Showing posts with label Lawyers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lawyers. Show all posts

Friday, January 7, 2011

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Lawyer Guidance

In the past there has been a stigma attached to bankruptcy, but the laws were designed to help individuals who are struggling with debt. A free consultation is usually available with a bankruptcy attorney, and it is during this consultation where the lawyer will help you decide if financial decision is the right one for you and if so, which chapter is most befitting.
Job loss, divorce, medical emergency, and now, economic recession are all things that may lead someone into considering filing bankruptcy. Setting up a free consultation with a lawyer is always advised before taking on the endeavor on your own, and it is during the initial meeting that your bills, debts, liabilities, assets, etc. will be addressed and a suggestion will be made as to whether the decision is the most beneficial for you and for you financial situation.
There are two types of personal bankruptcy: chapter 7 and chapter 13. Chapter 7 contains laws and rules that allow you a clean slate with creditors and even utility companies. You will typically liquidate your assets, and pay what you can. The companies that you owe will work a deal through your chapter 13 or chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer under which they will accept a certain percentage or a settlement on the amount owed with the understanding that the debts are then cleared. There will be no more harassing phone calls, no more threatening letters, and your credit can begin to build again. In this type of law, you may need to sell your home, cars, or other assets in order to meet the negotiated deal.
In a chapter 13, which will also be discussed in the free evaluation, all of your debts will be consolidated, and the debtors will again have to settle. Under these laws, however, you will also settle on a consolidation amount on which you will pay a monthly payment. It will not be as overwhelming as all the payments put together prior to filing; it will be an attainable financial obligation.
If you are beginning to think about filing bankruptcy, a consultation with a qualified chapter 13 or chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer is in order. He will not only advise as to which option is more suitable to your needs, but he will continue to guide you through the process until it is complete. He will become the contact on behalf of your debts, so not only your debts go away, but also so you can begin to regain peace of mind.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Hiring a Defense Lawyer

If you or a known one has recently passed into such legal difficulty, you are credibly speculative at what period you should hire an Austin criminal defense lawyer. There are a lot of things to regard and oftentimes the primary headache is cost. This is a fair refer to have considering that Austin defense lawyer fees can be very costly. All The Same, renting an Austin defense attorney early in the operation can often result in less large writes down the route.
What is an Austin Criminal Defense attorney?
An Austin criminal defense lawyer is individual who is On That Point to pass you through your legal trouble and defend you when necessary. The legal system of rules can be tricky and when you are in problem with the law it is remarkable to have someone who knows how to guide you through your subject. Depending on the hard-fought mindedness of your problem, the results could be much stronger than exists out a couple thousand dollars if you take up single mind to go it alone.
At what point Should I Engage an Austin Criminal Defense lawyer?
Ideally it willed be fine to have a lawyer from the moment you get arrested. While this is may not be functional it willed benefit you to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible after goes discharged from the holding cell after your arrest. If facing a more hard-fought crime an Austin defense Attorney or Lawyer should be hired immediately.
In most cases, even So, you will be let out and receive a date on which your arraignment takes position. An arraignment is a witnessing or hearing in which you hear what you are goes challenging with and is willed an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty. You may also have a chance after the arraignment to contact with the prosecuting attorney. This is just one reason why it is highly helpful to have advised available to you at this place, given that this is a suffering you do not want to run into by yourself.
Speaking to your Austin Defense lawyer prior to the arraignment will allow you to have a accomplished understanding of the points that are exists added against you earlier you still set foot in a courtroom. Maybe more significantly, you will understand the range of penalties you could face should you be found ashamed. This will give you the ability to weigh the professionals and cons of fighting your charge versus looking for a supplication bargain.
Fighting a charge can be a painful and emotional operation. The personal stand and comfort you obtain from having someone who has been there ahead and knows his or her way around the legal system of rules is invaluable. Just having them there can take each and every step along the mode much less punishing.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Do I Need a Criminal Defense Lawyer If I Know I Am Innocent? By Frank G Sabo

