The Court Of Public Opinion

Often, people who most need attorneys are the ones who cannot afford them. Fortunately there are some options available to you if you find yourself in this situation.

There are some federally funded programs to provide attorneys, though they will take into account your income level and possibly even yours assets.

Many attorneys work pro-bono, that is, without pay. They represent people who have specific circumstances rendering them unable to work, such as having AIDS or being over 65.

Self-help clinics are offered by many attorneys where they answer legal questions for free in a forum. Look for such clinics in your area.

Courthouse facilitators, employed by the court, may be able to help by telling you what documents you need to file and assist with processing your claims.

All states have Public Defender programs, or court appointed attorneys, to assist people with a demonstrably low income level facing criminal charges. There is generally good incentive to pursue another option, as Public Defenders are not always as skilled as their private counterparts. Colorado is known to have particularly good public defenders.

Low cost legal programs are available for people who make too much money to qualify for pro-bono or public defender programs, but still not enough to be able to afford an attorney. These services can help you find the most economical attorney for you. Remember that attorneys in these programs are often young or overworked, so be patient when dealing with them. Stay on topic when talking to them and be as helpful as you can.

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Departing employees can pose threat to a business owner in my ways. They often have company trade secrets and sensitive company information. For example, they may have customer list, or they may know company?s secret formula. Departing employees may take the client away by personal relationships as well.

But if employees have signed non-competition agreements, they employer may sue them. The law will honor the non-competition agreements within the duration. For example, an agreement may prohibit sale person from taking any former employer?s clients for one year. This contract is within a reasonable scope. If it is not reasonable, the law may deny it.

If the departing employees use the former employer?s trade secrets, the employer can sue them under the state trade secret law. For example, profit margin can be considered as trade secrets, because it will provide unfair advantage to a competitor. The trade secrets do not need to be in writing. A memorized customer list is considered as a trade secret.

If a former employee has competed against the employer during the time of his employment, the employer can sue against the employee for ?breach of the duty of loyalty.? On this situation, the employee will probably be found guilty, because the employer had put the employee to learn the business.

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An ideal lawyer will not just have a string of impressive credentials or gold lettering on his door. He or she will be caring, concerned, and devoted to their work. You need to think carefully before laying your trust in a lawyer after all in some cases your life, future, money or property will be in his hands.

Apart from doing extensive research to short list possible lawyers you must ensure that there is not conflict of interest, that you understand everything the retainer agreement states, and that you have checked the references and details regarding the practice.

You will know the lawyer you have chosen is the perfect one if:

1.He makes an effort to spend time to understand your case himself. He will not assign a legal assistant to take facts of the case down.

2.From experience and knowledge he will know what is relevant and what is not. He will set aside and ignore irrelevant facts, opinions, and personal emotions that cloud the case on hand.

3.He will insist that the footwork for the case be done thoroughly. All facts must be checked for accuracy and solid arguments jotted down with backing of earlier rulings.

4.He will not just focus on the problem at hand but examine the problem from all sides. This will create a complete picture highlighting all factors of relevance and the different ways one can approach the case.

5.He will use his foresight and anticipate moves by the opposition or opinions of the jury or judge and plan way ahead. Like a master chess player he will plan the case not by the day but by many hearings ahead.

6.He will not waste time beating around the bush or create verbose statements?many words strung together which look impressive but mean nothing. He will insist that the case and its arguments be clearly stated.

7.He will be self-disciplined, thorough, and self confident. Courteous at all times he will respect you as well as all the staff who work for him.

8.He is recommended by not just his friends and relatives but by other professionals of good standing and from his field.

9.He will not just present to you his victories but be happy to tell you why and how he lost certain cases.

10.He will lay the cards on the table and tell you clearly whether your case stands to win or loose. He will not claim that winning is guaranteed. He will be honest and upfront about his opinions and advice.

