I’m looking for a Boulder/Denver based operations person to work part time with one of our companies.  Depending upon successful engagement, it could turn out to be for more than one company.

Basic qualifications:

1. Strong finance ability.  Not CFO, level, but able to keep 100% of the books of a small startup;

2. HR.  Be able to set up benefits and help with HR paperwork;

3. Office Management. Be able to set up supply deliveries; and

4. General Admin. Be flexible enough to take on other administrative tasks that the technology-only company doesn’t want to deal with.

My guess is that this is half day a week job at first.  Given the amount of times that I’m asked this question, chance for multiple clients is possible.

Email me if you are interested, or leave a comment. 

Apparently, the answer is yes, if reports are true that he is trying to fast track a bill that would create a special new tax for Colorado-based software companies.

End result?  Job killing.  While I usually am skeptical of politicians decreeing that “taxes kill jobs” (I don’t think it’s always clear), this one is very clear.

If you enact a special tax on software companies, they will go elsewhere, Bill.  This isn’t the Silicon Valley.  And while Colorado is a great place to create a company, we are still competing with a lot of other great places for talent and venture dollars.

Colorado should want to foster its innovation economy to improve job growth in this state.  A short-sighted money grab is bad a policy for long term economic success.  Read more about it here.

(As an aside, it’s not even entirely clear WHICH types of software companies will be affected.  There are some that think SAAS-based business won’t be taxed, while other, traditional software delivery companies will be taxed.  Whatever the definition is, this is bad for Colorado).

One of my former students, Daniel Fredrickson has started a blog chronicling his quest to secure employment in what seems to be the toughest legal hiring environment ever.

He’s a smart guy and I’m really excited to see what he writes about his travails.  He promises that he’ll mix in some fun along the way, too.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Daniel, and if there are any hiring partners out there looking for a potential first year startup lawyer, let Daniel know!

When I started reviewing beers, I had two evil plans that lurked beneath the idea.

1. I wanted folks to send me ideas of what to drink next; and

2. I wanted really nice folks to send me free beer.

Mission accomplished.  (But that doesn’t mean quit sending me things.)

Today, I review this wonderful beer suggested to me to drink by Dave Davis, who was to cheap to send me a bottle, but we’ll forgive him this time. 

Maredsous Trippel. This is a wonderful trippel that is unique with a nice critus bite on the front and classic trippel finisn on the back end. Named after a Benedictine Monastery and currently produced by the Duvel brewery, it’s a very nice example of a tripel, albeit stronger and more pungent than the classic Westmalle variety.

Given that this beer comes in a large format wrapped in nice paper, this is also a great beer to take along to an event.  Interestingly enough, I’ve only been able to find this beer at my local Harvest Wine and Spirits and not even on Internet, where you see the more standard Maredsous 6, 8 and 10 offerings. 

Thanks Dave! 

Mendelson Rating: 8/10

My friends at LegalRiver.com have released two document generators for quickly and easily assembling standard terms of service and privacy policies.

Much like other document generators, you fill in a few pieces of relevant info and “boom” (to quote John Madden, whom I am sure is following this blog closely) you are done.

Check the terms of service generator here and the privacy policy generator here.

*** After posting this blog a friend of mine sent this to me:  “Confidentially: for these two items alone, I received a bill from a law firm (that will remain nameless), for more than $10,000. Yup.”

This is a very accessible beer even to those who think that Stella Artois represents great Belgian beer making.  (This is a nice way of saying even if you drink Coors light, this beer is drinkable for you). 

There is a lot of fruit here, in fact, I found myself sampling the nose as long as I would a more complicated pinot. As I previously mentioned, I’m new to this review thing, so bare with me with I attempt to tell you the nose was all orange and lemon, but pure smoothness was the taste. It is perfectly balanced.  The most unique thing about this beer is the incredibly long aftertaste.  And it’s a really pleasant experience.  Usually, I’m not into the long aftertaste, but in this case, I’m pleased to be part of the ride. 

I would say this is a perfect beer to introduce you Bud-drinking football buddies to, if you are trying to upgrade their taste.

Mendelson Rating: 8.5/10

No, this isn’t another lawyer blog, rather it’s a long time coming music review.  I’m totally digging Them Crooked Vultures.  Their debut and self-titled album is excellent.

The band is fronted vocally and guitar-wise by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age Fame and backed up by Dave Grohl on drums and John Paul Jones on bass.  How I wasn’t all over this group when their album first came out goes to show three things:

1. I’m getting old;

2. Music discovery is difficult despite my love of Pandora; and

3. I’m not listening to a lot of harder rock these days (see point 1, above).

But, wow these guys rock.  It’s totally original with great melodies, addictive riffs and powerful vocals with influences from all the bands these guys have played in.  Furthermore, there seem to be additional influences from bands like Alice in Chains, Living Colour, Lenny Kravitz, Cream, Stevie Wonder (yes, they have some great clav parts) and I swear that I heard some Electric Six lines, too. 

