Yours truly is quoted in the latest edition of Motion, a Detroit legal news magazine.  The article looks at several southeast Michigan firms and how they are surviving these rough economic times.  From the article:

Matthew Bower, an associate with Safford & Baker, a Bloomfield Hills-based firm specializing in the small to upper-middle-market start-up technology companies, says he is seeing a lot of new businesses being set up by engineers, programmers and creative people who have taken buyouts and have money to invest.

“It (start-ups) is the fastest growing segment of our practice,” he says. “The recession is a great generator for entrepreneurship. Whether clients took buyouts or were just laid off, there’s a ‘what-have-I-got-to-lose’ mentality.”

He says he has seen some …read more

The Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report (GLITR) is a daily read around these parts.  Matt Roush has covered the tech world from a Michigan perspective for almost ten years now.  That’s one of the reasons why we’re all very honored that our firm is featured in this GLITR article highlighting our commitment to working with technology startup companies.  From the article:

Added [Don] Baker: “We’ve made a commitment to working with startups, because we felt like in addition to the legal part, we had skill sets and network relationships that could be helpful to folks that were trying to get something started.”

[Randy] Safford said tech startups “have a lot of special needs — a high intensity need …read more

This notice is a little late in coming (and didn’t make it into our Year in Review post last week) but, let it be known, that Safford & Baker has taken a desk at the Tech Brewery in Ann Arbor (1327 Jones Dr.).

What is the Tech Brewery exactly?  It’s a self-described “community of technologists, entrepreneurs, and startups.”  It started as a small group of individuals but eventually desks got pushed together, companies formed, and the place now boasts eighteen full or part-time tenants.  A complete list can be found on the website and include startup guru/serial entrepreneur Dug Song’s newest venture Scio …read more

On Saturday, April 3, 2010, the Arts, Communications, Entertainment & Sports (“ACES”) Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan is co-hosting with the Right to Write Fund, in association with the Stanford Fair Use Project and Grand Valley State University, a lecture on copyright law basics for writers followed by a panel discussion on the recent fair use case Rowling v. RDR Books.  Joining the panel discussion will be Rodger Rapport, owner of RDR Books, and Julie Ahrens, Assistant Director of the Stanford Fair Use Project.  The program will run from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the DeVos Center, 401 West Fulton, Lecture Hall GV, Grand Rapids, MI 49504.

The Seminar will provide information and …read more

Ann Arbor New Tech is a group of people from various industries and backgrounds (e.g., entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, lawyers, marketers, students, etc.) interested in fostering local technology startups by organizing events, sharing resources, and building a supportive community.

Ann Arbor New Tech’s signature event takes place on the third Tuesday of each month, at 6:30 p.m., now at Blau Auditorium, UM Ross School of Business, 701 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.  The monthly event features three to five companies who are each given five minutes to demo and five minutes to answer questions.  Open announcements and …read more