Any divorce lawyer you consider should have substantial experience in handling divorce cases in your location. An experienced divorce lawyer will know the tendencies of the various judges in your jurisdiction and should be able to use this knowledge to your advantage. Additionally, that lawyer should practice primarily in the field of divorce law. Often people will hire a lawyer who practices primarily in some other area, thinking that any lawyer will do. However, divorce law is a very specialized field that requires particular skills and experience in order to have a likelihood of reaching a successful conclusion.read more

Monday, November 12, 2007

how to select a divorce lawyer

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Selecting a divorce lawyer to handle your family law case is a very important decision. The following are a few important criteria to help in finding the right divorce lawyer.

Experience and Focus

Any divorce lawyer you consider should have substantial experience in handling divorce cases in your location. An experienced divorce lawyer will know the tendencies of the various judges in your jurisdiction and should be able to use this knowledge to your advantage. Additionally, that lawyer should practice primarily in the field of divorce law. Often people will hire a lawyer who practices primarily in some other area, thinking that any lawyer will do. However, divorce law is a very specialized field that requires particular skills and experience in order to have a likelihood of reaching a successful conclusion.

Past Client Testimonials

Perhaps the best way to decide which divorce lawyer to use for your divorce case is to find out what former clients have to say about that lawyer. While divorce is never an enjoyable process, some divorce lawyers have more success at satisfying their clients than others. If you do not know someone who has been a client of that particular divorce lawyer, you should consider asking the lawyer for a list of clients that you can contact who can describe their experience with the lawyer. While client confidentiality is important, any good experienced divorce lawyer should have at least a few former clients who are willing to vouch for him or her.

Accessible

When a client becomes dissatisfied with a divorce lawyer, one of the most common complaints is that they were unable to communicate with the lawyer. It is very important that your divorce lawyer be accessible and prompt in responding to your phone calls, emails, and requests for meetings. While you can ask the divorce lawyer about their office policy, this is another area where you can best evaluate the divorce lawyer by hearing what former clients have to say.

If a former client of the lawyer tells you that they found it very difficult to contact the attorney, or that the lawyer either did not return calls or respond to emails or would take several days to do so, you should definitely avoid that lawyer. Divorce is an unpleasant and frustrating process under the best of circumstances. If you are unable to reach your divorce attorney, or at least someone on his or her staff, the frustration level can increase exponentially.

Fees

When you make your initial appointment with the divorce attorney, you should inquire about a consultation fee. Some lawyers do brief initial consultations for free, although most experienced divorce lawyers will charge between $100.00 and $200.00 as a consultation fee, or will charge their normal hourly rate.

For example, I charge a flat $100.00 consultation fee with no additional hourly charges, regardless of the length of the meeting. Essentially, the consultation fee is to "weed out" those people who are not serious about the possibility of hiring me. Given that my normal hourly rate is $200.00/hour and the usual typical consultation takes about 90 minutes, the charge for my consultation is significantly discounted. Therefore, you shouldn't let a consultation fee scare you away from interviewing a particular lawyer.

During the consultation it is vitally important that you have a candid discussion with the prospective divorce lawyer about fees and what you can expect. Typically, an experienced divorce lawyer will require the payment of a substantial retainer up front, against which that lawyer's hourly rate and expenses will be charged. You should find out what that lawyer's hourly rate is, what the up front retainer will be, whether any portion of the retainer is refundable if it is not exhausted, and how often you can expect to receive invoices that detail their hourly charges and expenses. You also will want to know how detailed the invoices are. Once again, this is another area where you can get excellent information from those people who have been clients of that divorce lawyer.

Comfortable

While all the above issues are important, there is one final question you should ask yourself before hiring a divorce lawyer. Are you comfortable with that lawyer and are you confident in his or her abilities? If the answer is anything other than a resounding "yes," you should keep looking. Your case is too important to entrust to someone who does not inspire your confidence.

