The Court Of Public Opinion

If you own a small business, it is important to choose the best lawyer to represent the interests of your small business. A strategic business lawyer can help you with your start-up and ongoing strategies, help you with critical business planning, review leases and contracts, and negotiate for you. Your attorney must help you comply with a myriad of regulations from employment issues to zoning.

You must research carefully to find just the right legal expert. You do not want a lawyer who does not take an interest in or learn about your business. You can ask accountants, bankers, other small-business owners, and friends for referrals. You can check with your state Bar association to find out if they have attorneys who specialize in representing small businesses. You can ask for and check the lawyer?s references. You can also look in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.

You should not make your final decision based on referrals or other sources. You must interview the lawyers that you believe would suit your business. You should be aware that many attorneys charge a consultation fee of $150 or more. That is a small amount to pay to be sure that the lawyer you choose can meet your needs and will really do a job representing your business.

The following are a few points to keep in mind when you interview the attorney. First, be sure that the lawyer does not rush through the interview and gives you his or her full, undivided attention. Be sure that the lawyer you choose understands your business and your industry including its processes. The lawyer you choose must be willing to take as much time as needed to explain every legal issue that may arise and its consequences. Finally, the lawyer must be available to you whenever you need help, and it is not acceptable for the lawyer to turn you over to the legal assistant after your retainer is paid.

There may be other things that are important to you, and you should not hesitate to demand the type and quality of service that you deserve.

Copyright 2006. Indigo Business Solutions is a registered trade name.

Jo Ann Joy, CEO, www.IndigoBusinessSolutions.net
Phone (602) 663-7007, Fax (602) 324-7582
The future of your business starts here.

For more information about these and other important business topics and for legal consultation, please visit our website at http://www.IndigoBusinessSolutions.net

Youre in the attorneys office and you are about to sign a retainer agreement and enter into an agreement with the attorney, but do you really have a clear understanding of your agreement? Before you enter into any sort of an agreement with the attorney, you would be wise to consider the following points.

(1) Read the attorney-client agreement
(2) Purpose of the agreement
(3) Financial terms of the agreement

Read the attorney-client agreement
As trivial as it may sound, it is imperative that you read the entire contract or attorney-client agreement before you sign it. Often times one may feel rushed or feel that the attorney-client agreement is just a standard form that all attorneys use. Although it may be true that the attorney-client agreement may be a common contract, the language in the contract may vary vastly from firm to firm. Therefore, it is important that you read the agreement to know exactly what you are agreeing to. Additionally, an attorney should give you as much time as you need to review the contract and answer any questions you may have. Further, you would be wise to get a copy of any agreement you sign before leaving the attorneys office.

Purpose of the agreement
The attorney-client retainer agreement sets forth the ground rules for the attorney and client relationship. It is also supposed to build good will between the client and attorney. However, this is not always the case. For example, when the attorney-client agreement is not fully explained to you or if it is written unfairly to benefit the attorney, it can create complications and negatively impact the attorney client relationship. Be sure you understand the ground rules of the agreement before you agree to it.

Financial terms and conditions
Be sure you fully understand the financial terms and conditions of the agreement before you sign it. The type of fee agreement may be contingent, hourly, flat, or a mix or combination of each. Other costs such as filing fees, photocopies, mailing and couriers, mileage and travel, parking, and telephone calls should be clarified. If the attorney charges per hour, you will want to review the minimum billing unit or minimum time increments you will be bill for a task. For example, some agreements may state you will be charged in bill units of .10 of an hour (or 6 minutes) or perhaps .25 of an hour (or 15 minutes). To further illustrate, if an attorney charges $200 an hour and bills in minimum increments of .25 an hour, a task that took an attorney one minute would cost you $50! In general, a bill unit of .10 of an hour (or 6 minutes) is common. The fee agreement should be fair, reasonable, and fully explained to you. If you have questions about the fee agreement, be sure to ask and get clarification before you sign it.

Attorney-client agreements lay out some important ground rules and financial terms and conditions for the attorney and client relationship and before you enter into any sort of an agreement with the attorney, you will want to make sure you understand the agreement and its terms and conditions before you sign it.

2006 Child Custody Coach

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People get injured in different situations and circumstances. Most injuries are caused by road accidents, dog bites [that injure someone in the U.S. every 40 seconds, according to a report, and slip-and-falls due to hazardous living conditions or work environments that involve poor lighting, changes in flooring or other factors.