The bottom line is that the lawyer must be worthy of your trust. Use your inborn instincts and don?t go by the lawyer?s good looks or fancy car or office. After all it is competence in law and in court that is of essence to you.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888discuss.com/legal-advice/, the premier REVENUE SHARING discussion forum for Legal Advice Forum including topics on legal advices, legal information, lawyers, laws, tax, legal insurance and more. His article profile can be found at the premier Legal Article Submission site http://www.1888articles.com/legal-articles-3.html

On June 26th 2006 the United States Supreme court issued a decision regarding a case in which a man, Cuahetmoc Gonzalez-Lopez hired a lawyer, but then was subsequently not allowed to meet with him. The attorney tried on numerous occasions to meet with his client, but was prevented by an attorney hired by the family of Gonzalez on behalf of the court. The man was subsequently convicted, and appealed his decision on the grounds that the denial of his first choice attorney constituted a violation of his rights under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S Constitution.

In its statement, the court did find that this amounted to a violation of the Sixth amendment, and that the man was entitled to counsel of his choosing.

This decision overturns the man’s conviction. Justice Alito wrote in his dissenting opinion that he believes this decision to be a misinterpretation of the Sixth Amendment, and that it is within the court’s power to only admit attorneys that qualify under its procedural rules.

He also wrote that is on the burden of the defendant to show that he has been negatively affected by the denial of his first-choice attorney, in contrast to the majority decision of the court.

This is the primary difference between the opinions. The majority believes that this decision does overturn his conviction, while the dissenting judges Alito, Kennedy and Thomas believe that it should not. He points to the fact that the constitution does not make provisions for violation of its rules, and that federal law does.

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The Drug Free Workplace Art requires employers to warn employees about the danger of drugs. The employer should take action to prevent employees from drug. The law does not say anything about drug testing. However, many employers require their employees to take a drug test as a part of hiring process.

Although employers are allowed to give a drug test, the process of giving a drug test can be potential weak points. When the employer collect sample, employer must try to prevent sample alteration. Employer is not allowed to observe directly, because it would be a violation of privacy. Step to collect sample may include providing clean containers. Employer should make immediate check acidity and temperature of the sample. The identity of the sample must be clear. All containers should be labeled in the presence of witness. Furthermore, the containers should be sealed properly to prevent alteration.

The test should not be performed by an amateur. All the samples should be tested by licensed labs. A certain employers are required to use specially certified testing labs.

All tests should have two cycles. The first is a screening test. If the result comes out to be positive, then a confirmatory test should be used to confirm the result. Screening tests may be wrong. Some states require the employee?s right to an independent re-test.

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After you have a selected a lawyer, it is necessary to obtain a legal fee agreement to establish how much the lawyer will charge for their services. Find out if the lawyer is going to charge you hourly, at a fixed rate, or on contingency. Experienced lawyers don?t require as much time to do research into areas of your case. Make sure to clarify that will not be charged for your lawyer to make a summary judgment without your permission.

Lawyers often require a lot of money in order to pursue your case, and find out how much you may not to provide during litigation. It can be tempting to try to limit how much money your lawyer spends, but this may result in your case lacking important expertise it needs to win. Contingency fees are a percentage that your lawyer takes from the settlement if you win, generally between 33% and 40%, though sometimes as high as 50%. In many states, the legal fee agreement may contain a single charge contingency contract, which means the lawyer agrees to pay all costs associated with the case, and then deduct those expenses from the settlement award. Beware of referral fees, since most lawyers do not charge them. A good lawyer should be willing to be express agreements regarding payment, and how much control you have over your case. Never accept a lawyer who insists on working without a legal fee agreement, and the key to building a good one is to understand the details not leave anything to chance.

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Introduction

In late June of 2003, I received an e-mail from Daniel Harris, who introduced himself as maritime lawyer from Seattle. He had found me through the internet and was asking me whether I was interested in helping arrest transshipped cargo in Dalian. I was excited about the task and I surfed Dan’s website [http://www.harrismoure.com and learned Dan owns a small international law firm in Seattle, called Harris & Moure. I replied to him immediately and sent him some relevant provisions concerning cargo arrests under China legal system. He was very happy with my prompt and helpful reply and we soon were working together on the case. He later told me he was so impressed with my responses that he had picked me over numerous other lawyers throughout China.