26 unbreakable rules of Litigation

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From Bill Gates at the end of the last century to John D. Rockefeller at the end of the previous century; from Rick Scott, founder of Columbia Health Care, to AT&T: from Richard Branson and British Airlines to Dan Peña and The Financial Times; from government, banking, insurance and every other facet of world commerce - to grow geometrically and stay around, litigation must be (prudently) used and mastered.

I will, as briefly as I can, memorialize the salient points of using litigation as a business tool.

Now before I start, I want it on the record, some 50% of my 30-year track record of litigation has had nothing to do with winning money, i.e., many lawsuits have been over principle, some were to right a heinous wrong such as slanderous remarks made about me; and some were because an entity just needed a good comeuppance and nobody else would carry the flag into battle.

I, like Don Quixote, have fought many a windmill.
As you've heard me speak and write about, when building your 'Dream Team,' you want Big Five accountants and a large national or international firm of lawyers - the best representation you can't afford!
Unlike the success-oriented fees I coach you to use when facilitating transactions, no law firm will litigate initially on this basis.
Perhaps if your case is especially strong, they will do it on a contingency basis. Unfortunately, you will be using, from time-to-time, litigation as a positioning tool and your case may not be something you can seriously leverage.
A year or two ago, being left with a pig-in-a-poke, I had to litigate a case having specious facts at best to support my desired outcome. Fortunately, our (my) apparent lust for litigation was stronger than their desire to fight a hard fight, so a reasonably good settlement was finally arrived at.

Of course, during this process my good lawyers counseled us, advising our case needed to be much stronger, etc. Even with great lawyers, it is their job to tell you the downside risks. Again, what happens is you are often scared from pursuing your case.
Good lawyers win so-so lawsuits. Great lawyers can win lawsuits in which you have little or no chance to win.
Three of my favorite litigators over the years are Steve Susman and Cyrus Marter IV of Susman Godfrey in Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle and Tim Harris of Charleston Revich & Williams in Los Angeles. All three have dug me out of some pretty big black holes.
I've dealt with them 10 and 20 years respectively. They are worth every penny they charge!

Our judicial system works, but we grow up being afraid of it. It's way out of our comfort zone so we preclude ourselves from benefitting from it. Normally the cost associated with it keeps us from using it.
In fact, I'm currently embroiled in litigation where the ancillary players to the litigation have rights which are being severely violated. A large group of people could bring great pressure to bear, but they're afraid because of previous bad experiences. They could get what they deserve but aren't pursuing their best interests.

There are lawyers who take on cases for humanitarian reasons, if the case warrants, in business as well, i.e., big major corporations taking advantage of the system because of their size alone.

Why do you want to initiate the lawsuit so you are the plaintiff? As the plaintiff, you pick where and when the lawsuit is fought and probably ultimately adjudicated.

This can be a huge advantage. And secondly, the plaintiff is allowed two closing arguments, meaning you (your lawyer) gets to address the judge and/or jury once and then again after the defendants' closing argument. This can also be very important.

26 Unbreakable Rules of Litigation

#1 CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES

#2 CHOOSE THE VENUE

#3 BE THE PLAINTIFF

#4 HAVE THE BEST REPRESENTATION

#5 LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

#6 DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR SICK STOMACH WHEN YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

#7 DON'T LISTEN TO RELATIVES, FRIENDS, ET AL

#8 LISTEN TO EXPERIENCED LITIGANTS - LIKE ME!

#9 GENERALLY SPEAKING, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE COST (THIS IS VERY HARD!)

