Tuesday 28 August 2012

What Makes It Hard For An Attorney To Start His Own Firm

When an attorney sets out to start his own law firm, he is bound to tangle with a number of factors that would make things hard for him. Working for others seems to be the easier option, which is what many attorneys choose instead of going their own way. It is also on account of these factors that we often see many young attorneys struggling to find lowly-paid employment, yet they could just as well 'set up their own firms.' Granted, it is not something that can be easily done. Otherwise, all lawyers would have had their own firms by now. Some things simply get in the way, preventing these lawyers from setting up their own firm. In this article, let us look into what those things are that prevent the lawyers from easily setting up their own firm.

First, there is lack of capital. It is a problem that besets anyone else who is planning to set up any firm. Money is needed in order to set up a law firm. Even those small town firms cost substantial sums of money to set up. Tradition dictates that legal offices should be found in addresses that are respectable and prominent. Even the rental amount that would be required to lease a space in these respectable addresses is quite substantial. Then the legal offices have to be staffed (at least with secretaries and legal clerks). These cost money. That means the attorney should have at least several months' rent and salary payments set aside.

Attracting clients to your office and signing up your services would take quite a while. All in all the necessary start up capital requirements are huge. Since only few attorneys have enough resources to meet these capitalization requirements, they make do with working for other employees and lawyers instead. There is also the complicated nature of the inner workings of the legal service industry to take into consideration. The legal services industry is a complex one: with strong fraternities that determine who gets which case.

You can expect all the cases to be in the hands of the 'big boys'. Even the small cases are going to be theirs. New lawyers trying to find their footings (who lack 'reputations') can end up being shunned even by the smallest of the clients. It is clear, then, that new attorneys should be willing to spend a lot of time building up their name and their own network before the clients start coming in. That is scary for many people, hence the decision not to set up firms (even when they happen to have the capital necessary to do so).

A lawyer's lack of confidence is also another major reason why starting a law firm becomes a no-go for some. When you set up a law firm, you are setting up a business enterprise. There are certain risks involved. We have seen people set up their own firms, only to end up not attracting any clients (which pushes them to eventually close down and go looking for employment again). Not many attorneys are willing to subject themselves to this level of humiliation. That is why they simply decide not to set up their own firms, even if they have enough capital or they are already known in legal circles.

Friday 24 August 2012

Personal Injury Issues And How You Can Seek Compensation

You can definitely expect to be compensated for personal injury under certain circumstances. If, for instance, you get injured while working, you can get compensation from the employer, or from the employer's insurer. If you are caught in a road or traffic accident, the person who caused the accident would be liable to compensate you. Injury could also be sustained while innocently walking close to a construction site and falling debris or objects hit you. The developer or his insurer would be liable for the injury and other damages. There are still many more scenarios where the person who was injured could claim for compensation for personal injury.

Here is one thing you should remember, though: often, the compensation given for personal injury cases is not given freely. Actually, you have to seek the help of the courts to persuade the other party to pay for the compensation. You cannot really expect them to pay for it willingly.

If you have the police involved from the start of the whole injury case, you would have a better chance. If, for instance, you get injured at work, you have to get the case reported to the police, and an entry made into the relevant police records. This will serve as the first piece of evidence that the injury actually took place. It would also be in your favor if you can have the other party back up your claim and acknowledge that, indeed, an incident happened and it resulted to an injury on your part. Your employer could do this if you sustained an injury while you were working. Since you have an injury, you would also have to seek medical help. It is also important that the medical practitioner who is attending to you be informed about the details that have led to the injury that you sustained. He should examine you in order to find out if the injuries truly coincide with the incidents that you notified him about. Those facts should also be entered into your medical records. Knowing the identity of the medical personnel who is assigned to you and attending to you would also help a lot. Imagine when you need someone to be a witness for you. You can call on this person to help you out.

Making the actual claim for compensation should be done through a lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases. It is also important to take note of the time limitations when you are allowed to make claims. Make it a point to see that you are not time barred. It is best to take the case straight to court, but then also show openness to out of court settlement. However, there is a risk to seeking out of court settlements. If you do not take it to court, the other party may actually be only giving you the runaround when they are actually seeking to draw it out until such time that you get time barred. Then they drop their bombshell: they have no plans of settling. The safest route would still be via the courts. Take the case directly to the courts while making sure the other party knows that you are not entirely averse to the idea of an out of court settlement.

if you are to seek compensation for personal injury you sustained, you should first prove that the injury is real and it was sustained in an actual incident. Then you also have to prove that it happened through no fault or negligence of your own.

