Business Law
Financial Privacy Legislation
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCLS) compiles legislative developments in the 50 states concerning financial privacy generally. It also compiles legislative activity on credit card numbers, social security numbers and consumer security breach notification. General coverage goes back to the year 2000, while coverage of legislation related to SSN privacy goes back to 2004. Legislative activity on credit card numbers covers this information on receipts (1999-2005) and skimming devices (2001-2006). Legislation on disclosing breaches goes back to 2002.
This Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Web site is devoted to the identification, analysis and examination of abusive tax shelter schemes and promotions. Find press releases as well as information about "listed transactions." Listed transactions are transactions that are "the same as or substantially similar to one that the IRS has determined to be a tax avoidance transaction and identified by IRS notice or other form of published guidance." The information about listed transactions includes summaries and full-text of relevant revenue rulings.
While designed for small business owners and entrepreneurs, legal professionals may find helpful sample forms and agreements. These cover issues pertaining to employment, the Internet and technology, office management, legal transactions (incorporation, intellectual property, contracts), insurance, sales and marketing, finance and accounting, and business planning. Also find commentary involving these issues.
Subtitled "the collected wisdom of the world's information experts," this site compiles select messages posted to the email discussion group, Buslib-L. Find answers to business research questions like "Where can I find S.I.C. codes on the Internet?" Or recommendations regarding information products, search strategies, and sources of information.
The Bloomberg news service reports on markets, economies, companies and other topics daily. Its news stories appear in newspapers around the world. The Web site provides a mix of free and fee-based information. Using it requires free registration. A special feature lets you find current stock information by entering a ticker symbol. Another search feature helps you find the ticker symbol by company or mutual fund name.
Small business solutions software company, Palo Alto Software, offers this free site devoted to business planning. Find articles, sample business plans, calculators, questions and answers, a glossary and more. The site also publishes a monthly newsletter by email, which provides tips on business planning.
Find a directory of state corporate information databases compiled and annotated by Kathy Biehl. It covers all 50 states.
Publisher CCH Incorporated offers this free site for business owners, especially those with small businesses. Find the CCH Small Business Guide, a collection of practical articles on various aspects of planning and running a small business. Other sections of the site provide model forms and checklists (Small Business Tools), employee training (HR Tools), and advice about business issues (Ask Alice).
A CNN Money site. Business 2.0 offers an extensive guide for finding sources of business and economic information. It focuses on professional sources and covers issues like management, electronic commerce, finance, industries, technology, and more.
This InfoUSA database enables finding company contact information for free. Search by company name to find company name, address and telephone number. The site also enables submitting or reviewing opinion about companies. If you register with the site, you can purchase a business credit report. Reports include key contact information, lines of business, corporate affiliations, public records, Web site addresses, news and more.
The Small Business Administration offers a site devoted to legal and regulatory information of interest to small businesses. Topics range from basic guidance about choosing a business structure or hiring a lawyer, to highly specialized issues such as e-commerce and exporting. One attractive feature, entitled State and Local Information, explains state doing business laws in plain English.
A free service of The Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program, CasePlace offers business case studies and related materials on social and environmental issues. Topics covered include business and government relationships, community development, crisis management, diversity, governance, legal and ethical issues, organizational change, restructuring, strategic alliances, and more. Search by discipline, major topic or keyword to find bibliographic information and abstracts. The bibliographic records contain links to sources for full-text retrieval; however, we experienced some frustration in trying to find specific documents. Many times, the links lead to a home page rather than the document itself. Access to the site requires free registration.
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. provides three lookup tools for finding board certified financial planners. Search by name or location to find a professional's full name, employment (or affiliated company), business address, phone number, certification status, certification dates and public disciplinary history.
The U.S. Department of Commerce publishes notices of proposed government procurement actions, contract awards, sales of government property, and other procurement information.
Contracting and Organizations Research Institute
Affiliated with the University of Missouri, CORI promotes research on contracting and organization. It provides a free database containing more than 25,000 contracts. Many of the contracts come from EDGAR (Securities and Exchange Commission) filings. Search by keyword. You may limit a query by the type of document (employment agreement, merger) you seek. You must register with the site to access the database.
The official Weblog of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Contracts, this site comments on developments concerning contract law. Stories cover current cases, articles, teaching strategies and more. A regular feature, entitled "Today in History," outlines various events relating to commerce, trade and contracts. There is also a small collection of links to useful resources. The site offers RSS and Atom news feeds.
The Corporate Library is an independent investment research firm providing corporate governance data, analysis and risk assessment tools. It offers a database of S&P 500 companies that you may search for free. (Paid subscribers receive access to a larger database of U.S. and international companies.) Search by company name, ticker, CEO or other criteria to find the company name, CEO name, ticker symbol, industry and market capitalization. For a fee, you can also download company and board member profiles.
