Focus Team: Manufacturing & Distribution
Not only is manufacturing and distribution the backbone of Wisconsin’s economy, it plays a prominent role in our 100-year history. We represent many of the area’s largest manufacturers and have grown with them over the courses of our histories.
As a full-service business law firm, our attorneys provide a diverse spectrum of services for manufacturers and distributors of locally based operations to internationally based facilities. We have extensive experience advising clients on a wide-variety of issues, including day-to-day operational issues as well as sophisticated transactions that are key to a business’s success.
The challenges faced by manufacturers are real. We understand the competitive and increasingly global marketplace and the pressure to be lean, cost-effective, and proactive. Working as trusted advisors to manufacturers and distributors, our attorneys combine legal knowledge with business acumen to provide clients with decisive, sound counsel.
We work collaboratively as a firm to provide our clients with timely, practical, and cost-effective legal guidance. Clients benefit from an attorney team with experience in all of our comprehensive practice areas. Services include:
- Business succession planning
- Commercial litigation
- Deferred compensation
- Distribution agreements
- Employee manuals
- Employment and personnel issues
- Employment contracts
- Entity formations
- Finance and lease arrangements
- Licensing issues
- Loan and equipment lease documents
- Non-compete and non-solicitation agreements
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Operating agreements
- Purchase and sale of manufacturing and distribution operations
- Purchase and sale of real estate including manufacturing facilities
- Regulatory compliance
- Reorganization strategies
- Risk management strategies
- Shareholder agreements
- Shareholder disputes
- Stock options
- Supply agreements
- Tax advice
- Terms and conditions of sale
- Trademark protection and intellectual property matters
- Warranty and product liability issues
- Work force issues
In addition, Ruder Ware is a member of Meritas, a premier global alliance of independent law firms working collaboratively to provide businesses with qualified legal expertise. Our membership allows us to connect clients to rigorously vetted law firms anywhere in the world.
Posted on November 19, 2020 by Amy E. Ebeling and Mary Ellen Schill
Through the release of a Revenue Ruling and a Revenue Procedure, the IRS re-affirmed its stance that taxpayers may not deduct payments for otherwise deductible business expenses (i.e., payroll, rent, covered utility payments, etc.) if those payments are made using Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and the company “reasonably expects” to have their PPP loan […]
Posted on November 11, 2020 by Sara J. Ackermann
Last night, after his primetime address, Governor Evers issued Executive Order #94 which advises residents to stay home and take precautions if they have to leave their home. It also encourages businesses to take additional steps to protect workers, customers, and the surrounding community. While the document is entitled as an “Order” there is no […]
Posted on November 10, 2020 by Robert J. Reinertson
OSHA’s enforcement activity has been accelerating as the number of COVID-19 cases has increased. Now OSHA has issued a guidance designed to give employers an understanding of the most commonly cited violations arising from OSHA COVID-19-related inspections. They are: Not providing a medical evaluation before a worker is fit-tested for or uses a respirator. Not […]
Posted on October 26, 2020 by Mary Ellen Schill
On October 26, 2020 the Internal Revenue Service announced the cost-of-living adjustments for the various qualified retirement plan limits. Some of the limits shown below have increased from last year while others remained unchanged. Qualified Plan Limit Cost-of-Living Adjustments 401(k) and 403(b) elective deferral limit 2020 – $19,500 2021 – $19,500 $200,000 compensation limit […]
Posted on October 22, 2020 by Sara J. Ackermann and Nicole L. Stangl
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) have updated the definition of “close contact” for quarantine purposes. Previous guidance provided that close contact meant spending a solid 15-minute period of time within six feet from someone infected with COVID-19. On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 the CDC […]
Posted on October 13, 2020 by Steven P. Lipowski and Benjamin E. Streckert
After several months of uncertainty, businesses are carefully resuming merger and acquisition transactions. Many (if not most) small businesses took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), but, as forgiveness is still pending, they are forced to navigate the treatment of these loans in the sale or acquisition process. The SBA issued a procedural notice […]
Posted on October 8, 2020 by Nicole L. Stangl and Tyler M. Richardson
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development adopted an emergency rule to create DWD 120.02 which was approved by Governor Evers on September 23, 2020. As of November 2, 2020, Wisconsin employers will be required to notify workers of the availability of unemployment insurance upon separation of employment. The notification can be accomplished through one of […]
Posted on October 7, 2020 by Robert J. Reinertson
With ever-increasing cases of COVID-19 affecting Wisconsin and U.S. workplaces, many employers have been left confused as to whether, when, and how they are supposed to report those cases to OSHA. OSHA itself has issued differing guidance since the pandemic began. It has now, however, come out with some new clarification on those questions. As […]
Posted on October 6, 2020 by Sara J. Ackermann
Today Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services issued Emergency Order No. 3 limiting public gatherings. As written, the Order is effective until November 6. The order limits “public gatherings” to no more than 25% of the total occupancy limits for a room or building established by the local municipality. “Public gathering” means an “indoor event, convening […]
Posted on September 29, 2020 by Sara J. Ackermann and Nicole L. Stangl
Employers need to keep abreast of the ever-changing agency rules regarding whether a worker is an “independent contractor” or an “employee.” You might ask, “why does this matter to the government?” The answer is easy: many government agencies—both state and federal—are designed solely to protect employees. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Occupational Safety […]
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