Mathis & Murphy Attorney Alexandria Vita Hill volunteers with the Florida Bar Association Young Lawyers Section's Disaster Legal Services team and serves on the Board of Directors for Girls Inc. of Jacksonville.

Alexandria Vita Hill, a business attorney with Jacksonville’s Mathis & Murphy, P.A., has been nominated for the Florida Bar Association’s Young Lawyer Section Volunteer of the Year award. Admitted to the bar just two years ago, Hill has quickly established herself among the area’s busiest attorneys, both in her practice and in her civic involvement.

Hill specializes in business, contract and personal injury law and malpractice defense. She graduated from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and Stetson’ University’s Bachelor of Business Administration program. She is active in the Florida Bar Association’s Business Law and Young Lawyers Sections; the Jacksonville Bar Asso

ciation’s Young Lawyers Section; and the Jacksonville Area Defense Counsel.

Her most noted volunteer work includes the Florida Bar’s Disaster Legal Services, which provides assistance to victims of disasters who cannot otherwise afford representation. For instance, volunteer attorneys help victims of hurricanes deal with legal issues involving landlord/tenant dealings, consumer protection matters and home repair contracts.

Hill also recently was appointed to the Board of Directors of Girls Inc. of Jacksonville, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping girls develop confidence and responsibility via research-based and age-appropriate educational and sports programs.

The winner of the 2012 Volunteer of the Year award will be announced at a June 14 meeting of the Florida Bar’s Young Lawyers Section.

Laurie M. Lee, Esq., a partner in Jacksonville's Mathis & Murphy, specializes in business transactions and promotional sweepstakes law.

Laurie M. Lee, Esq. recently was named partner in Jacksonville’s Mathis & Murphy, P.A. Practicing law since 2003, Lee specializes in business transactions and promotional sweepstakes law.

Lee graduated from St. Augustine’s Flagler College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994, then went on to the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she earned her J.D. and graduated cum laude in 2003. Before joining Mathis & Murphy in 2008, she taught legal research and writing at the Florida Coastal School of Law from 2004 to 2005.

In addition to her specialties, Lee also practices in the areas of contract drafting, review and negotiations; commercial leases; business formations; sale and purchase of businesses; corporate governance; regulatory compliance; local government affairs and appeals.

Lee is a member of the Florida Jacksonville Bar Association, the Florida Bar Association and its Business Law and Appellate Practice and Advocacy sections. And she’s currently a Parent-Teacher Association vice president. Other professional affiliations include the Small Business Resource Network, for which she is a past legal chairman of the steering committee; the Chester Bedell American Inn of Court and the Women Business Owners of Northeast Florida.

Lee and husband Andy have two daughters, Simany and Faeryn.

Intellectual property law is a complex and ever-changing field, business lawyers say.

They say everyone’s got an invention, a book, a game-changing business idea in them. If that’s the case for you, make sure you take steps to protect your intellectual property, legally defined as the ownership of ideas and control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas. Business attorneys with Jacksonville’s Mathis & Murphy, P.A. highly recommend you follow these essential tips:

1. File for patent, trademark, service mark or copyright protection. Patents cover inventions. Trademarks and service marks are names, words, phrases, symbols or devices used to indicate the source of a good or service and differentiate them from those of others. Copyrights protect “original works of authorship” such as manuscripts, song lyrics and works of art.
2. Fully develop your idea. Often, similar new products surface around the same time. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can prove to investors that a strong demand for your product or service exists. Make sure that you fully develop all aspects of your idea, including showing potential investors and customers how your idea stands out from others entering or already on the market.
3. Insist upon use of nondisclosure agreements. Known as NDAs, they are written agreements between you and your prospective business parkers, investors or hires to keep all information regarding your idea confidential.
4. Get legal counsel. Intellectual property law is complex and can be confusing. For instance, many people assume that copyrights, trademarks, service marks and patents protect much more than they actually do. And all the websites, books and TV shows you watch won’t give you the full knowledge of intellectual law that an experienced business attorney has.

Business lawyers at Jacksonville’s Mathis & Murphy provide legal counsel every day and remain fully up to date on all the latest changes in the intellectual law field. Before you spill the details of your idea to your best friend, your neighbor or the guy in the next booth at the coffee shop, call 904-356-4500 and schedule a free initial consultation today.

Attorney Miriam Wilkinson celebrates a full decade of AV Preeminent rating, the highest possible peer review designation.

Miriam Wilkinson, Esq. of Mathis & Murphy recently hit 10 years of AV Preeminent rating by peer review ratings provider Martindale Hubbell. The milestone marks Wilkinson’s full decade of maintaining the highest possible recognition of legal ability and ethical conduct.

