All Articles — page 4
Every Beacon article, grouped by section. Use the filters or search to narrow it down.
-
Courts & Civil Litigation
Motions to Dismiss: Common Grounds and What Happens After the Ruling
A motion to dismiss argues that a case cannot proceed as filed, even if every fact alleged is true. The grounds are limited, and so are the consequences of losing one.
7 min readExplainer -
Courts & Civil Litigation
Appealing a Civil Judgment: Notice, Record, Standards, and Timing
An appeal is not a second trial. It is a review of what the trial court did with the record it had — governed by a short deadline and a standard of review that often decides the outcome.
7 min readExplainer -
Courts & Civil Litigation
Statutes of Limitation: How Filing Deadlines Can End a Civil Claim
A limitations period can end a civil claim before anyone looks at the facts. Here is how the clock starts, what pauses it, and why the answer is almost always a question of state law.
7 min readExplainer -
Courts & Civil Litigation
Jury Selection and Voir Dire in Civil Trials
Voir dire is the only part of a trial where the people deciding the case are questioned. Here is how the pool is built, how strikes work, and what a party may not do with them.
6 min readExplainer -
Courts & Civil Litigation
Evidence in Civil Cases: Authentication, Hearsay, and Exhibits
A document only becomes evidence when a court admits it. Authentication, hearsay, and the mechanics of offering an exhibit are what stand between a file and the jury.
6 min readExplainer -
Courts & Civil Litigation
Responding to a Civil Subpoena for Documents or Testimony
A subpoena is a court command, not a request — but it has real limits. Here is how to read one, how to object in time, and when a court will narrow or cancel it.
7 min readGuide -
Business & Compliance
Fictitious Business Names: DBA Registration, Publication, and Contracts
A DBA is a disclosure filing, not a business. It tells the public who stands behind a trading name — and in some states an unfiled one can stop you enforcing your own contract.
7 min readGuide -
Business & Compliance
Business Licenses and Permits: Finding Every Layer That Applies
Almost no business needs a single license. Most need several from different governments, and the one that closes you down is usually the local permit nobody checked.
7 min readGuide -
Business & Compliance
Export Controls and Sanctions: Screening a Transaction Before It Proceeds
Export control and sanctions screening comes down to four questions about an item, its destination, its recipient and its end use — asked before the shipment, not after.
7 min readGuide -
Business & Compliance
Government Contracting for Small Businesses: Registration and Set-Asides
Federal buying runs on one rulebook and one registration system. Getting into both correctly is what separates firms that win work from firms that watch it.
7 min readGuide -
Business & Compliance
Product Recalls: Reporting Duties, Corrective Action Plans, and Records
The reporting clock does not wait for certainty. It starts when a firm has information that reasonably supports the conclusion that a product creates a substantial hazard.
7 min readGuide -
Business & Compliance
Foreign Qualification: When a Company Must Register in Another State
"Foreign" here means out of state, not out of country. Crossing a state line with employees, an office or a job site usually starts a registration duty most owners never hear about.
7 min readExplainer