Recommended links:
Personal Injury Lawyer Incline Village

Tuesday 21 August 2012

How To Choose A Lawyer For Your Drug-Related Case

There are several considerations you need to make when seeking lawyers to handle cases related to drug issues.

When you are considering hiring lawyers to handle your drug-related case, you should look into his legal background and training. You should find out what field of the law they specialize in and how much they know about the laws related to drugs. If you find lawyers who have written anything on drug law, be it a commentary, a dissertation, research or a simple write-up, then you should count yourself lucky, because these lawyers are most likely to know a lot about it. When drug-related cases are prosecuted, they are most often treated as criminal cases. That explains the need for a lawyer with a strong background and training in criminal law to handle it. They should also be the sorts of lawyers who find criminal law fascinating.

The attitude of the lawyer should be the second thing to be considered when you are looking for someone to handle your case. The lawyer should demonstrate a genuine inclination to come to your aid. You won't be doing yourself any favors if the lawyer you choose is someone who is predisposed to aversion towards drug-related issues. This is not going to bode well. If your lawyer has already prejudged you and condemned you, your odds of getting away without a conviction would be low. If you look at some cases, you will notice how lawyers, through their actions, bring about the conviction of their clients. Before signing on the dotted line and hiring a lawyer, make sure you understand what his thoughts and attitudes are towards your case. If you are falsely accused, yet the lawyer seems to doubt you in this regard, you have every reason to be worried about him or her (and to think twice about engaging him or her). You should also assess his willingness to go the extra mile for you, doing more than you agreed upon to prove your innocence. If he has a defeatist attitude, then you shouldn't hire him.

Thirdly, when seeking lawyers to handle cases related to drug issues, you need to consider 'experience.' The lawyer you engage should be one who has previously handled similar cases. It will be even better if you retain a lawyer who has a track record of winning these sorts of cases.

You should be aware of the fact that drug-related cases are anything but simple. They are quite complicated, to say the least. You therefore need lawyers who can handle the heat of the situations. Bribery is rife in these cases, so you should look for someone who is impervious to bribes and threats. Drug-related cases are not resolved in just a couple of months. Often, it could take several months and even years. To this end, make sure you hire someone whose rates are something you can afford to pay. You should retain a lawyer with the ability to listen to you and then ask you for your opinion or input. These three are the major considerations you should always keep in mind. Of course there are still others, and it will be up to you to factor them into the determination of which lawyer to entrust your life and freedom to.

Recommended Links
Drug Lawyer Incline Village

Tuesday 14 August 2012

What Causes The Differences In Criminal Defense Lawyers' Fees

There are certain factors that contribute to the final figure charged by criminal defense lawyers to clients for their legal fees. Therefore, a criminal defense lawyer who is tasked to defend his client against criminal charges in court cannot simply charge fees arbitrarily. It is the purpose of this article to understand what those factors are and how those factors eventually end up making up a huge part of the final determination of the amount the lawyer will charge his client.

There is one thing that you should keep in mind before we go any further. Legal fees are not charged by lawyers at random. It is different from your usual buyer-seller relationship, which is done on a basis where the seller charges any amount that he thinks the buyer is willing to pay. There are certain rules - the quanta of counsel remuneration - which governs the determination of the legal fees of lawyers. These rules have to be followed. It, however, tends to name the minimum figures that can be charged by the lawyers.

The idea is to avoid a situation where some lawyers would end up undercutting their professional colleagues, making the profession lose its prestige (as lawyers start competing on 'price'). But it is also worth noting that though they normally do a good job in terms of specifying the minimum fees that lawyers should charge, the rules normally leave a lot of leeway in terms of the ceilings (the highest figures chargeable). As a result, many lawyers take this as an opportunity to set their legal fees in such a way that they vary from lawyer to lawyer. But these variations also spring from a number of other factors and circumstances.

First, the criminal defense lawyer would have to look into the type of case he would have to handle in order to have an idea how much he should charge. A lawyer would obviously charge more for a case where he has to mount a defense for a murder case as compared to a case of petty theft. The justification for the higher fees charged to the client facing a murder case would be in the fact that such a case is likely to be long drawn out.  The lawyer would also be expected to conduct more planning and more in-depth research in order to build a strong case for his client. This is an obvious reason for the increase in the legal fees.

The stage of the criminal trial where the lawyers entered and were retained to represent the clients is also taken into consideration. Thus, for any given case, a lawyer who is engaged right from the beginning is (quite naturally) likely to charge more than one who is engaged at some point within the life of the proceedings.

It would also appear that, to some extent, the legal fees charged by criminal defense lawyers depend on the professional profiles of the respective lawyers. Naturally, the high-profile lawyers would earn more since they would charge more in legal fees than the lawyers who have a modest standing or are still considered 'upcoming'.