Brief of the case

OOO Bolshoretskoe is a Russian fishing company that sold 400 Tons of pollock worth around US$700,000 to Alimex Seafood A/S, a Danish company. The pollock was scheduled to be transshipped from Dalian to Europe. Alimex had not yet paid Bolshoretskoe for the product. Bolshoretskoe owed Daxin Petroleum Pte, Ltd., a Singapore fuel supply company, around US$400,000 for fuel. M/V IVAN POLZUNOV, the vessel carrying the pollock, was scheduled to call on Dalian on 4 July, 2003. Our task was to seize the pollock for Daxin to get Bolshoretskoe to pay its debt.

Bolshoretskoe?s debt to Daxin arose in July and December, 2002, when Daxin supplied bunker products for two Russian fishing vessels, TOSNO and PHOENIX. To secure these fuelings, Bolshoretskoe signed a guarantee letter to Daxin in which ?Bolshoretskoe assigns all receivables resulting from production, deliveries and selling of Salmon or Pollock on/from board of F/T PHOENIX in favor of Daxin for the amount of the bunker supply. In addition, Bolshoretskoe agrees that property title to salmon or pollock products covering the amount of the bunker shall pass to Daxin immediately upon processing and/or storage of the products on board of PHOENIX.

Daxin was not paid on its two fuel deliveries, and Bolshoretskoe was refusing to pay. It is estimated the TOSNO and PHOENIX owed a combined total of around $20 million in unpaid debt to various creditors.

Intensive and orderly preparation for cargo arrest

After studying the relevant documents and analyzing the entire history of the case, we determined that either Bolshoretskoe or Alimex would pay Daxin if we arrested the cargo in China. So we set about to do just that.

First, we prepared all necessary legal documents pursuant to Chinese law. Due to the various different legal systems and languages involved (China, Russia, Singapore and the United States), our preparations were extremely time consuming. As we were preparing our documentation and firming up our strategies, Dan was also preparing to come to Dalian.

However, the day before Dan was to leave the United States, he learned that the pollock?s transport vessel, the IVAN POLZUNOV, had secretly changed its plans in an effort to avoid arrest. It would not be calling Dalian on July 4, 2003; it would be calling Qingdao on July 8, 2003. Because all legal documents had been prepared for the Dalian Maritime Court, Bolshoretskoe?s change in plans necessitated we completely change our plans also. With time so much of the essence, we asked Sunfanlong, who works in Qingdao Wincon law firm, to work with us and we transferred all legal documents to him.

Successful Arrest of the cargo

On July 7, 2003, Dan arrived in Qingdao. The IVAN POLZUNOV arrived in Qingdao the next day and began to discharge 15 containers of pollock for transshipment to Europe. When the judge, Wincon?s lawyer and Dan saw that the containers were being offloaded on trailers for transport to the container terminal, they went straight to the terminal to deliver the arrest papers on all 15 containers. However, after waiting nearly five hours at the terminal and waiting well into the night, only three containers had arrived and been arrested. Nobody seemed to know what had happened to the other twelve containers. We were concerned Bolshoretskoe and/or Alimex had learned of our arrest warrant and had hidden the other twelve containers. Adding to our worries was that we had by now learned that Alimex was to ship all 15 containers to Europe the very next day. We checked everywhere for the missing twelve containers. We checked with various trucking companies. We checked all around the terminal. Nothing. Eventually, we learned that the twelve containers had been in the terminal all along, but had been issued separate bills of lading from the first three and placed in a somewhat separate area. We had succeeded in arresting all fifteen containers.

After our having engaged in twelve days of intensive e-mail and telephone communication together, Dan showed up at Dalian?s airport. His high praise of our work conveyed his satisfaction of our efficient job. Dalian and Qingdao?s picturesque scenery and modern city construction impressed Dan deeply and changed his previous imagination regarding this part of China. He loved the food and our culture and talked about returning some day with his family on holiday.