People who are most vulnerable to injuries, in general, happen to be the aged and the children. In addition to the aforementioned reasons, they are sometimes abused physically and emotionally within their families, K-12 schools, old age homes and nursing homes. For example, a K-12 schoolteacher may inflict corporal punishment on one of the students, or an au pair in a household may inflict physical abuse on an infant.

Suppose in a nursing home, the nursing staff mistreats an 80-year-old patient, or a doctor prescribes a medicine without diagnosing the cause of the disease so that the problem gets aggravated. These also injure the person concerned in one way or the other.

Injury lawyers handle such cases and help the affected person, by seeing to it that the injuring party is penalized and that the injured person gets a fair deal, either rectification of the injury or monetary compensation, or both.

The Florida Bar, an official organ of the Supreme Court of Florida, is the professional and regulatory organization of all certified lawyers in the Sunshine State. Its main functions are to ?Protect the Rights? of the consumer, to ?Pursue Justice? and to ?Promote Professionalism,? as is evident from its official website, www.floridabar.org. It brings out many pamphlets for the use of the consumer. They include `Legal Rights of Senior Citizens,? `Sexual Harassment in the Workplace? and `What to do in Case of an Automobile Accident.? Some of the pamphlets are available in Spanish as well, on account of the large Spanish-speaking immigrant population in Florida.

The Website is an excellent source for finding injury lawyers in Florida at the click of a computer keyboard or mouse.

Florida Lawyers provides detailed information on Florida Bankruptcy Lawyers, Florida Business Lawyers, Florida Criminal Lawyers, Florida Family Lawyers and more. Florida Lawyers is affiliated with Florida Alcohol Treatment.

Becoming a lawyer in todays society is a noble goal to undertake. There are many jokes about lawyers that we all have heard, but the truth is, it takes a lot of work to become a an attorney. Pursuing a career as an attorney allows one to experience the gift of helping people in ways that most people are unable to. If your heart ever goes out to struggling individuals legal battles, then this career may just be for you.

To get into law school, you must first have an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. Unlike Medical school, there is not really a certain type of major that is required at this time of writing. Some may major in pre-law which focuses on the government, criminal justice and aspects of politics. But it would be perfectly fine to major in math or history. As long as your GPA is high enough to get into the college and your score well on the LSAT, then you increase your chances of getting into this field. Depending on what type of law you decide to study and the school you go to, requirements for your GPA will be different. For example, in you decide to go to Harvard Law School; your competition will be fierce because most of the people applying will have 4.0 GPAs. On the other hand, if you decide to go to a law school in Hawaii, the GPA requirements will be lower because most people will be trying to go to more recognized law schools. This is not to say that non Ivy League schools will not offer a wonderful education for any individual who is focused and determined. For example, the late Johnny Cochran did not got Harvard or Yale, but received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1962. In 1977 he was named Criminal Trial lawyer of the Year. Cochrane later became one of the most sought after attorneys of his time.

Another point to mention is cost. Cost varies greatly depending on the affluence of the school. The tuition at Harvard is quoted on their website at 35,000 per year with an estimated 21,000 a year for living expenses. A law school in Hawaii is around 10,500 per year. Idaho is reported as one of the lowest with tuition cost of 6,700 per year. However, with inflation these costs are increasing each year. The Law college experience lasts three years currently. After this opportunities open up for Private Practice, Corporate Law, Military and teaching, just to name a few. This is an immense field and again, can offer some very rewarding experiences in your life if you choose to pursue this career.

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Identity theft crimes are not new, but they have become more persuasive in the past decade. In mid-2005, San Francisco Chronicle discovered that holders of more than 40 million credit cards were vulnerable to financial fraud because identity thieves had compromised their credit card information. Earlier that year, information and data broker, Reed Elsevier Group PLC, revealed that several hundred thousand people might have had their profiles stolen from one of its U.S. databases. One quickly learns to secure their computer networks so that these kinds of attacks, or leaks are non-existant.

Information compromised included names, age, physical descriptions, mailing addresses, Social Security, and driver license numbers. This is virtually everything an impersonator needs to set up a clone of the identity theft victim, enabling him to make a number of financial and personal transactions in the victim’s name. Usually an identity theft victim is usually under age forty, while about 11 percent of victims are age sixty or older. According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one in six identity theft victims said that thieves used their personal information to open at least one new account, such as credit card accounts or loan accounts, to rack up debts on existing accounts. The most recent data indicates that 9.3 million Americans (or 4.25% of all adults) are victims of ID theft on an annual basis. This is an alarming rate and should show you that you NEED to take preventative steps toward protecting your identity.

