Are you considering getting or writing your own follow" target="_blank" href="http://www.usinfo.info/livingwill">living will? You might find it not really necessary. But if you want to take control of your life even at the time when you could not decide for yourself or speak up to have it your way, you need one. A living will could spare your family from the difficult task of deciding for your life. In case you get into a life threatening condition wherein there is a slim chance of survival, would they opt to have the medical team try to revive you or would they not opt to take the slim chance as there is a very remote possibility for success? You could decide. Here are some effective and helpful tips you could observe if you need to create your own living will at the soonest possible time.

Tip #1: Understand all available options

In general, experts advise people over the age of 18 years to have their own living will. The number of people choosing to create one is constantly increasing for practical and ethical reasons. You actually are not forced to write one. Explore your options. You should also take appropriate research about the whole procedure, the legal impediments, and all other important factors before your decide to call your lawyer and have one written.

Tip # 2: Pick an advocate or an executioner

You could have the details of your living will fully decided by you. You could also designate a person to make the significant decisions in case events are not covered by your own provisions. You surely want to make certain all your medical requests and wishes are carried out. You could pick a healthcare agent or backup proxy so that your living will would be carried out in case anything unfortunate happens to your designated person. Additionally, you could add an organ donation authority in your living will.

Tip # 3: Bulletproof choices

Have your familys consent or the advice of your religious adviser when deciding which medical procedures to allow or disallow. This way, you could appropriately opt to include a Do Not Resuscitate order without incurring objections from the parties mentioned. The same goes if you are considering attachment of breathing devices, feeding tubes, and facilitation of dialysis.

Tip # 4: Write your own living will

You could start by writing your own living will by yourself. However, it would not be valid, legal, and effective unless notified by a certified lawyer. The living will could incur a minimal legal cost, so do not worry that much. You need to consider the effective legislations and policies in your nation or state. There could be certain terms and provisions in your document that could not be allowed in any way by the law.

Tip # 5: Update your living will regularly

It is important to always update your living will. There might be additional provisions and terms you want to include in it. Or there would be particular procedures you want to omit. By the way, do not forget to make a number of copies. Distribute one each to your doctor, family members, and agents. Keep a copy of your living will to yourself.

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Many people have certainly heard about living will, but not all

of them are familiar about what it is all about. It may be true that living will may not be a necessity, but it is

very important. There are many things you should know about it:

What People Should Know About Living Will

THE ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM

Before one considers what laws are and how they are introduced into a society or a circumstance, it is necessary to consider...

WHY WE HAVE LAW

People's behaviour, sometimes, may lead to generally undesirable outcomes, injurious to one or more others physically or as repugnant. People have sought to establish some rules, to enable the smooth functioning of the societies in which they live, of a kind that themselves can sanction to avoid chaos.

WHAT ARE LAWS

The set of rules that regulate behaviour are laws; and those that regulate human behavior in ways that they can be legally sanctioned if breached are men's Legal Laws.

What the should be the basis of such rules, the extent of the limitations on man's actions, who and how should decide and organize them, apply the sanctions -with what safeguards against injustice and as defined by whom and how, and the growth of society -necessitating variations of them, and other such considerations, are essentially, also part of Law.

There has been the Authoritarian View -that law's intention should be to prevent wickedness, and the moral welfare of the society; and there has been the Libertarian View -that private morality and immorality is one's own business and not of law: e.g., the Misrepresentations Act 1967.

THE AIM OF LAW

The Libertarian view has been mostly preferred, aiming to ensure two things:-

1. Primarily, with minimum conflict with natural law, rules for the survival of the society (e.g. regarding murder, theft -mostly criminal in nature), against human greed and aggression.

2. Secondarily, to make allowance for growth, and complex situations by way of...

a. A system of adjudication for the settling of e.g. mercantile disputes

b. A system of who and how to change the rules as and when necessary

c. A system of recognition of the primary rules themselves as legal rules.

