson

Originally published in the Duluth News Tribune. Duluth, MN. Like many film lovers, I enjoy watching the Academy Awards.   But in Hollywood - like in government - it’s always dissatisfying to witness the lack of women.  Not on the red carpet, but in the areas where they could make a substantial impact on film and our culture – in producing, directing, and even, past a certain age, varied and meaningful acting roles.  

That’s why last year – when “The Hurt Locker” won Best Picture, and the woman behind it, Kathryn Bigelow, won Best Director – felt like such a triumph.  Last year was also the first year in decades that the Academy used preferential voting (essentially, Ranked Choice Voting) to determine the Best Picture.

By Mary Budge, Founder - Budge Law Offices

There are a lot of things a business owner is concerned about in running his/her business. Off the cuff I can name five: generating sales, the bottom line, being innovative, developing market share and making your company a fun place to work for your employees.  These are critical to growing your business.  As a lawyer representing small businesses and startups, I routinely see at least five recurring legal issues that often escape the business owner – it may not be all five, but invariably along the way at least one was missed. 

Business Owner Exit Plan

After the decision to form a company together is made the co-owners (or co-founders) may easily agree on the percent of ownership each will own, but they often overlook what happens down the road when one owner wants out or wants to retire.  You can save a lot of headaches, disagreements or disputes if you take the time up front to have this discussion and put the appropriate document in place.  Depending on the type of organization it could be a buy-sell agreement, a member control agreement or partnership agreement.  Just like a marriage, while it may be tough to talk about a pre-nuptial at the beginning of a marriage, it saves a lot of time and heartache down the road should divorce become inevitable.

Five ways recent small business legislation can help entrepreneurs

(ARA) Anyone thinking about starting a business, and entrepreneurs already running their own small business, face new opportunities, thanks to recent changes in legislation. If you've been dreaming of opening your own business, following that dream into 2011 will allow you to capitalize on these new opportunities. Many of these legislative acts have an expiration date, while some offer advantages many years into the future.

By Sarah Taylor-Nanista, Executive Director - womenwinning

Originally published in Minnesota 2020. The112th Congress and new Minnesota legislative session began with women holding less political power in Washington and in statehouses across the country. For the first time since 1987, the number of women in Congress decreased. Nancy Pelosi, the first female House Speaker, now leads the minority party, having lost her power to set the policy and legislative agenda. And, three powerful Democratic women committee chairs were forced to hand over their gavels in the minority.

Last November’s election results in Minnesota reflect this same national trend. With the net loss of six women legislators, women’s representation declined for the first time in a decade, resulting in a three percent decline in women’s representation in the state legislature to a paltry 31.8 percent. This number masks the defeat of eight women incumbents.

Was the election a referendum on women in office? No. Women candidates