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 April 23, 2024 by Sara J. Ackermann
Today the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to finalize a new rule to prohibit employers from enforcing noncompetes against employees. Highlights of the new rule include: Employers are prevented from entering into new noncompetes with workers on or after the rule’s effective date, which will be 120 days after the rule is published (which will […]
Posted on April 23, 2024 by Sara J. Ackermann
Today the Department of Labor issued its long-awaited rule raising the fixed salary requirements for employees in the executive, professional, and administrative exemption categories (EAP) and increasing the standard salary level and the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (HCE). (Note that the State of Wisconsin does not recognize the HCE exemption, so […]
Posted on March 11, 2024 by Eric R. Johnson
The push for sustainable energy presents farmers with an intriguing opportunity: leasing their land for solar energy projects. These arrangements, known as solar leases (or easements), offer a blend of benefits and risks to farmers. Solar leases offer enticing benefits to farmers, including: Rent payments often far exceed the profitability of traditional farming. Solar leases […]
Posted on January 25, 2024 by Samuel J. S. Moheban
Federal laws place employers in a challenging position, requiring them to navigate between compliance with laws designed to prevent the employment of persons not eligible to work in the United States and laws punishing discrimination and document abuse. Non-compliance can lead to lawsuits, fines, and potentially even criminal prosecution. While all employers would benefit from […]
Posted on December 14, 2023 by Mary Ellen Schill
The Internal Revenue Service issued the 2024 optional standard mileage rates today for computing the deductible cost of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes. The most notable change is the slight per mile increase for businesses. Effective January 1, 2024, the optional standard mileage rates for the use of a car […]
Posted on November 1, 2023 by Mary Ellen Schill
On November 1, 2023 the Internal Revenue Service announced the cost-of-living adjustments for the various qualified retirement plan limits. Almost all of the limits shown below have increased from last year. Qualified Plan Limit Cost-of-Living Adjustments 401(k) and 403(b) elective deferral limit 2023 – $22,500 2024 – $23,000 $200,000 compensation limit 2023 – $330,000 […]
Posted on October 23, 2023 by Anne E. Flinchum
As a collection and banking attorney, I am often asked whether (or when) I think collections will restart now that we are somewhat “beyond” COVID-19, although not fully. In my own practice I have seen an increase in demand letters to businesses and consumers for past due accounts or debts. Banks and businesses need to […]
Posted on September 27, 2023 by Nicole L. Stangl
In today’s interconnected world, how to protect vital business assets such as key employees and confidential information is top of mind for businesses. Tools such as non-solicitation, non-compete and non-disclosure agreements are utilized as a method of protection for businesses. However, the changing legal landscape related to non-compete provisions has made it essential to be […]
Posted on August 7, 2023 by Nicole L. Stangl
The New Form: On July 21, 2023 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new Form I-9. The new Form I-9 became available for employers to use on August 1, 2023. The old Form I-9 can continue to be used through October 31, 2023, but all employers must be using the new Form […]
Posted on June 29, 2023 by Sara J. Ackermann
It just became very easy for an employee to sue their employer for failure to accommodate religious beliefs. Today, in its Groff v. DeJoy opinion, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that an employer must make such an accommodation unless it would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its […]
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