In a non-complex society an elected body should make, and publicize, and sanction, above all, Criminal Law (rules intended primarily for a simple society with a unity of purpose which is, above all, survival -regarded as being best ensured by considering it most important that the norm should not be

deviated from, to enable cohesion and solidarity).

In a complex society there being no unity of purpose and the emphasis being on the interdependency of the members of the society, deviance would not be the most important consideration, and the purpose and the function of any law would be, chiefly, between conflicting individual interests, to maintain a reasonable balance, mostly by Civil Law -for which reason in e.g. European Law the interests of the individual are paramount to those of the state.

ENGLISH LAW

Classification of English Law is as being, both, affected by, and incorporating in part -and increasingly, international law; it comprises of...

INTERNATIONAL LAW and NATIONAL LAW

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Britain must respect and meet the expectations of various international agreements in the application of its laws -whether binding on it or not, to maintain its political standing among other countries; and, often, such expectations are met by its own, voluntary, incorporating of such laws into English law. This is done, mostly, as a condition of its membership of the European Union, as and when it is directed by Europe -as in the case of the level of its water-purity and the European directive regarding a standard common to all member states of it, and as in the case of the requirement to treat as binding on itself e.g. the Single European Act 1986.

NATIONAL LAW

National Law, on the other hand, is that which is made by the state, for the state, and in Britain by its Parliament, intended, within the state, in this case within Britain alone -with variations for Scotland and Northern Ireland, to ensure the non-anarchic organizing and running of the society, in respects from less of consequence to those fundamental, increasingly as written-law, as:-

PRIVATE LAW and PUBLIC LAW

PRIVATE LAW

Private Law regulates the dealings of the individuals with each other within the state, under such headings as:-

Family Law, Tort, Property Law, Commercial Law

Family Law is a good example of the laws in this category; it deals with matters between individuals such as marriage, divorce, and matters arising as related rights -such as the custody of children, e.g. the Family Law Reform Act 1969.

Tort or Torts -as some prefer to call it (from the French word meaning wrong, or wrongs), is the private individual's right -if without financial assistance from the state s/he can, not to be civilly wronged by another, sometimes by an organization, in respects not contractual, sometimes including such as, with a very fine distinguishing line, may fall short of being criminal ~e.g. negligence, or the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957.

Property Law, also called Land Law, deals with matters of property, such as land that in practice is regarded as personal -although 'all land belongs to the Crown', and including matters of dispute over minerals under it and treasure trove, as well as dwellings on it and fittings, often dealt with by the Courts of Chancery -e.g., the Law of Property Act 1925.

Commercial Law comprises of laws of major importance in the dealings of individuals with others, such as:-

Mercantile Law, Consumer Law, and the Law of Contracts

Mercantile Law is the original body of laws that governed commercial dealings ~it was so called because it involved dealings of merchants with each other. As it developed, it concerned itself also with dealings between merchants and the consumer, and the occasional agreements between the individuals -which later grew into separate laws themselves. Almost exclusively, it deals with such matters as competition between traders, trademarks and patents, and e.g., bills of exchange under the Bills of Exchange Act 1982.

Consumer Law is from laws-merchant; it regulates the dealings of the individuals with merchants as to, e.g., the quality, and return, of goods purchased, deeming existent a collective contract between the consumers and any trader, as in the Sale of Goods Act 1977(as amended).

Contract Law is about the, not necessarily regular, agreements of individuals with others, on specific terms offered and accepted (unless under duress or by coercion), intending it to be legally binding, for consideration in return, e.g., under the Misrepresentations Act 1967.

PUBLIC LAW

This branch of the law governs the relationships between the state and other states, and between the individual and the state, under such major headings as:-

Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Criminal Law

Constitutional Law is about the system, the framework, of who and how, and how come to, govern, by which laws how made and applied, as the state; e.g., the Parliaments Acts 1911, 1914.

Administrative Law defines and controls the limits of government, mostly protecting against absolute power, enabling complaints and appeals against the state -e.g., the Human Right Act 1998.