I’ve always begrudgingly liked Dave Grohl.  I thought his Nirvana drumming was a little sloppy for my tastes, but respected what he did in Foo Fighters.  After all it is a fact that all of us drummers are wanna-be singers, so that was cool.

I’m even more impressed with this album.  Grohl leaves the lead singing to the “pro” and does by far his best drumming work, ever.  He’s totally legit. 

Bottom line, I’m stoked.  I just wish that I had found the album sooner and didn’t just by chance heard about it from a friend. 

I must be on the rubber chicken circuit again, as I have yet another talk coming up – this one to (gasp!) lawyers.  If you are in the Denver area and want to attend, here are the details.  I might even opine on Law Firm 2.0 if asked.

COLORADO BAR ASSOCIATION – SECURITIES SUBSECTION LUNCHEON

WHERE:  The Warwick Hotel, 1776 Grant Street, Denver, Colorado 80203

WHEN:  Thursday, January 21, 2010, Noon to 1:15 p.m.

TOPIC: “Hot topics in private company securities law:  a view from a recovering lawyer and current venture capitalist”

SPEAKER:    Jason Mendelson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Foundry Group

RESERVATIONS: Cost:  $28.00 Luncheon Attendee, $20.00 Conference Call Attendee

Registration Deadline:  Noon on Wednesday, January 20, 2010.

No refunds will be available for cancellations after that date or for no-shows.

Reservations can be made by calling the Colorado Bar Association, 303-860-1115 x 727, or by e-mailing mailto: lunches@cobar.org .  Please specify if you would like a vegetarian lunch. If leaving a message, please spell your name, specify that you are attending the Securities Subsection Luncheon, and include your phone number.  Checks should be made payable to: Colorado Bar Association.

When registering for the call-in program please indicate that you would like to participate by phone.  The day before the program we will email registered call-in participants the materials & CLE affidavit as well as the call in number. 

Submitted for one general CLE credit.

It’s the holidays and I’ve been sampling new beers like never before.  I have about a dozen to review.  But before I do, my new friend Larry Port offered to give y’all a run down on a beer that he’s excited about – Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch.  (I love Dogfish – great brewery).  Larry, take it away!

“First of all, let me say how honored I am to be the inaugural guest beer reviewer for Mendelson’s Musings. May this series be blessed with great new brews for all.

Now on to the beer.

The recipe for Midas Touch Golden Elixir is touted by its creator, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, as the “oldest-known fermented beverage in the world”. The origin of this beer has an interesting history.

Apparently, ancient Turkish kings were buried with bronze cisterns of beer, which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense and is a tradition in long need of restoring. One tomb in particular, from 8th Century BC, is believed to be that of King Midas and had enough residue in the beer vessels to recreate the brew. So an archaeochemist (a field of study I never knew existed but sounds very cool) named Patrick McGovern from Penn worked with Dogfish to reverse engineer the recipe.

Enough history. Here’s what counts:

When you open and pour Midas Touch, you know immediately you’re in for a treat. First, you can mesmerize your guests with the same historical anecdote I just relayed here (and if you can pull out the word “archaeochemist”, two points!).

Hops wasn’t used in beer in King Midas’ time, making this beer taste unlike any other brew you’ve tasted. Instead, the team used historically accurate yellow saffron as a bittering agent. Honey and something called “yellow muscat grapes” are also used in the recipe.

The color is a rich reddish brown and creates your typical foamy beer head. It pours and feels a bit thicker than your typical brew. Midas Touch has a distinct aroma of honey and spices, and has a heavy sweetness to it, not a light sweetness like you might experience with a wheat beer. There’s a lot of different, unusual flavors due to the saffron and honey. Even though hops isn’t present, there’s still a sense of bitterness, so the taste is not completely alien. It goes down smooth, in spite of the 9% alcohol content, and don’t be surprised if you reach for a second.

I don’t know that Midas Touch Golden Elixir will be a regular in the fridge, but it’s definitely worth trying and revisiting for a special treat.

Rating: 8/10 (though 10/10 for originality and uniqueness).

Larry Port is the Founding Partner and Chief Software Architect of Rocket Matter, the leading web-based legal practice management product. Larry has written extensively for legal publications, including Law Practice Today, Legal Management, ILTA’s Peer to Peer, FindLaw, Chicago Lawyer, and others. He can be reached on Twitter at twitter.com/rocketmatter or via email at larry (at) rocketmatter (dot) com.

I’ve recently installed Ghostery on my PCs and am fascinated by the information that I’m getting as I’m cruising around the web, or even visiting my own website. 

In short, it alerts you about the web bugs, ad networks and widgets on pages that are tracking you.  Seems to work better than any of my spyware stuff does, too.

Perhaps best of all, it was born from the hard work of David Cancel, a new friend of mine and therefore I’m totally cool letting him monitor my results so that he can make the product even better.