Economics

We study current economic ideas and trends and distill them into concepts that can be applied in current economic transactions. We have academic training in economics, finance, law, and psychology (not at the PhD level) but experienced grounded in thousands of negotiations conducted in bankruptcy, startup, and in-house counsel as well as a life time of substantial readings in hundreds of unique subject areas. We take useful concepts from any variety of sources and apply them into economic transactions.

Much of academic research is difficult to apply other than in valuation/econometric contexts typically used in determining economic damages in negligence cases. We do not provide econometric-oriented or expert valuation services, but we do legal valuation research supported by first day motion fact witnesses or contested motion fact witnesses.

However, we read academic articles for concepts and ideas that can be applied with legal and financial analysis by experienced practitioners to generate favorable results using unique strategies, fitted to the context. We partner with experienced bankruptcy and transactional lawyers while we add informal economic analysis and financial judgments.

Our transactional focus is doing cash stream payments and credit enhancement deals in private transactions. While cash stream payments are typically granted on patent or trademark rights, we apply “bundle of property” rights thinking to see if we can add value to customizing transactions to align with the needs and motives of the relevant counter parties and stakeholders.

We often work with your current corporate lawyer(s), transactional lawyer(s), or creditor rights or debtor lawyer(s). If you do not have a lawyer in mind, we can act your lawyer in many cases where we periodically partner with competent local counsel.

Example #1 – Using gross sales cash payments as bonuses for key employee retention agreements in chapter 11 proceedings during a windup period (as an filed as a contested objection to key employee incentive motions). Your local bankruptcy lawyer would file and appear on the objection while we would provide revision and editing assistance as well as locating admissible evidence to support drafted motions.

While doing cash payment stream transactions on gross sales is easiest from an accounting standing. Our experience is that royalties and cash payment streams are commonly not used because percent of royalty deals, when caried to the bottom line, represent too big of a demand. Traditionally, royalties are granted only on trademarks, patents, or copyrights. However, we use cash payment streams in employee incentive agreements and hybrid commercial debt-cash payment stream transactions. Transactions can vary as to duration or amount of cash stream payments. We can help you structure royalties that cover legal, financial, and economic terms.

We think deeply on how to help avoid transactions that stall or deadlock by value sharing, asymmetric information, valuing information, and even metaphysical concepts like ensuring the equities tip in favor your side of the transaction. A modern book has a fleeting reference action boom-a-rang effects and we counsel clients not to self-harm by harming others. We also advise business not to harass consumers or employees directly or subtly. Companies that deplete trust hollow out and eventually get sold for scrap metal (eventually) unless they course correct.

We study from the lives of economic thought leaders, economic history, trade history, and world history to understand trends that systematically repeat because human beings have behavioral economic patterns that do not change as they are largely hard wired and frequently hidden from self-awareness. This is why there are booms and panics – in good time sales are brought forward and in bad times debts are repeatedly paid off or written down. If interest rates were zero, then GDP growth would provide nearly identical each quarter by quarter adjusted by population growth times productivity without the consine-sine wave effects.

Instead, economic growth occurs as mental temperatures rise and fall and expected values are emotionally adjusted; since we are not time travelers, we cannot predict the future at all – we merely form educated guesses which are aggregated into real time expectations that adjust data point by point and seem to be predictive in nature until a market crashes when everyone realizes that most where totally wrong.

We believe in a world view grounded in learning and applying North Star principles such as transparency, accuracy, seeking and deploying knowledge. We take lessons from flying geese, seeking to optimize our ground speed coverage by flying in a pattern, drafting of each other, and honking at aggravating counter parties. We also fly south during Salt Lake Valley and Chicago winter seasons.

We travel periodically and consider our services to be “financial advisory services” since we do not have or hire PhD in economics, but we sometimes retain either finance PhD or economics PhD. Our economic/financial advisory services are often paired with legal practice or legal research at differential hourly rates.

We have found the adage, “pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered” to be true and well-advised in terms of the monetary and non-monetary considerations. We seek a client win with the minimal sustainable acceptable for the counterparty.