Criminal Law regulates such conduct of the individuals as are regarded to be against the society, actionably, punishably, by the state; e.g. Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LAW

The differences are, mainly, these:-

Public Law are those categories of law, such as Administrative, Constitutional, Criminal, which involve the conduct of the state in relation to itself, or in relation to society generally, through one or more individuals, or the conduct of the individual against the society -mostly through one or more other individuals, in representing the society.

Private Law, i.e., Family, Tort, Property, Commercial -with its branches, chiefly, involves the state as only the arbitrator in personal or collective dealings between the individuals.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRIMINAL LAW AND CIVIL LAW

IF IT IS CRIMINAL LAW

1. It is Public Law

2. It is between the state and the individual or organization

3. The state (Crown Prosecution Service) complains, prosecutes)

4. It is registered as R v- name of the accused (R = Rex/Regina the monarch)

5. Proof is the states, beyond reasonable doubt

6. It is dealt with by Magistrates, or by Crown Court

7. It is Not Guilty or Guilty and a Sentence imprisonment/community-service/fine and trial costs unless on legal assistance

IF IT IS CIVIL LAW

1. It is Private Law

2. Its is between individual/s and/or organization/s

3. The individual/s or the organization sues

4. It is Complainant (plaintiff) v- Defendant (their names)

5. Proof is on a balance of probabilities

6. It is dealt with by a County Court or the High Court

7. It is a Judgment and the winner is awarded a remedy and, normally, costs

THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS IN ENGLAND

The Sources of English Law

Main sources of law in England are:-

1. Legislation -including Delegated Legislation...

2. Precedent (Judge-made law) -which mostly comprises of the Laws of England and Wales and as (differently) applied in Northern Ireland (the basis being same of the slightly differing Scottish Law -and of the laws of many countries of the British Commonwealth)...

3. European Union Law -which is increasingly becoming the major source of English Law (expecting compliance with also the European Convention on Human Rights -the enhanced version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) -e.g., the Human Rights Act 1998 (implemented in 2000) incorporated into English and all United Kingdom law.

The Legislator, is the Parliament.

The Parliament is the House of Commons, and, the House of Lords -with the Monarch.

The House of Commons are the elected representatives ~mostly from political parties -with committees and 'whips' (who deal, mostly, with the discipline of their members). By "the supremacy of Parliament", in fact, is meant the 'supremacy' of this House -since the Parliament Acts 1911 & 1949 it can bypass the House of Lords, and, since Queen Anne, in 1707, conventionally, to every Act of it the Monarch always assents.

The House of Lords are the unelected representatives, so knighted by the Monarch, some as Hereditary Lords (the eldest son inherits the title) and many increasingly as Life Peers -almost always upon the recommendation of the political parties themselves; the numbers were limited of them with voting rights by the government at the beginning of the 21st century and its members have been considered that should be selected by a panel appointed by government. Its Right to Veto the Commons has been, since 1911, inconsequential, and since 1949 within a year invalid -it serves in effect as a chamber of second opinion and its decisions are not binding on the House of Commons and occasionally have not been followed.

The Monarch, since 1707, may not veto Parliamentary Legislation; but, must formally assent to it -although she does not personally sign it, before it can become legislation.

Legislation is a law, in the form of a Statute. It is formally enacted -or made, by or by the authority of the Parliament, effective when assented to, as an Act of Parliament.

Acts of Parliament, 'Statutes' are laws, produced by the Parliament, and comprise also of less important law, with the authority of the Parliament, as Delegated Legislation.

Delegated Legislation enables the management of major Legislation by the Legislator -Health & Safety Act 1974, the COSSH Regulations 1988.

Statutory Instruments by the Executive's ministers, through other bodies, make effective such Legislation as about health and safety, transport, and as about social-security and taxation.

Orders in Council are by the Monarch with the Privy Council, in cases of emergency -also on appeal from some Commonwealth countries.

By-Laws are made, mostly, by Local Councils (Town Halls as, or as part of, County Halls) -by locally and independently elected town or county mayors and councilors with knowledge of their individual districts.