In making rating designations, LexisNexis Martindale Hubbell engages members of the bar and judiciary to review nominated attorneys. Reviewers are from select jurisdictions and geographic locations, are involved in similar areas of practice or industries, and can attest to having worked with the attorneys they’re reviewing.

Of the three possible ratings, AV Preeminent is the top and signifies that Wilkinson’s peers rank her at the highest level of professional excellence. Other ratings include BV Distinguished, which means that a lawyer has some degree of experience and stands out from the competition. A Peer Review Rated designation recognizes a lawyer who meets very high ethical criteria.

Wilkinson also recently was named to the Editorial Board of the Gaming Law Review & Economics: Regulation, Compliance and Policy Journal. GLRE is the leading peer-reviewed journal addressing important regulatory and economic issues facing today’s gaming industry. It provides the latest developments in legislation, regulation and judicial decisions affecting gaming around the world, including state, federal, and tribal developments in the U.S. and online and is cited more often by legal courts than any other journal covering the industry.

A 1992 Juris Doctor graduate of the Florida State University College of Law, Wilkinson was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1993 and is a member of the Florida State University Law Review. Her areas of practice include game promotions and sweepstakes, regulatory compliance, consumer fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices, telemarketing law and charitable organizations, among others.

Attorney Alexandria Vita Hill recently was appointed to the Girls Inc. of Jacksonville's Board of Directors.

Mathis & Murphy, P.A. attorney Alexandria  Vita Hill recently was appointed to the Board of Directors of Girls Inc. of Jacksonville. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to helping girls aged six and up to be self confident, responsible and well-rounded individuals via research-based and age-appropriate educational and sports programs.

Hill practices business, contract and personal injury law and malpractice defense. She is a graduate of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and Stetson’ University’s Bachelor of Business Administration program, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2010. Her professional affiliations include the Jacksonville Bar Association and its Young Lawyers Section; the Florida Bar Association and its Business Law and Young Lawyers Sections; and the Jacksonville Area Defense Counsel. She also volunteers with the Florida Bar’s Disaster Legal Services.

Girls Inc. has roots dating back to 1864 and became a national nonprofit in 1945. The Jacksonville Chapter was formed in 1970 as a project of the Pilot Club of Jacksonville.  Today, Girls Inc. of Jacksonville provides programs focusing on science, math, technology, health, economic and financial literacy, sports skills, leadership and advocacy. The Jacksonville chapter serves more than 1,700 girls daily in summer camp, outreach and after-school programs that provide homework assistance and enrichment activities including dance, computer training, art, storytelling, theatre and bullying prevention.

Consulting a corporate formation lawyer can help assure your new company is on solid footing to grow, compete and succeed.

One surprising and inspiring result of today’s tight economy and high unemployment rate is that many who have given up on finding employment instead have turned to entrepreneurialism. If you can’t join them, try beating them, as the saying goes. The best way to start: consulting with a corporate formation lawyer.

Starting a new business can be fun, challenging and empowering – so long as you do it correctly. Failure to cover all your bases can land you in hot water, costing you thousands of dollars in legal fees and at least temporarily derailing your path to the “American dream.” Corporate formation attorneys at Jacksonville’s Mathis & Murphy, P.A. offer legal assistance in forming and maintaining your new corporation and suggest you follow these seven steps:

1. Research and choose a business name. Different states have different regulations governing corporate names. You’ll need to fully research these regulations and find out if the name you want is available.
2. Appoint your corporate directors: You’ll need to choose people who have adequate professional experience and whom you trust to help lead your corporation. Directors help make major policy and financial decisions including authorizing stock issuance, approving loans to and from your corporation and appointing corporate officers.
3. File your articles of corporation: This is an easy step in most states. It typically requires filing out an online form with details including your corporation’s name and principal address, directors’ names and addresses, and the name and address of whomever will serve as your company’s registered agent. A registered agent generally is the contact for anyone who may want to sue your corporation, so it’s highly recommended that you choose a competent business attorney.
4. Draft your corporate bylaws. These are the in-house rules and regulations that you and your corporate directors agree to follow. They set the standards and schedules for holding meetings of directors and shareholders, and policies for voting.
5. Hold your first board of directors meeting. This is essentially a making-it-official move. During this first meeting, you and your directors will set the corporation’s fiscal year, adopt bylaws, appoint corporate officers and determine their salaries, adopt an official stock certificate form and corporate seal, and authorize and issue stock, which essentially divides the ownership interests in the company among shareholders.
6. File your securities registration. Many small corporations are eligible for exemptions from securities registration. You may be eligible if your corporation issues shares t only a small number of people (typically 10 or fewer) who will be actively involved in the company’s day-to-day operations.
7. Obtain all necessary permits and licenses. These may include a local business license and zoning permit, IRS employer identification number (EIN, also known as a federal tax identification number), and sellers’ permits.

