Category Archives: Legal

The Importance of a Good Lawyer

Posted on by
1

When handling any sort of legal issues it is important that you hire the best possible lawyer available.  A good lawyer will be able to properly represent you and should be able to help you reach the outcome you are looking for. Legal problems or dilemmas are not something you want to handle on your own or without representation.

When looking to hire a lawyer, you will want to look for reputable law firms in your area. Finding a firm that is hard working, diligent and one that cares about you as a client is very important to your success in court. You want to find a firm that is known to have a good work ethic because you want to make sure that your lawyer is researching every law and every angle to be able to win your case. A lawyer that cares about you as a client is going to be willing to put in the extra work to win your case as opposed to someone who has taken on too many clients and too many cases.

It is also important to know your lawyer’s track record, if they have won a very small amount of cases, then they might not be your first choice. On the other hand, you want someone who is going to be effective but not immoral. A lawyer’s track record is important to understand but it should not be the only determining factor. You want a person who is of good moral character because essentially this person is representing you in a court of law.

Location is also a big factor when choosing a lawyer; you are going to want to find a firm that is in your area so that visiting the office isn’t too far of a drive. It is also important that you find a lawyer who is very knowledgeable about the laws in your area, as laws differ from state to state and from county to county.

Choosing a great lawyer to represent you in court can be quite a task, but once you find someone that you trust to represent you, your legal problems will quickly be resolved.

Job Injuries & Workers Compensation

Posted on by
1

In most state, if an employee is injured on the job, they are entitled to benefits under workers compensation. These benefits are paid not by the employer directly, but by an insurance company. This protects the employer from liability in the accident that led to the injury. It also means that even if the boss believes that the worker has a legitimate claim for benefits, the insurance company can choose to deny the claim.

It is important, when filing a claim for workers compensation, to do so as soon as possible after the accident occurs or the illness is identified. For less serious incidents, it is a good idea to get the paperwork started before seeing a doctor. If it is an emergency situation, then immediate medical attention should be obtained and the claims filled out afterward.

Workers may collect benefits for up to two years after the initial claim is filed. This is dependent on their continuing to be ordered to no work by a doctor. It also applies if the employee is released to light duty and the employer does not have light duty available.

If there are extenuating circumstances, such as the involvement of a responsible third party or a history of the insurance company denying legitimate claims, it is a good idea for the worker to hire a Ft Lauderdale Workers Compensation Lawyer to help them with their claim.

Traffic Accidents and Personal Injury Law

Posted on by
Reply

No one likes to think about life circumstances that require you to hire a lawyer. However, there are two common occurrences that necessitate you to do so, never mind the professional needs of business owners etc. Divorce in this country is half as common as marriage, and the majority of the population gets married at least once in their lives. Meanwhile, personal injury law is another common private legal matter that a large number of people face every year. And the larger the city in which you live, then the larger are your chances for needing to access a lawyer.

Traffic accidents happen everywhere. And when you live in a city like New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles, you can expect to see accidents on regular and sometimes daily basis. Unfortunately, depending on the severity of the accident, the victim may need to retain the services of a NYC personal injury lawyer . As complicated as that sounds, traffic accidents actually account for the largest number of personal injury suits that are filed. This becomes easier to understand when placed in the context of all of the accidents that are happening in all of the cities across the nation. And when you’re in a major accident, the last thing you want to have to do is face the insurance companies on your own.

Obama Signs Student Loan Reform Bill into Law

Posted on by
Reply

Obama signed into action a Student Loan Reformation bill that will help students get student loans, keep these loans out of traditional banks, and will help students pay off loans as they can. This was only a day after signing into law a health reform law. Here is the video explaining a some of these two bills.

Combating Terrorist Financing

Posted on by
Reply

It’s important for all board of directors of any Global company to understand and handle the risk of financial fraud, money laundering, fraud, and market abuse due to the terrorists attacks on the US on 9/11. Terrorists groups and their operations receive funds through a variety of fronts, for example: by using economic or financial and commercial system as an agent to disguise the funding origins and purpose.

The 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism is the primary mechanism for combating terrorist financing. The UN requires signatory member states to pass laws that allow the confiscation and seizure of any terrorist assets and laws that will criminalize any act that provides and collects funds with the intentions of being used to implement and carry out a terrorist attack.

After the 9/11 attacks, sanctions were expanded on the UNSCR 1373 to include individuals, organizations and the countries they reside. Institutions in the regulated financial sector are now required to screen all their clients and customers against UN blacklists of said individuals and organizations suspected with connections to terrorists. Imprisonment of officers and directors are the penalties if these individuals and organizations commit a criminal offense by providing any kind of financial assistance to the blacklisted parties.

In 2000, the UK implemented their own Terrorism Act and in 2006 announced a wider comprehensive counter-terrorism strategies: By engaging in the battle ideas of tackling disadvantage,deterring promoters of terrorism, by better intelligence to disrupt their activities, which includes the countering of terrorist finance, strengthen the security of the borders and defend key utilities, and continually test their countries preparedness by building up incident response capabilities. The challenge to combat terrorist financing is multi-faceted, requiring an array of responses across personal life and business responsibility.

The Importance of the Suspicious Activity Report

Posted on by
Reply

The concept of know your customer, refers to business practices wherein thorough investigations are complete on prospective customers, clients and business associates.  This not only entails becoming educated on the practices, policies and history of future partners, but also knowing just what they are intending to use the goods and services for which one provides.  In the financial realm, institutions are required by law to know with home they are conducting transactions.

