Separation Anxiety: How a Lawyer Can Smooth Out a Divorce

Originally published by Bob Kraft.

Divorce is almost always hard on couples, and in most cases it results in animosity between the ex-partners. There is need for divorce to be settled peacefully, not only because of the children, but also because of the high cost involved in court trials. The following are some of the strategies used by lawyers to smooth out divorce proceedings.

Mediation

In most states, mediation is used to settle divorces peacefully. However, mediation does not work in cases where there has been domestic violence. During mediation talks, the lawyers from both sides sit with their clients and discuss the pertinent issues with the aim of arriving at unanimous solutions. In cases where this type of mediation fails, many advocates hire a designated professional mediator to preside over the main disputes in a divorce.

Arbitration

Lawyers will in some cases submit a case to arbitration. During arbitration, lawyers from both sides submit their cases to a law expert who upon listening to the evidence, looks into the legal solutions to the case before declaring their verdict. The decision made during formal arbitration is final; therefore, there can be no more court hearings. In informal arbitration, both lawyers seek advice from a family law expert. The legal expert will give a non-binding advisory ruling. In essence, an informal arbitration is the same as a court ruling. It gives both parties an idea of how the case would end up in a trial.

Settlement

In most divorce cases, lawyers keep urging their clients to settle. Lawyers shed light on the facts of a divorce case, and when their clients are likely to get a raw deal in court, they usually advise them to settle. Many divorce attorneys continue pushing for a settlement up until the scheduled date for trial.

Narrowing Issues

When lawyers cannot fully agree to a settlement, they usually attempt to narrow down the issues that will be presented during trial. This prompts clients to agree to a partial settlement, and leave the pertinent issues to a trial. For example, if one spouse wants sole custody of the child and the other side agrees to it, there will be no need to pursue this issue during trial.

Motion Practice

When clients cannot agree on pertinent issues, like custody, or mortgage payments, the divorce attorneys will file motions. Motions will help the clients predict what the judge is likely to decide, and provokes them to reach an amicable solution.

In many cases, divorce matters take a long time to be finalized. Divorce lawyers use many approaches to ensure a divorce ends quickly and peacefully. Some of these strategies include mediation, arbitration, settlement, narrowing down issues, and filing of motions.

This article is from Brooke Chaplan, a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.

The post Separation Anxiety: How a Lawyer Can Smooth Out a Divorce appeared first on pissd.com.

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Property Midterm – Castaway, Modified

Originally published by Josh Blackman.

My Property midterm exam was based, loosely, on the film Castaway. You can download the exam here, and the A+ paper here.

Instructions:

You are a mediator. Two castaways who were on a deserted island ask you to write an opinion of no more than 1,000 words, addressing five property disputes that arose between them. Because the island did not have any statutes or regulations governing the issues in this case, you can rely on any common law or natural law principles that American courts have cited.

—

Tom and Wilson set out to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon. Tragically, during a storm, their balloon crashed on a deserted island. All of their radio equipment was damaged, so they cannot signal for help. The two only have enough provisions to last for a few days.

The island is divided down the middle by a mountain range. Tom sets up camp on the north side of the island, and declares it Northacre. Wilson sets up camp on the south side of the island, and declares it Southacre.

There is a fresh-water river that begins on Northacre, flows across the mountain range through Southacre, and spills into the ocean. The river provides more than enough water to satisfy their personal needs, and both Tom and Wilson begin to draw water from it.

Wilson discovers that Southacre is inhabited by a pack of wild boars. At dawn, he begins tracking a boar. Wilson fashioned a spear out of a branch with a rock attached to the tip. He throws the spear at the boar, which grazes the beast’s tail. Frightened, the boar starts running toward the mountain range. Wilson follows it. Once the boar crosses onto Northacre, Tom sees it, and starts chasing it as well. As Tom and Wilson corner the beast, it jumps into the river and starts swimming downstream. At that moment, a freak winter storm arrives, and the temperature suddenly plummets. The river immediately freezes over. The boar is stuck in the river, frozen solid. Tom and Wilson both try to dig the boar out, but the ice is too thick. The next day, as the river thaws, the frozen boar floats downstream to Southacre. Wilson pulls it out of the water. Tom asserts that he has the strongest claim to the boar. Wilson disagrees; he skins the boar, which he makes into a coat, and eats the meat.

While the rocky soil on Northacre was dry, the soil on Southacre was very fertile. Wilson plant crops on Southacre, which, when harvested, would provide more than enough food for both residents on the island to eat. Wilson relies on the river to water the crops. Tom, still bitter about the boar, erects a dam on the river, thus blocking the flow of water to Southacre. Wilson demands that Tom remove the dam, stating that he also has a claim to the water. Tom refuses, destroying Wilson’s entire harvest.