To make sure you’ve adequately covered all your bases, contact Mathis & Murphy and schedule a consultation with our Jacksonville corporate formation lawyers. Reach us at 904-396-5500 or complete our online consultation request form.

When a simple mistake causes a major loss, you need an experience errors & omissions insurance lawyer. Jacksonville's Mathis & Murphy, P.A. can help, whether you're the accused or the victim in and E&O legal case.

Among the types of insurance policies that are a must for businesses offering buyers services, consultation or advice is errors and omissions insurance. But when your E&O benefits or responsibilities are challenged, you may need a qualified attorney specializing in insurance law.

Jacksonville’s Mathis and Murphy, P.A. provides expert counsel in a variety of business insurance cases for both insured and insurer clients, including those involving E&O insurance, which protects insured businesses in the case of professional  mistakes. Even the most experienced and highly skilled professionals slip up occasionally. But when an honest, unintentional slipup harms a client the consequences can be dire, particularly for smaller businesses.

Examples of errors and omissions insurance law case scenarios include an accountant who accidentally miscalculates a client’s taxes or a wedding planner whose hired florist shows up hours late. In the tax case, the client’s business might suffer financial damages in the form of hefty IRS fees. And the newlyweds can claim that their money was wasted and their special day ruined.

Whether you’re the accused or the harmed in such a case, Mathis & Murphy’s Jacksonville business lawyers can help mete out a fair compensation for an E&O loss. Call 904-396-5500 or request a consultation online.

An experienced contract drafting and review attorney can help you create a solid, thorough non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Landing new business partnerships can be a bit of a Catch 22. You must disclose certain particulars of your business’ operations to potential partners in order to move a proposed agreement forward. But if a mutually beneficial business arrangement can’t be made, it could leave your company at a competitive risk. Before you schedule a meeting to discuss a partnership idea, be sure you have a solid non-disclosure agreement approved by a qualified contract drafting and review attorney.

Known informally as an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement is a legal contract between two or more parties that outlines confidential material or information that parties wish to share with one another, but keep secret from outside parties. Those signing the NDA agree to keep all specified information, including proprietary information and trade secrets, confidential, no matter the outcome of the agreement talks. An NDA also might be called a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA) or secrecy agreement.

NDAs most commonly are signed when various parties are considering doing business together. But signing an NDA also can be a required of new employees. This helps to legally protect a company from having its confidential information disclosed should the employee leave to work with competitor, attempt to profit off the information without compensating your company, or attempt to use information in a retaliatory way after employment is terminated, for example.

As with any business contract, and NDA must clearly spell out a multitude of factors including the disclosure period, exclusions, permitted uses of the shared information and types of permissible disclosure, such as those required by law or a court order.

To make sure your non-disclosure agreement is contact an experienced contract drafting and review attorney. Jacksonville’s Mathis and Murphy, P.A. specializes in NDAs and other business contracts including employment agreements, sale of goods agreements, business purchase orders and real property or facility licenses. Call 904-396-5500 or request a free consultation online.

First, it’s imperative that you understand exactly what a sweepstakes promotion entails. Section 849.094 of the Florida Statutes defines a sweepstakes, or game promotion, as a contest, game of chance or gift enterprise that has an element of chance and prize and is conducted in connection with the sale of consumer products or services. It must have an advertised, finite number of chances to win and no gambling element. Know that Bingo games, raffles and lotteries are very different animals and are not considered sweepstakes.

To make sure your sweepstakes promotion is on the up and up legally, be sure you know these rules:

• If your sweepstakes or game promotion award prizes totaling more than $5,000 in value you must file the promotion with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at least seven days prior to the promotion’s kickoff.
• You must open a trust account or security bond unless your company already has conducted sweepstakes promotions in Florida for at least five years and have had no civil, criminal or administrative actions against your company for a violation of s. 849.094 during that five year period.
• You must publish the sweepstakes rules in all advertising, and make sure that the rules are conspicuously posted – not hidden away in tiny, unreadable print.
• You must provide a list of winners, free of charge, to anyone who requests it.

Be aware that any violation of Florida sweepstakes law can land you a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation, an injunction or even referral for criminal prosecution. Such a scenario could cripple a small business financially or damage the reputation of a business of any size.

If you’re considering a game promotion and want to make sure it’s conducted according to Florida sweepstakes law, Jacksonville’s Mathis & Murphy can help. Call 904-396-5500 for a free consultation today.