Hard success to acquire guaranty and lift the arrest

Now that we had the pollock under arrest, we would need to maintain it in its frozen condition at the terminal. Pollock is a valuable fish and the costs and risks during the arrest period were high. The sooner we could resolve the dispute, the sooner the fish would be on its way, and the better it would be for all parties.

The day after we arrested the cargo, we received a letter from Alimex?s lawyers in Denmark, claiming Alimex owned the arrested cargo, not Bolshoretskoe, and threatening Daxin with criminal action. Alimex?s lawyers copied this letter to the court and to Daxin. Though confident that it was in the right, this threat of criminal action did not sit well with Daxin. We replied to Alimex?s lawyers by lecturing them on Chinese and international law and by declaring that Alimex would suffer even more losses if it insisted on pursuing litigation in China instead of cooperation. The reaction from Alimex?s lawyers was overwhelming. They wrote me a letter filled with furious and derogatory words and stated they would never communicate directly with us again. The case had fallen into deadlock.

Despite the initially tough attitude of Alimex?s lawyers, we knew we could not abandon our efforts to achieve a settlement, particularly since we knew settlement made sense for all parties. We proposed a three way agreement between Daxin, Alimex and Bolshoretskoe, whereby Alimex would keep its purchase price funds and not pay any party for the fish until the dispute between Daxin and Bolshoretskoe had been resolved through arbitration in Canada. Alimex would then pay the winner of the arbitration up to the purchase price of the fish. Alimex would also agree not to pursue any claims against Daxin for wrongful arrest. Upon the signing of this agreement, Daxin would release its arrest of the cargo. Daxin secured oral agreements from both Bolshoretskoe and Alimex to go forward with such an agreement.

For the fish to go out on the next liner to Europe, Dan and I had to work overtime in drafting the appropriate agreements. This time, the multitude of languages and time zones (China, Russia, Singapore, Seattle, and Denmark) worked to slow us down, and by the time Bolshoretskoe received its Russian language copy of the agreement, only a few hours remained before the pollock needed to be loaded on the liner to Europe. But, at the last minute, Bolshoretskoe changed its mind and decided it would not sign. All our hard work had been for naught. We were all exhausted.

The next liner to Europe was leaving in six days. During the weekend, we stopped talking with opposing parties and communicated with only Dan and Daxin. We went back over the case history and analyzed each party?s positions and risks. We concluded that Bolshoretskoe was Daxin?s real adversary. It was Bolshoretskoe that owed the money and it was Bolshoretskoe that had avoided payment for so long. It also was Bolshoretskoe that had backed out of its oral agreement. There had been no prior conflicts between Daxin and Alimex. Though Alimex was listed as the consignee of the pollock on the Bill of lading, it had yet to actually pay for the fish. Above all else, Alimex wanted the pollock sent to Europe so it could fulfill its commitments with its European buyers.

If we could persuade Alimex to provide a deposit or the purchase price to the Qingdao Maritime Court, we would lift our cargo arrest. If, on the other hand, Alimex insisted on paying the purchase price directly to Bolshoretskoe, the arrest would remain in place, and Alimex would be unable to fulfill its supply contracts with its European buyers. Daxin would be left fighting a two front war against Alimex and Bolshoretskoe in the Chinese courts.

We told Alimex that if it did not immediately settle, we would move the court to require Alimex pay the Pollock purchase price to the court and seeking the immediate sale of the pollock at auction. Within hours, we received contact from a Chinese lawyer retained by Alimex, who would, he informed us, be going to court to have our ?illegal? arrest thrown out. The court ignored him.

The next liner for Europe was coming to Qingdao the next day and it finally began dawning on Alimex that if it wanted to get the pollock to Europe and to its customers, it would need to settle with us. Intensive settlement talks began anew and another oral agreement was reached. Alimex would guarantee to pay up to the amount of the pollock purchase price to whomever prevailed between Daxin and Bolshoretskoe. Alimex also agreed not to pursue any claims against Daxin arising from Daxin?s allegedly wrongful arrest of the cargo. A settlement was drafted and signed and the parties worked diligently to get the arrest lifted in time for the product to make it on that day?s liner to Europe.