Should a customer from either a foreign country, or living within the country, wish to deposit large amounts of cash, they employees of the bank must investigate, and if they do perhaps suspect and sort of criminal activity, be it drug trafficking or corruption they are required to fill out a suspicious activity report.  Not doing so means that they will be prosecuted along with the customer, should the customer be found guilty of said criminal activity.  They will be fined and perhaps charged even if the customer is not found guilty of anything suspicious or criminal, simply because this report is required by law.

Likewise, when this is concerned with a company that provides goods instead of services, they are required should they suspect that the one purchasing those goods are using them in ways to commit acts of terrorism.  There are various ways a company can go about discovering criminal behavior.  () Should a product require installment, but the customer declines, that is suspicious activity.  If a customer makes a business purchase for items not related to the type of business they are usually involved in, that is suspicious behavior.

On a local level this is similar to companies such as Home Depot and paint stores deciding to put aerosol spray paint under lock and key, sometimes refusing to sell the paint to minors.  After it was noted many times that some youth were using the paint for purposes of drug induced highs, and not for paint the walls, the companies locked up the paint in order to avoid prosecution for contributing to the damage that the kids were doing to themselves, as well as being concerned ethically about selling to kids that were exhibiting suspicious behavior.  In a world wherein some individuals are capable of committing incredible acts of destruction, this is very important on the local level, as well as necessary on the global level.

The Ways of Anti-Money Laundering Agencies

Posted on by
Reply

The act of laundering money is not a simple concept to wrap one’s head around.  Neither are the actions taken by the anti-money laundering agencies easy to comprehend either.  Both the criminal act of money laundering, and the legal actions taken to stop it, are long involved processes.  Someone who needs their money laundered, is someone who has committed an illegal and illicit act that requires the removal of all traces back to themselves, some one like a thief, a drug dealer or those who fund terrorist cells and the activities in which they take part.

Not only are these people afraid of getting caught for their crime, they are concerned with amount of money they will lose to taxes.  So they are committing many crimes at one time, the initial act committed for which they came about the large sums of cash, but also the money laundering itself, and tax evasion.  If someone holds a legitimate form of income, but makes small amounts of money on the side, then there is no need for them to partake in the second crime of money laundering.  However, if one makes a large amount of money from illegal activities, then the laundering of that income is necessary.

Those who do find the need to launder their cash flow, tend to set of businesses as covers.  This is where the term originated.  Early gangsters set up laundromats as covers, it is a play on words, based on what really happen and the fact that they owned the laundromats, and what continues to happen to this day.  But however sophisticated these criminals are, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other law enforcement agencies are one step ahead.  The number of cases that have been brought to court and those that are under investigation currently, has far exceeded those in the past.  If Al Capone can get caught, anyone can.

The Case for Class Action Lawsuits

Posted on by
Reply

When a single person, or a small group of people sue, usually a company, in the name of a larger number of people, that is called a class action lawsuit.  There are two issues of this kind of suit, regardless of the nature or the matter of it,  of which all Orange county lawyers are aware, are that the aspects that are being disputed are relevant to all members of the group, and that the number of those affected is so great, that for each one to participate in an individual case would be impractical. 

This is the definition of the case that was illustrated in the movie “Erin Brockovich“.  All the members of the community were affected by the chemicals in the water, so many, and all of whom would not have been able to afford single cases.  All members of the group are bound by the resolution.  These kinds of suits are often started when either one, or a few of the persons affected come forward with a problem that is affecting the whole.  Fraud or deceit is a common lawsuit that has taken its toll on large number of people. 

Other cases are ones in which a company is accused of discrimination, either based on gender, age or race.   Other cases may involve people who have purchased the same product and were similarly harmed by that product.  In the medical field, groups of patients prescribed medication, without being made aware of the possible effects, and then having experienced the consequences of those effects is reason for a class action lawsuit. 

These suits are intended to enhance a number of policies.  Many times these are the only means for which many people are able to find justice.  The corporations such as the pharmaceutical companies or the insurance companies have the money and the lawyers to defend themselves, far exceeding the financial means of the victims.  However when people join together, the playing field becomes equal.

The Power Granted to U.S. Officials by the United States Patriot Act

Posted on by
Reply

The US Patriot Act serves to facilitate the ability of the United States government in the seizure of the funds of financial institutions as well as those of individuals that are located in other countries.  The Act gives the United States Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General the authority issue foreign institutions either subpoenas or summons if they are conducting business or maintain investments in American banking institutions.  These subpoenas and summons are meant to ensure that accounts held by foreign countries in the U.S. institutions are kept in the records of the accounts held.  These records keep track of the deposits and the withdrawals of funds, and the United States banks are held accountable for the maintenance of these records and the identification and reporting of any transactions that appear to be made for the purpose of illegal activities.

Power is granted to the Secretary of the Treasury in the issuance of regulations regarding such maintenance, as well as on the governing of the number of accounts that are held by foreign institutions.  When a client or customer has a number of various accounts, steps must be taken to ensure that this is not a way to cover up illegal activity and the customer is who they say they are, they are the beneficial or director owner of the accounts and all of the funds being transferred back and forth.  All of the standards and regulations regarding an account holders identity are expected to be carried out at the moment that individual opens and account.  This is just one of the ways in which the U.S. Patriot act serves to protect the institutions against fraud and money laundering, as well as the protection of the citizens of various countries from the consequences of terrorist organizations that have access to funding.