Left without anything to eat, Tom begins to forage the beach of Northacre for food. While digging in the sand, he discovers a buried chest. Without removing the chest from the sand, he pries open the lid, and finds it is full of gold coins. Tom immediately realizes that the island was not as deserted as he had thought. As the sun was setting, Tom decides to wait until the morning to remove the chest from the sand. While Tom is sleeping, Wilson crosses the mountain and

removes all of the gold coins, and leaves the chest buried in the sand. Wilson then buries the gold coins on the sands of Southacre. Tom demands Wilson return the gold coins. Wilson refuses.

The next day, a box washes ashore on Southacre containing a sealed, fully-functional solar- powered flashlight. Wilson tells Tom about it. Tom asks Wilson if he can have it. Without writing anything down, Wilson says that he will use it for the rest of his life, and then Tom can have it. Tom agrees.

Later that year, Tom becomes ill, and writes the following conveyance: “I will continue to live on Northacre, but if I die, then to Wilson and his heirs.” Wilson accepts the conveyance.

Shortly thereafter, Tom makes a speedy recovery. Miraculously, a rescue boat locates the castaways. After they return to the United States, the duo hires you, a mediator, to resolve their disputes.

—

You are asked to prepare an opinion of no more than 1,000 words addressing the following five issues:

1. Who has the stronger claim to the boar’s skin? Tom or Wilson.

2. What is Tom’s strongest claim to the gold coins? What is Wilson’s strongest claim to the gold coins?

3. What are the present and future interests in the flashlight? 4. What are the present and future interests in Northacre?

5. How should Tom and Wilson have resolved the dispute over the erection of a dam on the river?

 

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Discounts for financial planning

Originally published by Staff Report.

Spring is a great time to clean up your finances! As a State Bar member, you have access to the Beneplace website, where you can browse and compare deals to save on purchases large and small. You can refinance your car, compare identity/credit protection services, and get your taxes done. Visit the Beneplace page to start saving today.

With just one auto finance application, get up to four loan offers with MyAutoLoan.com. The average customer saves up to $1,900 when they refinance their car. You also have access to savings with rateGenius. Refinancing is easy—you fill out an application and rateGenius will find a lender. Customers save an average of $81/month.

Identity theft is America’s fastest growing crime, and it can cause major headaches and financial strain. Protect yourself with InfoArmor’s industry-leading PrivacyArmor benefit, to catch more identity fraud sooner. You can also save 10% on identity monitoring and protection services from LifeLock. For top-of-the-line credit protection, go with Equifax’s Complete Premier plan, where you’ll get credit reports, credit scores and credit monitoring alerts, with the power of Equifax’s identity protection features included.

Taxes are due on April 18th this year—but don’t procrastinate! Get your taxes done now so you can get them out of the way and get your return sooner. Save on federal tax products from TurboTax, the nation’s #1 tax software. Or go with H&R Block, where you can get your maximum refund—guaranteed. Use your exclusive discount to save on in-office and online tax preparation.

Current offers provided by Beneplace.

For more information on other discounts you’re eligible for as a member of the State Bar of Texas, visit http://ift.tt/1cS7Rdr.

Texas Bar Private Insurance Exchange
The Texas Bar Private Insurance Exchange is a multi-carrier private exchange designed for State Bar of Texas members and their staff and dependents. Available to both individuals and employer groups, the exchange offers a wide range of health insurance choices and more.

State Bar of Texas – Benefits & Services

• Lifestyle
  Spend time on you—life doesn’t have to be all work and no play. Browse offers
• Office
  Make your practice more efficient with new tools and programs. Browse offers
• Travel
  Make your plans for anything and anywhere, from a much-needed vacation to a quick business trip. Browse offers
• Insurance and Finance
  Get peace of mind with health insurance and a retirement plan that work for you. Browse offers
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  Get up to speed on everything from building a website to billing clients. Browse offers
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  Look through hundreds of offerings to find just what you need—and things you didn’t even know about. Browse offers

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Social Media Challenges for Businesses: How to Use, Police, and Enforce Your Intellectual Property

Originally published by Roxanne Edwards.

Social media has become a major marketing tool for many companies. It provides an unprecedented number of opportunities for a company to engage with customers, […]

The post Social Media Challenges for Businesses: How to Use, Police, and Enforce Your Intellectual Property appeared first on Klemchuk LLP.

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Common Branding Mistakes Your Law Firm Might Be Making:

Originally published by Stacey E Burke Blog.

Most attorneys know it’s important to have a law firm brand but usually underestimate just how much work goes into building a great one. Law firm branding needs to be well thought out, well researched, and well planned.  There’s more to branding than just throwing a logo on all of the content you create and share on the web. In order to build a great brand, be sure to avoid the common pitfalls in law firm branding mentioned below.