Daxin had a Guarantee Agreement from an established and well funded Danish company and we had achieved a smashing victory on this exciting arrest of cross-border transshipping cargo.

Somewhat smooth sailing in recovering Daxin?s award.

We then filed Daxin?s case against Bolshoretskoe in the Qingdao Maritime Court. Bolshoretskoe consistently failed to attend any court hearings and we eventually secured a default judgment against it.

Alimex then paid Daxin all but US$15,000 of the amount it had guaranteed, but claimed entitlement to withhold US$15,000 for itself to help pay for the costs it had incurred in China defending against Daxin?s arrest. One e-mail from Dan threatening arbitration in London (pursuant to the Guarantee Agreement) for the $15,000, plus all fees and costs, convinced Alimex it had no case on this either. Alimex paid the remaining US$15,000 to Daxin and the case was over.

After six months, close cooperation and flexibility by lawyers on both sides of the Pacific had given us full and total victory.

Epilogue

A few months after I closed the case, Dan sent me an e-mail telling me he had heard from one of his Danish clients that Alimex?s Danish lawyers had told them of our great job on this case. Dan and I have since worked on a couple additional cases together, but it will be this first one that I will always remember. In thinking of this case, I know I will never forget the sleepless nights I spent communicating with lawyers and parties in four times zones. But I also know that the pride I feel from knowing how much we achieved, despite having to work through the laws of so many countries under such tight deadlines, is what will always stand out.

Our wisdom, our legal knowledge and our strenuous diligence had garnered us high praise not only from our foreign colleague and from our client, but also admiration from the opposing party. I share this honor with Harris & Moure, with our Fada Law Firm and with Qingdao?s Wincon Law Firm, and with our Chinese Lawyers.

About The Author

Zhao Xiaomei (Meggie) is a senior partner at the Fada law firm in Dalian, China, where she focuses on international and maritime law.

Prenuptial agreements are like insurance policies. You do the paperwork, and then hope you’ll never need it. However, since half of marriages end in divorce within the first seven years, you may want to consider a prenuptial agreement before you walk down the aisle and say, I do.

Since you could later be engaged in a nasty, costly, and emotionally draining divorce some day, you should consider a prenuptial agreement as a precaution. Below we have given you some information on what is in a prenuptial agreement and whether it could be useful for you.

A prenuptial or ante nuptial agreement is a document signed by two people who intend to be married. It describes their rights and obligations should they get divorced. A prenuptial agreement informs the court how they want their assets and property divided up.

Divorces become messy when parties cannot agree on the distribution of property, such things as the house, the house, stocks, and bonds and whether one party should pay the other alimony, now known as maintenance in most states. Assume that the husband has $1,000,000 in his own name prior to the marriage. A properly drafted prenuptial agreement can award that same $1,000,000 to him after a divorce, notwithstanding what he does with the money, such as purchasing a home in joint tenancy or shifting the money into other accounts. Without a prenuptial agreement, the wife might be entitled to one-half of the $1,000,000 or more, depending on the financial circumstances of the parties at the time of the divorce. The prenuptial agreement is a powerful and valuable tool that can favor the husband, protect the wife, or serve both of them fairly. It is a question of circumstances and intentions.

Candidates for prenuptial agreements used to be just older individuals with huge estates that they wanted to protect from gold diggers for their children from previous marriages. Since more millionaires are born every day, the candidate pool is growing by leaps and bounds. Now everybody has something to protect: an unpublished author, the budding inventor, anybody with a lucrative profession or a good idea. So, before you dismiss the idea of a prenuptial agreement, assess your situation in life and your long-term future in deciding whether a prenuptial agreement is right for you.

Consider at length the nature and extent of your present and possible future assets. A prenuptial agreement can be a very simple document running only a few pages that segregates each party’s assets owned before the marriage, or it can be a very complicated document that runs dozens of pages because it deals with income and assets acquired during the marriage, the payment of debts, attorneys’ fees, alimony/maintenance, and other financial matters. The next hurdle is raising the issue with your intended spouse, a very unromantic event. It helps to get it over with early. Perhaps you could blame it on someone else, such as your parents who may want to involve you in a family business, or possible business partners.

