Articles Posted in Contracts

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9268F80E-C3D4-436F-AC98-1472D36FC5CD-300x200Business partner disputes are one of the most common reasons companies end up in litigation. They are also one of the most preventable.

The phone call usually starts the same way. Two or three people built a business together. Things were good for a while. Then one partner wants to leave, or wants the other one out, or stops showing up, or starts taking money they are not entitled to, or quietly starts a competing business on the side. And when the moment of crisis arrives, everyone reaches for the operating agreement.

What they find there determines almost everything about what happens next.

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IMG_9940-300x200An Operating Agreement is the single most important internal document for your LLC. Yet many business owners either skip it entirely or rely on generic templates that don’t reflect how their business actually operates.

Whether you’re forming a single-member LLC or building a multi-partner company in Illinois, your Operating Agreement defines ownership, decision-making, financial structure, and how conflicts are handled.

At Bellas & Wachowski, we’ve reviewed and drafted hundreds of Operating Agreements. The difference between a strong agreement and a weak one often determines whether a business avoids disputes or ends up in litigation.

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What-Illinois-Business-Owners-Should-Know-About-the-One-Big-Beautiful-Bill-Act-1-300x300Non-compete agreements continue to be one of the most misunderstood areas of employment law for business owners.

Recent headlines about federal regulation led many employers to believe non-competes were banned nationwide. In reality, the situation is more nuanced. While federal regulators have attempted sweeping changes, Illinois law still primarily governs when and how non-compete agreements can be used.

For employers, understanding these rules is important. Improperly drafted or implemented agreements can become unenforceable and may even expose businesses to legal risk.

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What-Illinois-Business-Owners-Should-Know-About-the-One-Big-Beautiful-Bill-Act-300x300Many business owners heard headlines saying the Federal Trade Commission “banned non-competes” and assumed restrictive covenants were essentially over.

That is not what ultimately happened.

While the FTC attempted to implement a sweeping nationwide ban, that rule never took effect. Courts blocked it, the appeals process ended, and the agency later removed the rule from federal regulations. As a result, there is no nationwide prohibition on non-compete agreements in 2026.

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What-Illinois-Business-Owners-Should-Know-About-the-One-Big-Beautiful-Bill-Act-300x300The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tried to ban non-compete agreements across the country. That sweeping ban is now effectively dead. A federal judge struck it down, and the FTC recently gave up its appeals.

But that doesn’t mean employers are free to use non-competes however they like. The FTC has made clear that it will still go after what it sees as “anticompetitive” non-competes on a case-by-case basis. And here in Illinois, state law continues to strictly regulate how and when non-competes can be used.

For business owners, the message is simple: non-competes are not gone, but they’re under a microscope.

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What-Illinois-Business-Owners-Should-Know-About-the-One-Big-Beautiful-Bill-Act-300x300Several new employment laws go into effect in September and will affect employers in every state.

Independent Contractors rules:

  • The US Department of Labor adopted a six-factor test in January for classifying independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This replaces the previous two-factor approach. The result is more workers will be classified as
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