The advantages of delegating legislation is that it enables saving time, expertise, and flexibility; the disadvantages are that it gives wide powers to make laws without debate and which may not be as much publicized as the Acts of Parliament themselves and as much known to the public.

Legislating

A Bill is a proposed legislation normally producing an Act of Parliament -it normally begins with one or another type of Bill being introduced.

Types of Bills

The type of a Bill depends on who propose the legislation -as follows...

Public Bills by government, proposing legislation affecting the nation as a whole -were so introduced the Criminal Disorder Act 1998, and, the Access to Justice Act 1999.

Private Member's Bills by members of Parliament, which may be of national effect -the Arbitration Act 1967, the Disability Discrimination Act 1996, both, began so.

Private Bills by individuals, through a member of Parliament, affecting fewer -such a bill proposed the University College London Act 1996.

A Bill, with slightly variations depending on its type, before becoming Law, goes through a number of stages.

Stages of a Bill

The Stages of a Bill are, sometimes strictly, with adherence to set procedures, Readings, at both the House of Commons and the House of Lords:-

The First Reading involves formally, mostly, Naming the Bill, with its date, and making available printed copies of it, normally, with no, or very little, debate on it...

The Second Reading involves Explaining the Bill -debating its general principles, and voting on it...

The Committee Stage involves the political parties, which are represented proportionately, putting forward their views -or expert opinion being obtained on it; and at the Report Stage the House being informed of these and the Bill being voted on.

'Division' sometimes takes place on how to vote on the Bill among the Members of Parliament, and when so, an Eight-Minute Break is allowed them and their Party Whips to discuss it and to decide how to vote on it.

The Third Reading, usually, is, with any verbal amendments to the Bill, the final vote.

This procedure is followed by both of the Houses of Parliament, except that Bills may begin not at the House of Lords if they are to do with such matters as taxation.

The Royal Assent involves the Signing of a Bill that has gone through all of its previous stages successfully, by the Monarch ~but the Monarch need not, and does not, personally sign it -conventionally, the Monarch does not refuse; and, unless stated that it will become so after a time interval, from then on a Bill becomes formally an Act of Parliament, Law which often authorizes delegated legislation too.

It is considered essential to inform the public of the laws proposed and of the laws made, and this is done, at different stages, by way of publishing a White Paper, a Green Paper, and a Statute -delegated legislation also being made in printed form publicly available.

These procedures may sometimes be confusing: e.g., section 6 of Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1985 was a Bill introduced as being intended to be of psychological effect only and not of any legal effect before passing all of its stages and becoming Law.

JUDGE MADE LAW

Precedent, briefly. Britain, unlike the USA and the European Union countries, not having a Written Constitution, Codes of Law enacted by the representatives of the people, English Law is based on Common Law -judge-made law ~judges interpret and (also in those criminal cases where that it is increasingly considered by the government that should not sit juries) apply the law.

Where 'Written Law' -an Act of Parliament, does exists, they do so under Rules formulated by the English Courts, such as:-

The Literal Rule -where the Court does not consider the written law to require judicial interpretation, literally taking the words of the Statute

The Golden Rule -if they consider the literary meaning to be, e.g., absurd of any Written Law, interpreting it as they would consider not perverse.

The Mischief Rule -if the Court considers it must interpret the purpose of the written law -the Intentions of Parliament, which they do under the Interpretations Act 1889 -barring reference to the Hansard (the official transcript of all words spoken in the Parliament -placed in its library).

These Rules are sometimes confusingly stated, and in relation to appeals, e.g. from cases under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, its is stated that "no issue of law arises if the Tribunal simply misunderstood or misapplied the facts" -following reference to precedent that an issue of law arises if a decision is "inconsistent with the evidence".

A Decision, in English Law, consists of two parts, the 'Ratio Decidendi', and the 'Obiter Dicta' -the former being Precedent, the binding part, which sets out what the Principle is ~the latter being things said by the way -which are not binding but may be persuasive.

