California Business Law Blog

Most design disputes do not start with bad work. They start with a question nobody answered at the beginning of the project.

A trade account is not just a discount. It makes you a seller in the eyes of the state, the buyer of record for every order, and often a guarantor. Here is what California designers should check about the seller’s permit, the resale certificate, and the name on the account before the first large order goes sideways.

California does not care what you called the relationship. It cares how the relationship actually worked. Here is why creative roles rarely pass the ABC test at an agency, why the creative exemptions are narrower than they sound, and how one misclassified designer can add up to about $40K.

A client stops paying, or wants the deposit back. California gives contractors a tool for exactly this moment, but it runs on deadlines. Here is who gets the 20-day notice, the three clocks that decide whether your lien holds up, and why many deposit disputes start with the contract.

California voids non-competes almost across the board, but section 16601 carves out one narrow exception that exists only when a business is sold. Here’s what buyers and sellers need to settle before the letter of intent hardens, including where the covenant lives, bulk sales notice, and liabilities that follow the business instead of the seller.

The CSLB exam doesn’t cover the business side of contracting; who the license legally belongs to, whether your first hire is really a 1099, what your contract is legally required to say, and how mechanics lien rights actually work. This piece breaks down the five most common year-one mistakes that cost new license holders the most, in the order they usually show up.

Most California landlords hold rentals the way they bought them; in their own name. It’s easy, until a claim exceeds the insurance policy. Here’s the exact dollar math on what personal-name ownership exposes, what an LLC actually protects (and doesn’t), and the three pitfalls, due-on-sale, Prop 13 reassessment, and out-of-state LLCs, that trip up DIY transfers.

You got licensed, clients are lining up, and forming an LLC feels like the obvious next step — except for most California healing-arts professions, the law generally doesn’t allow it. This guide breaks down what the Moscone-Knox Act actually requires, who can own shares in your practice, and how to set up the right entity the first time.

Planning to sell your California practice, bring in a partner, or prepare for retirement? The legal groundwork for a successful transition begins years before the deal. Learn the key entity, governance, and succession planning steps that help protect your practice’s value and make ownership transfers smoother.

Physicians, therapists, chiropractors, and other licensed professionals in California generally can’t practice through an LLC — no matter what your filing service told you. Here’s what the Moscone-Knox Act requires, who can own shares, and how to fix an entity that was formed wrong.