The site offers additional free databases. Find one containing chief executive officer employment contracts, which you can search by keyword. "Governance Policies" is a keyword-searchable database of governance policies.
EDUCASE/Cornell Institute for Computer Policy and Law - Tech Policies for Organizations
Cornell's EDUCASE/Computer Policy and Law Program offers this database of information about, and links to, policies on various computer issues. The collection covers corporate, educational institution, municipal, and network policies dealing with acceptable use, access, computer use, terms and conditions, dial-in, email, ethics, privacy, security, World Wide Web, and other policy topics.
European Business Case Clearing House
With offices at Cranfield University in England and Babson College in Massachusetts, the European Case Clearing House (ECCH) maintains and distributes case studies from management teaching programs around the world. Its COLIS database lets you search abstracts and bibliographic information on the case studies. Search by a variety of criteria, including author, title or topic. An "index" feature helps you find the subject categories available for searching. Registered users may display "inspection copies" of the case studies
freeERISA.com offers several databases useful for those conducting research about group retirement or welfare benefit plans. Some databases require a paid subscription, but many are free. The free databases offer financial reports (form 5500) of the qualified retirement plans of U.S. employers, company applications to terminate retirement plans (form 5310), information about companies with executive deferred compensation plans, information about non-profit organizations, SEC filings on employee benefits and compensation, collective bargaining agreements, and more. Two other free databases help you find employer identification numbers (EINs). Access requires free registration.
Gilbert & Tobin is an Australian corporate, technology and communications law firm. It provides full-text copies of articles covering timely issues in competition law, business law, intellectual property, tax law, and more. From the home page, select the Publications tab.
Thomson Gale provides this business information portal, which gives consumers access to news, company profiles, market reports and other information on a pay-per-view or subscription basis. Six menu tabs describe the content. Competitive Intelligence contains reports from sources such as Wards Business Directory and Graham and Whiteside Major Company Series. Industries and Markets contains reports from many different sources and covers topics such as trends analysis, market leaders, product and brand information and statistics. Management Practices provides access to 3 separate databases -- Business & Management Practices, Thomson Gale Encyclopedia of Management and Thomson Gale Business Plans. Industry and Business News contains articles from journals, newspapers, newswires, and magazines. Lead Generation helps you create lists of contacts by industry, product type, keyword or job title. Biz Match helps you find business contacts. It includes sources such as Consultants and Consulting Organizations, American Wholesalers and Distributors, and Taft Directory of Corporate and Foundation Givers. You may search or browse the portal for free. Pay to access full-text information.
The Web site of the General Services Administration (GSA) Board of Contract Appeals offers its rules of procedure, decisions, and brief biographical information about its judges.
Discover basic information about charitable organizations. Learn their assets, income, FEIN, funding and activities. The site also features an advertisements database offering services such as volunteering and financial resources.
House Committee on Financial Services
Find live webcasts of hearings and markups, news, information about current legislation, hearing transcripts, committee prints, and more.
International Journal of Central Banking
The Federal Reserve Board's new journal, which is hosted by the Bank for International Settlements, will be published quarterly. It will feature "articles on central bank theory and practice, with a special emphasis on research relating to monetary and financial stability." Articles provide an abstract as well as the full-text (in PDF). Access is free.
International Law Office Deals Database
Globe Business Publishing Ltd, a publishing company that specializes in information for the global legal community, offers a deals database. Search for deals announced since 1 January 2001. Search by law firm, lawyer, deal type, company, industry, type of work (e.g., banking, commercial property, etc.), value, date, or keywords to find a brief description of the deal, companies involved, the legal advisors, the value of the deal, and the date announced.
The International Trade Centre, LexUM of the Center for Research in Public Law at the University of Montreal and Juripole from the University of Nancy provide this database of legal information concerning international trade. Find international conventions, model laws, model contract clauses, World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, as well as, legal documents pertaining to the Organization for the Harmonization in Africa of Business Law (OHADA). Many, although not all, of the documents are available in English, Spanish, and French.
Justia Business Formation Overview
Provides overview of laws pertaining to business formation, including links to state and federal laws, dockets, news, and blogs about this topic.
The Dorothy A. Johnson Center For Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University offers this Web site devoted to non-profit basics. Learn about fundraising, governance, staff development, accountability, volunteer management and more. The site provides a glossary of common terms relating to non-profit organizations as well as a database of resources.
Based on a Harvard Business School research project, this site serves as a portal to project finance print and Web-based resources. Each resources has a bibliographic citation or brief description.
Resident Agent Information and Links
Maryland attorney Terry Berger maintains this list of links to sites providing business status and registered agent information. The list also includes useful contact information for some states.
A project of the Cyberspace Law Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Business Law, this Web site offers information for business people launching e-commerce enterprises and for businesses venturing into online sales. It contains a series of practical short articles of primary interest when starting a business. For instance, there are essays on obtaining and protecting domain names, publishing and linking to third-party content, selling out-of-state and internationally, records retention, structuring your business, paying taxes, maintaining customer information and privacy, and more.
Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource
The Internal Revenue Service provides a collection of articles and resources for those starting or running a small business. You'll find self-directed workshops on tax issues, information about employer identification numbers (EINs), a guide to starting, operating or closing a business, and more. While no source is truly a "one-stop" shop, this one serves as a good starting point for your small business taxation issues research.
The Small Business Administration offers this helpful guide for finding pertinent statutes, executive orders, memoranda, small business size standards and e-mail alert services.
The Small Business Administration offers a section on starting a business. It contains a startup guide and several articles on planning, financing and marketing a business, as well as managing employees, understanding tax issues, legal forms of ownership and other topics. Other parts of the Web site provide a business terms glossary and answers to frequently asked questions.
Stuart Levine, a partner in the Baltimore law firm Eastwick Rose Wright & Levine, P.A., comments on tax and business law developments. Levine's informative essays review recent IRS actions, court decisions, and other legal documents. The site also provides updates by email.
In its own words, "TechAgreements is a research tool for those looking for model legal forms and competitive information on publicly disclosed deals in the Internet, Computer and Telecom industries." Search by company name or keyword, or browse agreements by industry.
The site offers a brief summary of the agreement including the date it was signed and number of pages. You pay per agreement to access the full-text. TechAgreements.com helpfully supplies a line item for entering billing references.
The Best Cities for Doing Business
Inc.com recently published its annual review of the best cities in the U.S. for doing business. Inc. studied 393 population centers across the nation, identifying job creation and other signs of business vitality. It found that locations on the periphery of the big cities are the real entrepreneurial hot spots -- where low costs and favorable regulatory environments make it possible to thrive. You may search or browse the rankings. In addition to the rankings, you will find related statistical data, articles and maps.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) released the 9th edition of The Digital Economy Factbook. Co-written by Stephen McGonegal, President of Independent Analysis, Inc., and PFF Research Associate Daniel B. Britton, the fact book contains statistics and other information on the digital economy. Its 7 chapters comprise the following topics: The Growth of the Internet, The Hardware Sector, The Communications Sector, Digital Media, Electronic Commerce, Threats to the Digital Economy, and The Worldwide Digital Economy.
According to PFF, "[t]his year's edition of the popular publication contains an expanded chapter on the worldwide digital economy. The section focuses on both global statistics and information from three important regions: Europe, China and India.... The data and statistics included in the book are the most up to date available in the years 2006 to 2007."
Powered by ThomasRegister and ThomasRegional, ThomasNet provides information for both industrial suppliers and buyers. You may find information about U.S. and Canadian companies and their brands. The site enables searching by company name, product or service, or brand name. It provides business contact information, Web site, brief business description, number of employees, year founded, export markets, import markets, and more. Please note the new domain.
The Frank Russell Company provides access to U.S. equity indexes, including the Russell 1000 Indexes, Russell 2000 Indexes, Russell 2500 Indexes and Russell 3000 Indexes. The indexes offer current data and brief analyses as well as a listing of the top 10 holdings. You can also display details concerning the current daily total returns. Additional features include availability in PDF and information about the construction of the index and methodology.
This is a do-it-yourself (DIY) company formation Web site. By posing questions, it takes you through the process of registering your company in England, Scotland or Wales. It generates the legal documents, including the memorandum and articles of association as well as the company register. It also provides several articles explaining company formation, how to set up a limited company, and check for name availability.
This site serves as a subject directory to resources for business appraisers, CPA's, and other parties interested in business valuation. Use it to find publications, industry resources (industry overview and outlook, financial benchmarking, and compensation), economic data, public company data, transaction data (merger and acquisitions and secondary market data for limited partnerships), legal and tax resources, and more.
Wilshire Associates Incorporated offers current and historical data from several Wilshire Indexes. You can generate tables of daily total returns by Wilshire index (Broad market, Style, Target, Specialty, including Internet and Real Estate). Monthly tables are available for other select indexes (S & P, Dow Jones, NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ). Values other than the U.S. dollar also can be displayed. The site enables downloading the data in spreadsheet (CSV) format.
State Security Breach Notification Laws
6 August 2007. The legislative research librarians at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) track legislative activity in the 50 states on disclosure requirements related to security breaches involving consumer personal or financial information. The tracking begins in 2002.
CROSS (Customs Rulings Online Search System)
The U.S. Customs Service provides this database of selected rulings that span the years 1989 to present. While not all rulings currently reside in the database, the Customs Service plans to include all rulings at some future date. The database supports Boolean, including the NEAR operator. Enter a tariff number or legal citation as a keyword or phrase. Enclose phrases in quotation marks. The database also provides tariff classifications (e.g., search wine to find rulings and the classification under each ruling).