If you have no one to hold responsible, just be honest. Tell your future spouse that you intend to be open, fair, and honest, and the fact that you will be revealing all your assets is a sign of trust. Assure your intended that he or she will be protected during the negotiation procedure and in the prenuptial agreement, and stress that the document is something you feel is necessary and wise before you get married. The most important thing is to discuss it earlier instead of later, so that the degree of pressure before the wedding is mitigated.

Couples do not usually break engagements because of disputes over prenuptial agreements. In almost every instance, the agreement is signed and the parties are married. It is also completely appropriate to state that you will not get married without a prenuptial agreement; case law has indicated that this will not invalidate an agreement if made before the wedding.

The best way to avoid charges of duress or coercion is to tell your future spouse early on that you want the prenuptial agreement. Sometimes, such documents are signed shortly before the wedding, but have been the subject of negotiation for months. A well-drafted agreement will recite the fact that, even though it was signed shortly before or on the wedding date, negotiations began much earlier. It is for clauses like this that you consult experts.

Eventually, a prenuptial agreement will be fashioned so that you and your future spouse both accept it. The terms may not be what you initially envisioned and may not be what your intended would want. But that is the nature of compromise.

Note that Legal Helper Corp. – http://www.legalhelpmate.com/prenuptial-agreement.aspx
- provides an easy-to-use, quick, and economical online method for creating Prenuptial Agreement (Premarital).

About The Author

Jeffrey Broobin is a free-lance writer on family and finance issues; his main goal is to help people during their complicated period of life.

Website: http://www.legalhelpmate.com

Email: : jeffreyb@legalhelpmate.com

At arraignment, the District Attorney may offer a plea to a lesser charge than what you were arrested for originally. Pleas are offered to unburden an extremely congested criminal court calendar, as well as to get rid of lesser criminal cases so the District Attorney can rightfully concentrate on the more serious crimes.

If you were arrested for misdemeanor shoplifting and you arrive at the arraignment with no prior arrests, most likely the District Attorney will offer you the option of pleading guilty to a lesser violation and a few days of community service with a fine. You have the option to end the process by accepting the lower charge of a violation, which is not a crime but will appear on your record in the future.

If you accept the plea then you will actually plead guilty to a lesser offense on the record and the court will most likely impose a fine and community service or counseling, depending upon what you and the District Attorney agreed to.

If you dont accept the plea, you will simply plead not guilty and continue your criminal court appearances. Your attorney will file various motions and hold hearings to discover what evidence the District Attorney has against you or to get the charges dismissed. An example of such a hearing would be called a Huntley Hearing. In that hearing your attorney’s objective is to get any incriminating statements you made suppressed, meaning they can not be used against you. The point of that hearing is that the police obtained statements from you invlountarily. At the hearing your attorney will cross-examine the police involved in your arrest by asking them detailed questions. If your attorney can prove your statements were coerced or obtained form you in some way involuntarily then you have just eliminiated a criucial piece of evidence against you, making your case of innocence stronger.

As you proceed further through the criminal court process, the plea to a lesser charge may or may not be offered again. Whether or not you accept a plea is something only you and your attorney can decide, based upon your circumstances. Just remember that the plea will always be on your record as opposed to fighting the charges if youre innocent and getting the whole criminal case dismissed, clearing your name.

Your Criminal Court Appearances

If you plead not guilty and are released ROR (meaning without bail and on your own recognizance) or on bail, youll be given the next date to appear before the court. At that time the court will set deadlines for your attorney to complete certain work on your behalf.

The District Attorney has a limited period of time to complete his investigation and state on the record he is ready for trial. The time limits are mandatory to protect your constitutional right to a speedy trial. So you should be prepared to quickly prove your innocence. Being accused of a crime is a stigma, and the reality is that you are actually presumed guilty until you prove your innocence (contrary to the belief that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty).

If you miss a court appearance, a warrant for your arrest is issued

Your Right To A Speedy Trial

The time for you to get a speedy trial starts running from the date the criminal complaint is filed against you. A trial for a violation must be held within 30 days. A misdemeanor trial must occur within 90 days. A felony trial must take place within six months.