Until the late 1990's English courts and tribunals did not have to give reasons for their decisions, including in civil cases in which juries do not normally sit in Britain -European Law now requires them to do so, often if within a specific period of time ask to do so.

The Principle, unless 'distinguished' becomes 'Precedent' binding on all lower courts, and in the case of the Court of Appeal also on itself.

Precedent are reported by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting in the Weekly Law Reports (WLR) officially, and privately in e.g., the All England Law Reports (AELR).

Precedent, to all intents and purposes, is Law until it is reversed by a higher national Court or by the European Court, or becomes obsolete by an Act of Parliament, or by European Union Law.

Judge-made Law is regarded mainly to have the advantage of being not rigid and enabling for changes more quickly than it may take parliament to make them -its disadvantage is considered to be that unlike as in the case of Codes it is law which is not by elected representatives of people.

PARLIAMENTARY SUPREMACY

The Presumption of the Supremacy of the British Parliament in respect of English Law is, briefly, based on the Monarch no longer refusing to give assent to a Bill passed by the Parliament, coupled with that of Precedent being in line with the Intentions of Parliament.

The Inconsistency of that presumption has been proposed on the fact of the European Law (including the decisions of the European Court and of its 'national branches' which are empowered to declare any law made by the British Parliament 'not law' and of no legal effect where it is the view of Europe that Britain ought not to have such a law -e.g., for the reason that it contravenes the Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights) being binding on the United Kingdom Government and on its Courts -as on all other member states of it.

Laws in the European Union states continue increasingly and rapidly to change in the course of commonization of various laws, and in Britain, within a short time of a Department of Constitutional Affairs being created in addition to the Lord Chancellors Department, also a Ministry of Justice was added it is wise when it may otherwise be of consequence to always ascertain what current laws are.

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Taxation Law in Michigan

There are more than 52 taxes from both the state and local entities in Michigan, but they all fall into one of the five main types of taxes levied against individuals or businesses. These are

• Income taxes
• Sales taxes
• Property taxes

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• Transportation taxes
• Business and privilege taxes.

Through these, the state of Michigan and the local governments earn enough money to support the public programs and services offered.

The most well known tax is the state and local sales tax. Since every individual and business makes purchases, all residents and nonresidents of Michigan pay this tax. The income taxes are those placed upon earnings. Closely resembling the federal income tax, these are the most well known next to the sales tax.

The business and privilege taxes are those paid by businesses and for gambling. These also include various service taxes for statewide services. Since business taxes can be very complicated, many businesses have in house accountants or they seek outside assistance in the filing.

Transportation taxes are included in the price of gasoline, vehicle registration, other types of transportation, and fuel. Income from these is used in the building and maintenance of roadways.

The last category of Michigan taxes includes some of the most hotly contested taxes. Property taxes include those levied on property for the state and local education funds, utilities, real estate transfers, and estate taxes. Many also call estate taxes death taxes as they are levied on an estate after a death.

To learn more about Michigan Taxation Law please contact Demorest Law Firm.

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nal nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:mross@law-scribe.com">mross@law-scribe.com

I read with interest the recent San Diego Bar Association Opinion on outsourcing and offshoring. Although it hasnt attracted quite the press attention, or comment within the various legal offshoring and outsourcing blogs as did the 2006 New York State Bar Opinion, it clearly reinforces the same conclusion reached in the New York Opinion: outsourcing legal services is permitted if certain safeguards are ensured.

I have no intention of simply re-hashing the full text of the Opinion here in my blog but refer you to the following link http://www.sdcba.org/ethics/ethicsopinion07-1.htm for the Opinion in all its glory.

The Opinion considered a hypothetical case where a California attorney was instructed to defend an intellectual property dispute. The attorney had limited experience in intellectual property litigation and contracted with an offshore legal services company in India to provide legal research, correspondence, and other services in connection with the case. The fees charged by the legal offshore service company were significantly lower than American lawyers would have charged for the same work. None of the Indian attorneys were licensed to practice in any US jurisdiction. The California attorney reviewed the work he received from the offshore company, signed all court submissions, and performed all communications with opposing counsel.