An identity theft victim risks the destruction of his/her good credit history, and may spend years, and large sums of money restoring the credit history and goodwill. There are instances of an identity theft victim been denied work or insurance or been detained for crimes he did not commit! Some victims of ID theft found that their names have been misused after police stopped them for a traffic violation and discovered that there is a warrant for their arrest. There are also times when an innocent person receives a summons to appear in court to answer for a criminal act. FTC’s latest survey shows ID theft losses to businesses and financial institutions total $52.6 billion annually. Recently, Federal Trade Commission launched a website annualcreditreport.com where all consumers are eligible for a free copy of their credit reports. Take the time to go to that site and get your free credit report. This can be a step to alerting you to suspicious activity.

Keith Londrie II is a well known author. For more information on Identity Theft, please visit Identity Theft for a wealth of information. You may also want to visit keith’s own web site at http://keithlondrie.com/

Becoming a lawyer in todays society is a noble goal to undertake. There are many jokes about lawyers that we all have heard, but the truth is, it takes a lot of work to become a an attorney. Pursuing a career as an attorney allows one to experience the gift of helping people in ways that most people are unable to. If your heart ever goes out to struggling individuals legal battles, then this career may just be for you.

To get into law school, you must first have an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. Unlike Medical school, there is not really a certain type of major that is required at this time of writing. Some may major in pre-law which focuses on the government, criminal justice and aspects of politics. But it would be perfectly fine to major in math or history. As long as your GPA is high enough to get into the college and your score well on the LSAT, then you increase your chances of getting into this field. Depending on what type of law you decide to study and the school you go to, requirements for your GPA will be different. For example, in you decide to go to Harvard Law School; your competition will be fierce because most of the people applying will have 4.0 GPAs. On the other hand, if you decide to go to a law school in Hawaii, the GPA requirements will be lower because most people will be trying to go to more recognized law schools. This is not to say that non Ivy League schools will not offer a wonderful education for any individual who is focused and determined. For example, the late Johnny Cochran did not got Harvard or Yale, but received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1962. In 1977 he was named Criminal Trial lawyer of the Year. Cochrane later became one of the most sought after attorneys of his time.

Another point to mention is cost. Cost varies greatly depending on the affluence of the school. The tuition at Harvard is quoted on their website at 35,000 per year with an estimated 21,000 a year for living expenses. A law school in Hawaii is around 10,500 per year. Idaho is reported as one of the lowest with tuition cost of 6,700 per year. However, with inflation these costs are increasing each year. The Law college experience lasts three years currently. After this opportunities open up for Private Practice, Corporate Law, Military and teaching, just to name a few. This is an immense field and again, can offer some very rewarding experiences in your life if you choose to pursue this career.

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Litigation funding can be a confusing concept. Plus, most people have never been exposed to the concept of litigation funding so the average person probably has many questions such as: What is a litigation funding? Do I need litigation funding? How do I get funding for my lawsuit? When I am approved for funding, do I have to pay back the money? If I am denied funding does it mean that I do not have a good case? These are all very good questions and are answered below.

What is litigation funding?
Litigation funding is not a ?loan? at all but rather it is a cash advance based upon the merits of a lawsuit that provides a plaintiff with sufficient funding to reach the conclusion of the case when the plaintiff will receive his/her fair share of the settlement or verdict. Litigation funding companies invest in the lawsuit itself as opposed to advancing money to the plaintiff in the form of a loan. Litigation funding is not based on a plaintiff?s prior credit or bankruptcy status. Other terms used for this type of funding include: lawsuit loan, litigation finance, litigation loan, lawsuit funding, lawsuit finance, lawsuit cash advance, case loan, case cash advance, plaintiff cash advance, litigant funding, pre-settlement loan, pre-settlement lending, pre-settlement cash advance, etc.

Do I need litigation funding?
Litigation funding should not be a substitute for your settlement but rather a raft that helps you stay afloat while your attorney fights for you. Too many plaintiffs apply for litigation funding with the belief that litigation funding is simply a different way to get their settlement money. Assuming you win your case, the amount owed to the lending company varies greatly depending upon the length of time between the date of the advance and the date when you receive the settlement/verdict money. You should exhaust other means of funding first. Also, a good guideline to use is that litigation funding companies generally advance up to 10% of the estimated settlement amount. There are some good internet sites that give more background on litigation funding. Some good sources of information are The Funding Exchange (www.TheFundingExchange.com) and Expert Law (www.expertlaw.com).