The time periods for a speedy trial are tolled (stopped) because of certain motions made by your attorney or certain hearings. They are not tolled if the District Attorney requests adjournments without your consent. They are also not tolled if the District Attorney is not ready for certain appearance dates. This is called excludable time for the purposes of determining when a trial must be held.

Making A Record

At each court date, there will be a stenographer typing every word of the proceeding to make a record of it. Your attorney must make sure the record is clear that you do not consent to an adjournment or that the District Attorney was not ready. Being clear is important, because the court is overwhelmed with hundreds of cases a day. Sometimes the judge will not keep a good record or his notes on your file will be unreadable and the judge later cant recall what happened.

To be clear and to protect your rights, state on the record that defendant does not consent to the adjournment and time should be charged to the People or state that The District Attorney is not ready and time should be charged to the People. Make sure the stenographer hears what you say because you may later have to order those records from the stenographer to prove what happened at the hearing. If the stenographer did not hear you or your attorney then you will not have a record that will benefit you. Make sure you both speak loud and clear at each court date to protect your record.

Law Offices of Susan Chana Lask
853 Broadway, Suite 1516
New York, NY 10003
(212) 358-5762
2004 Susan Chana Lask All Rights Reserved

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The arraignment process involves:

• Being brought before a Judge in the courtroom

• Receiving the criminal complaint with the crimes charged and the factual basis to each charge

• The District Attorney requesting bail or releasing you on your own recognizance (called ROR)

• Pleading guilty or not guilty

The process starts when the court officer brings you from the cell in the back of the courtroom and into the courtroom before the Judge.

If you were unable to contact your family, friends or an attorney when you were arrested then most likely the court will have a Legal Aid attorney appear for you. Legal Aid attorneys are in the courtroom at all times to defend the poor, and most times to appear for the unrepresented.

Usually there will be about three attorneys from the District Attorneys office in the courtroom. One of them will read the charges against you and request the court to impose bail at a certain amount or no bail. If no bail is demanded by the District Attorney then you will hear the word ROR, which means return on your own recognizance.

Bail is determined according to the crime and your personal information. At arraignment the District Attorney will have your personal information obtained from their computer searches on you. They call this your rap sheet. It will include information about you, such as:

• Any Prior convictions

• Any arrests at anytime

• Any pleas to prior arrests

• Parole

• Probation

If your rap sheet is clear of any crimes and this is your first arrest, chances are good that there will be no bail set against you. But even if your rap sheet is clear, if the crime youre charged with is serious (such as involving a large amount of stolen money or violence), bail can be set against you. There are different factors affecting the setting of bail against you, and all are considered by the judge in a matter of minutes.

If the District Attorney requests bail, your attorney should argue that:

• Youre not a flight risk

• You have family, friends and a job in the state or locally

• The charges against you are improper in some way.

Your attorney may even get the whole case dismissed if the District Attorneys criminal complaint against you is not properly drafted or signed by a proper party.

Getting The Complaint Dismissed At Arraignment

The District Attorney drafts the criminal complaint against you from information received from the arresting officer and the victim of the crime. While youre being processed through the Precinct and Central Booking, the arresting officer will fax his paperwork and information regarding your arrest and charges to the District Attorneys office. Someone in the District Attorneys office will then call the victim and get more information so they can properly draft the complaint.

The complaint needs to be signed under oath by the arresting officer or the victim. If it is not signed by anyone when you appear at your arraignment then it is not corroborated and must be dismissed. So check out who signed the complaint: if it was a person other than the arresting officer or the victim then the complaint should be dismissed.

Lastly, if the facts of the complaint do not establish each legal element of the crime charged, or the complaint is poorly drafted then it should be dismissed however, the court usually will give the District Attorney a few weeks to file a properly drafted complaint.

Law Offices of Susan Chana Lask
853 Broadway, Suite 1516
New York, NY 10003
(212) 358-5762
2004 Susan Chana Lask All Rights Reserved

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