Although our law enforcement system is founded on identifying and accusing those guilty of crimes, innocent people can sometimes find themselves facing criminal charges. Unfortunately, if you're accused of a crime, you'll most likely need to follow the same steps to protect yourself, whether you committed the crime or not.
If you're accused by law enforcement of criminal behavior, you should seriously consider hiring an experienced criminal defense lawyer who can represent you when speaking to police or the prosecutor before charges are filed. Your attorney may be able to quickly clear up misunderstandings or misperceptions. After charges are filed, it's always more difficult to convince authorities that you didn't commit the alleged crime and criminal proceedings will proceed.
Even if you're innocent and want to clear things up immediately, it's not a good idea to try to plead your case with the police on your own. What you tell them may put you in a more serious position than where you started.
In the event that you've been accused of committing a crime, here are a few steps you should take to protect yourself-whether you're guilty or innocent:
• Don't argue or physically resist an officer of the law if he tries to arrest you, even if you're innocent. If the arrest is legal, resisting will just bring additional charges against you, if the arrest isn't appropriate, you'll be able to file charges at a later time.
• Don't resist an officer's search; if the arrest is legal, the officer has a right to search you.
• If an officer identifies himself and asks to speak with you regarding a crime, you don't need to provide much more information than your name, address and a brief explanation of your actions.
• If an officer believes he has the appropriate cause to seek a warrant, you may be placed under arrest. Warrants aren't required by the arresting officer if he believes that a warrant is outstanding in another state, he sees you commit a crime, or he has strong reason to believe that you did commit the crime in question.
• If you are arrested, you should be advised of your rights including the right to remain silent. You are not obligated to answer questions during an officer interrogation or sign any documents without the presence of your attorney. If you didn't commit the crime, it's especially important to take care with what you say.
• You should contact a criminal defense attorney when given your opportunity to make telephone calls. If you can't afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you by the state. Talk to your attorney about what you should expect and how to protect your innocence.
• Make sure you're told why you've been arrested, what the charges are and when you'll be "booked."
• Get a receipt that lists all of the personal items that were taken from you when you entered custody.
Being accused of a crime is serious business-even if you didn't commit the crime and are a victim of unfortunate circumstances. Protect your rights and avoid making the situation worse by being unfamiliar with the law.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hollywood and the Rhetoric of Race

Cynthia D. Bond, The John Marshall Law School, has published Laws of Race/Laws of Representation: The Construction of Race and Law in Contemporary American Film, at 11 Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law 219 (2010). Here is the abstract.

Within hours of the soul-stirring and nation-lifting election of Barack Obama as president, journalists and pundits were announcing the demise of all prior notions of race in America. Even during the campaign itself, narratives of a "post-racial" America were bandied about. But the historic nature of Obama’s ascendance does not obliterate or transcend the vast history of race and racial representation in America. The representational techniques of the construction of both law and race in popular film are deeply interdependent. Both law and film are story-telling, narrative systems. Race is also a narrative system in which visual representation is key. The significance of the visual apprehension of race is deeply relevant to the legal construction of race as well. (For example, in early citizenship cases and racial “passing” cases which persisted through the latter part of the 20th century.) Since society constructs racial categories in large part by visual identification and experience, all visual media, including film, necessarily participate in the constitution of race. Thus, films do not simply depict supposedly free-standing, objective, racial categories naturalized by the dominant discourse, but instead actually participate in the creation of race. As part of standard Hollywood practice, the mainstream film audience is constructed through identification with a norm of “whiteness.” Since that audience, when viewing a law film, is actively involved in constituting the law as part of its spectatorship, it follows that mainstream films construct law from the perspective of white privilege. The consequences and effects of this cinematic construction of law are many. This article discusses three main effects: 1) the raced construction of the lawyer-hero; 2) the denial or displacement of the law’s role in constructing race and race-based discrimination; and 3) the suppression or revision of politics and political history.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The McCarthy Hearings

The New York Times reminds us that on this day in 1954, attorney Joseph Welch faced down Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. On behalf on his young colleague Fred Fisher, whom McCarthy had assailed indirectly as a Communist because he was a member of the National Lawyers Guild, Welch stormed,"[U]ntil this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness." According to the Times, he went on, "If there is a God in heaven, it [the attack on Mr. Fisher] will do neither you nor your cause any good." Members of the audience applauded Welch.

Welch later went on to be cast as the judge in Otto Preminger's film Anatomy of a Murder, opposite Jimmy Stewart as Paul Biegler, Ben Gazzara as Frederick Manion, and Lee Remick as Laura Manion. He also was a guest host on the Kraft Television Theatre and had some other hosting roles on television.