How do I get funding for my lawsuit?
Litigation funding companies have popped-up all over the country. Some tout their ?low interest rates? or how they are the most lenient when it comes to approving litigation funding. Many litigation finance companies charge random penalties and fees. These penalties and fees help to offset their ?low interest rates? and many times end-up costing the plaintiff more of their settlement. A good option is The Funding Exchange (www.TheFundingExchange.com). The Funding Exchange is a network of the most respected litigation funding companies in the industry. You complete one application on The Funding Exchange and your application is intelligently routed to the best litigation funding companies for your specific case.

When I am approved for funding, do I have to pay back the money? Almost all litigation funding companies give non-recourse funding to plaintiffs thus requiring the plaintiff to pay back the advance and fees/interest only upon a favorable decision in the case. If the case is lost then you can keep the cash advance with no obligation. If you win your case then part of the settlement amount will go towards repaying the cash advance plus interest and fees. The amount owed to a litigation funding company increases the longer that your case takes to settle so keep that in mind.

If I am denied funding does it mean that I do not have a good case? The simple answer is ?no.? Being denied for funding does not mean that your case is not a good case or that you will actually win less money than you think. There are many different reasons why funding is denied. One reason is that the estimated settlement date is too soon. Litigation finance companies make money by accruing interest on their investment in your case. If your case is supposed to settle in 2 months then a litigation finance company will not make any money because the settlement date is too soon and therefore they may decline the funding request. Other reasons for denying funding include: attorney will not provide documentation, attorney will not sign contract, plaintiff demands too much money, etc.

Conclusion
As a plaintiff, you should understand litigation funding and the process of securing funding before you apply. If your expectations are set correctly and you proceed with litigation funding then you will find that it is a saving grace in the turbulent world of litigation. If you apply for litigation funding without a true understanding then you may be disappointed.

About the author: Tony Perkins is the founder and president of The Funding Exchange (http://www.TheFundingExchange.com) which connects the top litigation funding companies in the country to people in need of a lawsuit loan. The Funding Exchange is not a litigation funding company but rather it is an independent 3rd party company that routes a high volume of applications every day to its network of litigation finance companies. Mr. Perkins has unbiased experience in helping secure litigation funding.
Copyright 2006 The Funding Exchange, LLC

Becoming a lawyer in todays society is a noble goal to undertake. There are many jokes about lawyers that we all have heard, but the truth is, it takes a lot of work to become a an attorney. Pursuing a career as an attorney allows one to experience the gift of helping people in ways that most people are unable to. If your heart ever goes out to struggling individuals legal battles, then this career may just be for you.

To get into law school, you must first have an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. Unlike Medical school, there is not really a certain type of major that is required at this time of writing. Some may major in pre-law which focuses on the government, criminal justice and aspects of politics. But it would be perfectly fine to major in math or history. As long as your GPA is high enough to get into the college and your score well on the LSAT, then you increase your chances of getting into this field. Depending on what type of law you decide to study and the school you go to, requirements for your GPA will be different. For example, in you decide to go to Harvard Law School; your competition will be fierce because most of the people applying will have 4.0 GPAs. On the other hand, if you decide to go to a law school in Hawaii, the GPA requirements will be lower because most people will be trying to go to more recognized law schools. This is not to say that non Ivy League schools will not offer a wonderful education for any individual who is focused and determined. For example, the late Johnny Cochran did not got Harvard or Yale, but received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1962. In 1977 he was named Criminal Trial lawyer of the Year. Cochrane later became one of the most sought after attorneys of his time.

Another point to mention is cost. Cost varies greatly depending on the affluence of the school. The tuition at Harvard is quoted on their website at 35,000 per year with an estimated 21,000 a year for living expenses. A law school in Hawaii is around 10,500 per year. Idaho is reported as one of the lowest with tuition cost of 6,700 per year. However, with inflation these costs are increasing each year. The Law college experience lasts three years currently. After this opportunities open up for Private Practice, Corporate Law, Military and teaching, just to name a few. This is an immense field and again, can offer some very rewarding experiences in your life if you choose to pursue this career.