#10 BIG LAWSUITS ARE BETTER THAN SMALL ONES

#11 ELECT JURY TRIALS, AS OPPOSED TO A JUDGE ONLY

#12 PREPARATION (YOURS) IS EVERYTHING - KNOW THE FACTS

#13 PRACTICE DEPOSITIONS AND TRIALS

#14 IF YOU ARE THINKING OF A BETTER STRATEGY, GET A NEW LAWYER (NOT TRUE IN MY CASE)

#15 NEVER GIVE UP

#16 DON'T BE INTIMIDATED BY THE PROCESS

#17 USE MOCK TRIALS (PRETEND TRIALS YOU DO IN FRONT OF A HIRED JURY)

#18 DRESS SIMPLE AND CONSERVATIVELY IN COURT - NO JEWELRY EXCEPT A WEDDING BAND; WHITE SHIRT, PLAIN TIE AND DARK SUIT FOR MEN AND THE EQUIVALENT FOR WOMEN; SHORT GROOMED HAIR FOR MEN

#19 DON'T LOSE YOUR TEMPER IN COURT - IT'S OKAY TO CRY IF IT'S REAL

#20 HAVE YOUR SPOUSE IN THE FRONT ROW EVERY DAY. CHILDREN ALSO IF POSSIBLE. OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS IN SECOND ROW IS OKAY

#21 NO QUOTES TO THE PRESS OTHER THAN 'WE BELIEVE IN OUR CASE AND THAT IS WHY WE WENT TO COURT'. YOUR WORDS CAN EASILY BE TURNED AROUND.

#22 WHEN YOU BREAK FOR LUNCH OR A RECESS, REMEMBER NEVER TALK IN PUBLIC ABOUT THE CASE - YOU NEVER KNOW WHO MIGHT OVERHEAR

#23 WHEN YOU FIND A LEGAL TEAM THAT WINS, STAY WITH THEM

#24 ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH, NO MATTER WHAT. THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE.

#25 DURING VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITIONS AND IN COURT, LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND THE JURY. MAKE EYE CONTACT.

#26 WHEN TESTIFYING IN A DEPOSITION/TRIAL, IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER, SAY YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER

It's a closed world of top litigators. Virtually all big law firms have good to super-good lawyers. All big law firms don't have great litigators. You don't always need a great lawyer, but sometime if you grow geometrically, you will.
Like any other project management, litigation must be managed. Unfortunately, like speech-giving, you become a great litigant by going through a learning curve.
I don't mean you have to get involved in losing efforts (like making bad speeches so after some time you make good speeches) to get in a position to win in court. Large law firms will allow you to get ahead of the learning curve.

The Quantum Leap methodology talks ad nauseam about following your dreams. Life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing - it can't fly. I wrote this newsletter because sometimes you'll need litigation to follow your dream.
Go out and kick some butt, and don't let conventional wisdom keep you from achieving your dream.

Conventional wisdom says Don't Litigate.
All high-performance people and the great organizations of the last one hundred years did and do litigate as I write this letter.
Don't litigate frivolously - but don't be afraid to either.

Attorney General McGraw Settlement

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Attorney General McGraw Reaches Settlement with Four Debt Relief Companies for 366 Consumers

Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced settlement agreements with four debt relief companies that brought to an end their controversial practice of "debt settlement" services in West Virginia. The companies, Debt Relief of America, L.P., of Dallas, Texas; Fidelity Debt Consultants, Inc. of Clearwater, Florida; David Huffman d/b/a Freedom Group of San Diego, California; and New Horizons Debt Relief of Aliso Viejo, California, agreed to permanently discontinue debt settlement and any other kinds of debt relief services in West Virginia. They also agreed to refund all fees and charges that they collected which, collectively, will result in refunds of approximately $517,000 in fees and charges for 366 West Virginia consumers.

Debt Relief of America and Fidelity Debt Consultants had the bulk of the accounts in West Virginia, servicing all but a few of the affected consumers. In contrast, New Horizons and Freedom Group serviced only three consumers combined and accounted for $4,285.86 and $7,000, respectively, of the $517,000 owed to West Virginia consumers.

