Helpful Articles
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Attorneys as “Independent Contractors”
Principal attorneys and directors of law firms should be aware that the United States Tax Court reclassified contract attorneys of a personal-injury law firm as employees of the firm, and therefore subject to the employment tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. The ruling against the professional corporation law firm was for more than $150,000.00 in tax and approximately $10,000.00 in penalty. The law firm appealed the decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on June ... -
After a Commercial Vehicle Collision--Steps to Follow
Commercial vehicles, of course, must adhere to stricter rules. There are special laws that apply to the oversized trucks or buses. Since the vehicles share the roads with passenger cars, mass casualties may follow. Hence, collisions with commercial trucks or oversized vehicles have complex issues. They require in-depth inquiry as to who's at fault. In this case who's responsible for damages. Does the company own the vehicle, the driver or is it leased? Filing a Legal Claim The commercial ... -
Can your life insurance company take advantage of you?
Recently, I watched a 60-minute news story about how some of the largest life insurance companies don’t pay benefits even when they know the policyholder has died. Insurance companies claim that it is up to policyholders’ beneficiaries to contact the insurance company and to file a claim in order to collect whatever death benefit may be due them. But if beneficiaries are unaware of the policy, they don’t know to file a claim. Do you want to know another scary fact? The news reporte... -
How Good Is Your Power of Attorney & Do You Know?
Family Elder Law is pleased to offer the legal column entitled “From the Attorney’s Desk,” authored by Jason A. Penrod, B.C.S., CELA. Jason is board certified as an Elder Law Expert by the Florida Bar and the National Elder Law Foundation. He is also the founder of Family Elder Law with offices in Lake Wales, Lakeland, and Sebring, Florida. The column addresses legal issues of particular interest to our readers. In addition, the columnist answers individual q... -
Indemnification or Comparative Fault: Should A Tortfeasor's Right to Receive "Ryan Indemnity" in Maritime Law Sink or Swim in the Presence of Comparative Fault?
https://www.fuiaxislaw.com/publications/... -
The “Princess Di Problem” of Convertible Note Financings
http://www.mcoblaw.com/documents/Article_Princess-Di-Problem.pdf... -
What SAFEs Might Actually Tell Us About the Angel Financing Market
http://www.mcoblaw.com/documents/What-SAFEs-Might-Actually-Tell-Us.pdf... -
Introducing the Founder Accord
http://www.mcoblaw.com/Forum.aspx... -
The Correct Way to Dispute Inaccurate Credit - 4 Easy Steps
There are many strategies when it comes to disputing derogatory information on your credit report(s). You can find dozens of different ideas and samples on line, or you can hire a credit repair professional or a lawyer. The Big 3 credit bureaus, (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), allow you to file your disputes on their respective web sites if you wish. I’ve seen disputes of all kinds: disputes that quote the law, disputes that are threatening, dispu... -
Push Came to Shove in Attempted Murder and Aggravated Kidnapping Case
After 2 years of arguing, litigating, trials and playing a legal “game of chicken”, my client’s final case was dismissed this week. When I met him, he was in the Illinois Department of Corrections on a violation of probation for a drug case. The cause for the violation? He was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon by a felon 720 ILCS 5/24-1.1. He was at a party with a dozen others and when the police busted in and took everyone outside, they produced a firearm from inside ... -
Using Arguments in Academic Writing
Arguments are an important or in fact the most important part of any academic writing. It is up to you to write and craft arguments and they make up a very important part of your assignment. It is with these arguments that you present your evidence and hen use it to further make your way to the final conclusion. Some students also use academic writing software to fix and improve the mechanics of your academic paper. Some also use online services like Dissertation Writing Service UK to get profe... -
Drug User or Drug Dealer?
When it comes to drugs, any kind, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, ecstasy or pills, they have to start somewhere and end somewhere. This may seem obvious but what that could mean for a person who is arrested for a drug charge is the difference between being charged as a drug dealer or as a drug user. The difference is a fine line with enormous criminal consequences. When people imagine drug dealers they think of two categories of dealers. First is the guy on the street who makes hand to hand deals ... -
Now, More Than Ever, Arbitration is the Way to GO!
by Anthony C. Adamopoulos Anthony is a divorce arbitrator, collaborative attorney and divorce mediator. His office is in Salem. A recent decision of our Appeals Court, Gravlin v. Gravlin, is good news for those facing divorce. For collaborative divorce attorneys and divorce mediators, the decision confirms that arbitration is the viable alternative to court litigation for resolving a single issue or even taking the place of a full court trial... -
My Advice for Divorce Month
By: Anthony C. Adamopoulos, Divorce Arbitrator, Mediator & Collaborative Lawyer Divorce Month is here. In 2016, I saw one of the saddest, unnecessary, adversarial divorces ever. The cost in emotions, future harmony and money was enormous and unnecessary. So again, I urge everyone who is facing divorce to consider seriously staying out of the public adversarial divorce system. It will hurt and it will hurt way into the future. Staying out of the “system” g... -
Recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals Decision Highlights the Legal Cost of Regulation to Business in Wisconsin
Regulation can be a political football, and many Packerland businesses would like to see Mason Crosby kick the costs of it off of their balance sheet. Agencies tend to have established policies and practices which are not as flexible as businesses want or need. It is not uncommon for a small business to find itself in a situation where a regulation or a rule feels like it should not apply to them, but does. Consider a recent decision of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals over a costly zoning ... -
"Parents Know Best...But Who Controls Your Children's Future"
There are no two identical parenting styles. Parents can be a combination of strict, hovering, laid back, or authoritative. Despite differing parenting styles, I believe that most parents are just trying to provide the best life for their kids, with the goal that they grow to be well adjusted members of society. In trying to obtain this goal, from a child’s birth parents make endless choices, both little and big, including what they eat, where they live, what they w... -
Crossing the Line: Parallel Proceedings or Abuse of the Investigative Process
Problems Inherent with Parallel Proceedings In United States v. Stringer, the defendants Kenneth Stringer, Mark Samper, and William Martin were charged with fifty counts of conspiracy and securities fraud. The defendants were executives of FLIR Systems, Inc. (“FLIR”). Shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) began investigating the defendants, Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) Charles Gorder (“Gorder”) met with an officer from the SE... -
E-Filing: The Good, Bad, and Ugly.
E-FILING. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. By Timothy Culhane In the advent of computers, electronic filing (e-filing) has be- come a phenomenon within the judicial system. The emer- gence of e-filing has led to cost and time savings, things every lawyer appreciates. The federal courts were the first to delve into the area of e-filing, followed by state and coun- ties. E-filing began with a system called P.A.C.E.R (... -
Five Common Issues Surrounding Student Loans
Are you considering taking out a student loan, or are you already working toward paying one off? For many just on the brink of leaving high school, it may seem like a lot of headache and expense filling out college applications, deciding where to go depending on acceptance, and then trying to get student loans to begin with. The U.S. Department of Education states, however, that college graduates not only earn 66 percent more and have less chance of dealing with unemployment in their... -
What Is "Defamation Per Se"?
We lawyers like to write about two types of libel and slander: defamation per se, and defamation per quod. Using Latin terms makes us sound smart, we think. Unfortunately, most of us don't know what we're talking about.The problem isn't that the lawyers are stupid, but that the courts use the terms inconsistently (since judges don't speak Latin any better than lawyers do).Many lawyers will tell you that defamation per se refers to that heightened level of defamation for claims deemed...