More articles at database for articles

Attorneys. They’re called shysters, ambulance chasers and a whole of things that we can’t print here. Yes, lawyers have a very bad reputation. But where would we be without them? Honestly, we’d be in a lot of trouble when we needed help, real honest help.

Let’s take a very specific example of where a lawyer is almost a necessity. Let’s for argument sake say we’re in the entertainment industry. Let’s say we’re a song writer. We have this really great tune that we want to get recorded. So what do we do? We go to a song publisher. We submit this song to him, he says he loves it, tells us he’s going to get it recorded for us, it gets recorded and then…boom. We get nothing. We didn’t sign a contract. He says he has no idea what we’re talking about when we say it’s our song and basically we’ve just been screwed out of a few million dollars.

Now, we could have prevented this from happening if we had just gotten an entertainment lawyer beforehand. And yes, it must be an entertainment lawyer because they know all the ins and outs of the business and know just what to put in the contract so we don’t get screwed. For example, a typical contract will state how much we get paid for each copy of the song that’s sold, for each time it’s played on the air and if by some chance the song doesn’t get recorded a clause that says after so many months (usually a year) the song rights go back to the composer and he is free to look for another publisher.

Now, in our example we didn’t do this. But we still have a recourse. If we kept careful records of when the song was written, recorded and copyrighted, we can get an entertainment lawyer to go to court with us, present the necessary documents and sue the publisher for stealing our song. In either case it is obvious that a lawyer will greatly help our cause, even if the publisher may be calling him an ambulance chaser and some other names.

Another very good example where you want a lawyer around is when you go into a hospital for surgery on your left knee and they end up taking out a kidney. Don’t laugh, it happens. So now what? You’ve gone in for one surgical procedure and you end up having something completely different done to you.

This is where you need a lawyer who specializes in malpractice. He will go through all the steps taken prior to the actual surgery and show how the malpractice occurred. He’ll show all the signed forms saying what surgery you’ve gone in for, showing your consent and everything else needed to bring it to court. Of course in a case like this where one surgery is done instead of another it is pretty open and shut, but there will be cases when the right surgery is done but complications arise due to negligence. This is harder to prove and even more reason why a good attorney is needed.

So in spite of what most people think, lawyers really can be of benefit to us.

It’s simply a matter of your perspective.

In our next article some more examples of lawyers that actually do some good.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Attorneys
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Invention help is available for a fee and a signed contract to split the profits. An invention submission company will take care of all the details.

The invention help expert will validate your invention through:

a. Internal project review or even new product feasibility assessment.

b. Product manufacturability assessment.

c. New product market assessment.

d. Intellectual property assessment or even prototype assessment.

Once through these, the next steps might be license agreement, patent management, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, fulfillment, project funding / financing, licensing and product development.

A caveat… Through media and web hype, many aspiring inventors identify invention submission companies or invention promotion companies as the best invention help. Not so. A number of invention submission corporations belong to the $300 million a year industry scam, according to MSNBC reports.

Stay updated. Read. Perform comprehensive research. Ask questions. Do background checks. Consistently verify.

You may well require expert invention help to get your invention from the drawing board to consumers at less cost. You may also need expert invention help to know your invention’s suitability.

Here are a few suggestions to get your invention help:

a. Get a patent lawyer.

Where? The USPTO, http://www.uspto.gov, United States Patent and Trademark Office. It examines and issues patents, as well as, examines and registers trademarks. The USPTO also brings a list of area registered patent attorneys and agents.

b. Call the bar association of your city. It may have a list of patent attorneys. A warning, carefully look through every reference of a prospective patent lawyer. Check each of their client roster and success percentage.

c. Keep abreast with the glossary of terms in filing for patents. They will come useful when terms of services and employment are discussed with the invention help.

d. Contact government advisory and private websites:

• USPTO; http://www.uspto.gov
• FTC, Federal Trade Commission; http://www.ftc.gov
• http://www.InventorEd.org and http://www.IPWatchDog.com

e. Ask questions. If legitimate, the invention submission company will address your concerns. Dont be easily impressed by invention help’s credentials. Verify the truth in advertising.

• Can you get a list and talk to their industry contacts?
• What is their success ratio? You can ask this under the 1999 American Inventor’s Protection Act.
• Can you get an endorsement list from private and government sectors?

Get the best invention help but be proactive and diligent with background checks. This way, the invention help scam industry won’t claim you as a statistic.

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