Debt settlement is a plan or strategy offered for a fee in which consumers are advised or expected to stop making payments to credit card banks or other unsecured creditors. The consumers are directed to make monthly payments to the debt settlement company or into a separate fund or account for an unspecified time until the debt settlement company determines that sufficient funds have been accumulated. The company then attempts to negotiate lump sum settlements of the consumers’ accounts for less than the balance owed.

For the rest of this article please feel free to visit www.wvago.gov.

who needs a criminal attorney

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The fact is that in day-to-day life we are facing continued and hidden dangers that can happen at any time. In case we encounter any danger by a person that we have to use force against the person for self-defense or protect somebody else, we might face criminal charge. At this point, a criminal defense attorney's job starts. For him, it does not matter who you are and what you have done. He tries to prove to the jury or judge that you had to use force against the other person for self-defense. In fact a criminal defense attorney must show the judge that you were in danger of possible physical hurt and you had use that amount of force to prevent the hurt. It is a criminal defense attorney's job to prove that the force against you was not legal and you were unaware of that. If you are under attack, even by close relatives, and begging, pleading, and crying may not get you out of the grip, then you may use force to defend yourself. There are many cases that women are under attack by their husbands and for self-defense purpose they kill their husbands. But these women should take into consideration the fact that there are serious questions that they should answer in order to prove that the force used by them was a self-defense otherwise they will face serious charges with irrecoverable consequences. For example they might be questioned why did not they leave husband and live with a relative or friend before the incident? Or why did not they file for divorce? Here, your criminal defense attorney prepares you to answer these types of questions. Generally, depending on the case and conditions, a criminal defense attorney prepares a series of questions that might be asked by jury or judge and then he tries to find answers to those questions. The answers should convince the judge that you were in a situation of physical harm and therefore to avoid the harm, you used a certain amount of force, in which your criminal defense attorney tries to prove the amount of force was reasonable. To summarize what we have discussed, if you are accused of a crime, then you need to hire a criminal defense attorney to represent you and prove to the jury or judge that the force you used was necessary and reasonable

what a criminal attorney do

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A criminal attorney basically represents someone accused of a crime in court. Let me give you a little background before explaining what it is exactly that a criminal attorney does. Sometimes the law allows a person to use physical force against another, whether it is in self-defense or the protection of another, or even to protect one's property, these are all acceptable uses of self-defense. You and your criminal defense attorney are going to have to show at least four instances of why you had to defend yourself in such an extreme way. Your attorney will have to show the judge or jury that (1) your confrontation was unprovoked by you, (2) that you were in immediate danger of bodily harm, (3) that your use of force was necessary in preventing that harm, and (4) that the amount of force you used was reasonable.
If you were in a position where you had to defend yourself against an attack from someone you think meant you bodily harm, it is up to your criminal attorney to prove that you had a reasonable belief the actions you used to defend yourself were necessary and just to prevent either your own death, the death of another, or serious bodily harm. The force used against you must be unlawful or improper, and directed toward you without your consent.

Battered Wife Syndrome is a good example of self-defense. This defense is when a women has been subjected to physical and mental abuse continually by their husbands or significant others. Courts may find this case somewhat confusing because in most cases, women who kill their husbands also planned to kill them. If this is your situation, then your criminal attorney will have to prove to a jury or judge that under circumstances such as these, you had two choices--You can wait until your husband finally kills you or, kill your husband before he gets the opportunity to kill you. In this case, it will be up to the state prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that killing your husband was not the only way out. For example: Why didn't you just leave your husband and go stay with a friend or relative and file for divorce? Or, you could have gotten a court order to restrict your husband from approaching you within so many feet. If Battered Wife Syndrome is your defense, then your criminal attorney will prepare you for this type of questioning.

What does a criminal attorney do? The answer to that is, a lot. They will fight for your defense because he or she believes in your innocence and constitutional rights, no matter what you have done. If you were charged with a serious crime in the past, but today you are sleeping in your own soft bed and not a concrete slab, you have your criminal defense attorney to thank.