1. No Focus

Overloading prospective clients with excessive design elements in your logo, too long of a domain name, or even too much copy on your website becomes difficult to read and especially tough to remember.

Your branding should represent your practice. You want the visual assets of your practice to come off as organized, clear, and concise.  This is the first impression a potential client or adversary will have of your law firm. Strong brands with a firm and clear identity will foster familiarity and trust among audiences.

2.  Inconsistency

Along with focus, the key behind branding is consistency across all channels where your firm is represented. The imagery on your website, social media platforms, business cards, and digital and print advertisements all needs to be uniform.  Being recognizable across all media will not only help to create increased awareness of the firm but will also build loyalty among clients and others you work with.

3.  Failing to recognize your target audience

Your branding should be centralized around your target audience. How do you want them to perceive your law firm?  Here is a useful tip on how to understand your audience – imagine your target audience is a single person, and your brand is a single person. What type of person does your target audience respect and identify with? Incorporate the answer to that question into your branding efforts.

4. Overlooking the competition

Researching the competition is step one in the process of branding. You will see examples of what you should be doing, what you should avoid doing, and above all, how to stand out from similar law firms.  The entire purpose of branding is to set your business apart from the rest.

5. Straying from messaging that’s in line with your firm brand

One of the greatest tips I can offer is to not stray too far from messaging that directly correlates with your firm’s areas of expertise and/or the graphic design components you have created through your branding efforts. You want to be recognizable to your audience after all of the hard work put in to build a lasting brand. The goal here is to be top of mind when potential clients are looking to hire a lawyer. Your content should represent your brand, just as your brand should represent your firm.

Not knowing what exactly works and what doesn’t in the branding world can make the task especially daunting. Producing a presence that is design friendly, easy to recognize, and represents your firm as a whole is a lengthy but valuable process. If your law firm doesn’t have the time to develop a world-class brand and presence, contact the legal branding experts at Stacey E. Burke P.C. to help.

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Supreme Court to Fashion Copycats: Hands-Off Cheerleader Uniform’s Distinctive Stripes

Originally published by Androvett Legal Media Blog.

Bold stripe patterns and other decorative elements on cheerleading uniforms can be protected by copyright law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a closely watched case that has implications for the fashion industry’s ongoing efforts to police counterfeit merchandise. The high court sided with Varsity Brands in a dispute with rival Star Athletica, finding that while the basic functional design of a uniform cannot be protected, Varsity’s copyrights for specific decorative patterns are valid. The opinion helps clarify a long-running debate over a manufacturer’s ability to protect products from knock-offs by copyrighting ornamental designs.

“The fashion and apparel industry is doing everything it can to combat counterfeiting, and this opinion provides the industry with another tool,” says intellectual property lawyer Amanda Greenspon of Dallas’ Munck Wilson Mandala. “Copyright enforcement will remain subjective and determined on a case-by-case basis, but this ruling will spur companies to obtain copyright protection of their work to discourage competitors with the threat of monetary damages.”

To speak with Amanda Greenspon, contact Robert Tharp at 214-559-4534 or robert@androvett.com.

 

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A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Originally published by The Movie Court.

From the desk of The Movie Snob.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night  (B-).  Somehow I missed this 2014 black & white foreign-language vampire flick during its original release, but happily a friend invited me to a special showing last night at the Alamo Drafthouse.  (Actually I tried to talk her into seeing Logan instead, but she wasn’t having it.  She’s been a big vampire fan ever since New Moon.)  It’s a weird movie, but interesting.  Our hero is some ordinary guy living in a bleak industrial town called Bad City.  His father is a junkie, and a drug dealer takes our hero’s beloved car because dad can’t pay his debts.  Then the drug dealer abuses a prostitute who works for him.  This draws the ire of our vampire (Sheila Vand, Argo), an ordinary-seeming woman who ghosts around town at night and can sprout fangs in a jiffy.  Later she menaces a little boy and takes his skateboard.  After that she meets our hero after he has gone to a costume party (as Dracula!), and instead of making a meal out of him she actually seems to start liking him.  But you’re never really sure if she’s eventually going to chomp on him or not; her affect is pretty flat.  More stuff happens after that, in a slow, moody, artsy kind of way.  It held my interest.

(I’m categorizing it as a foreign film because it’s in Farsi, but I have read that it was actually shot in California.  The director, Ana Lily Amirpour, is Iranian-American.)

This was my first trip to an Alamo Drafthouse, and it was a pretty interesting experience.  We got to our theater pretty early, and before getting to the real previews they showed a bunch film clips and trailers from cheesy old horror movies back-to-back.  It was fine to set the mood, I guess, but it made conversation difficult.  I got food, which I seldom do at movie theaters, and got a mediocre Royale Burger with Cheese and some cold fries out of the deal.  The seats were comfy, though.

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