The question was raised: Does an attorney assist in the unauthorized practice of law, in violation of California Rule of Professional Conduct 1-300, when he or she uses the services of an outsourcing firm to perform research and drafting services on behalf of a client?

The Opinion then goes on to provide an overkill of analysis as to whether the work performed by the offshore legal service provider came within the definition of the unauthorized practice of law. I see no reason to delve into this any further other than to say that the unanimous conclusion was, NO, the service provided by the offshore provider did not fall within the practice of law as defined by the Rules of Professional Conduct. If the offshore company had been providing legal services directly to the client then it would have been engaged in the unauthorized practice of law; but this was not the issue presented by this particular example. Here, the California attorney consistently exercised his own professional judgment and never allowed the work-product to reach the client without passing through his own review.

It is clear from the New York and San Diego Opinions that an attorney does not aid in the unauthorized practice of law if he retains both supervisory control and full responsibility for tasks that constitute the practice of law.

From a practical point of view, a much more valid issue for debate is whether an attorney is ethically obligated to inform his or her client of an arrangement with an outsourcing company. The Opinion indicates that the duty to inform the client is determined by the client's reasonable expectation as to who will perform those services.

If the work to be performed by the outside service is within the client's "reasonable expectation under the circumstances" that it will be performed by the attorney, the client must be informed when the service is "outsourced". Conversely, if the work is not such that it is within the client's reasonable expectation that it will be performed by the attorney, the attorney is not necessarily required to inform the client of the arrangement.

Unfortunately this seems to be an overly simplistic and static view of the attorney/client relationship and the ever changing world of legal support services. I concur that the drafting of motions and pleadings on a particular case comes within the current definition of what a client would have reasonable expectations would be performed by their instructed attorney. However, in the technologically advanced world we now live in, I doubt that most clients would be surprised to learn that their transcription, document coding, and other litigation support services were being outsourced. If this is true, then surely reasonable expectation that the work should be performed by the attorney becomes a moot point.

Also, the Opinion only really considers the here and the now. A clients reasonable expectations are not static, immovable, and unchanging over time. The legal industry now operates in a global marketplace and clients are evermore sophisticated and accepting of the concept of globalization. A clients reasonable expectations today will be vastly different tomorrow. Within a very short period of time I believe that this argument will become redundant. Soon, a clients only reasonable expectation will be that the quality and confidentiality of the work-product is maintained by whoever completes it, wherever he or she may be. In fact, I would go as far to say that we are not far from the day when a clients reasonable expectations will be that work-product should be outsourced to the most efficient and cost-effective provider!

The Opinion went on to consider, from a practical standpoint, the checks and balances that an attorney should bring into play before contracting with an offshore legal service provider. These points make for some informative reading, although they are of course really only basic common sense.

The general duty of competence requires attorneys to evaluate the quality and reliability of the company providing offshore/outsourced legal services. The extent of that evaluation depends on the facts of each case. This is where the Opinion provides a practical insight into what attorneys should be looking at before blindly offshoring their legal work. The following is a non-exhaustive checklist you should follow to ensure compliance with the duty of competence.

(a) Due diligence: Investigate pertinent background information about the offshore legal service provider company;

(b) Be aware of the qualifications of the individuals who will perform the work;

(c) Obtain references of the company or individuals assigned to perform the work;

(d) Always interview the company in advance;

(e) Request a sample of the work product that is comparable to your project;

(f) Communicate with the non-lawyer during the assignment to ensure that the non-lawyer understands the assignment and is executing it to your expectations;

(g) Review ethical standards with the individuals who will perform the work and incorporate the ethical standards into the terms of the contract with the company.

An additional duty of an attorney who outsources work is to maintain inviolate the confidence, and at every peril to himself or herself, to preserve the secrets, of his or her client. See Business & Professions Code section 6068(e). This is especially important as the legal and ethical standards applicable to foreign lawyers may differ from those applicable to domestic lawyers, particularly with respect to client confidentiality, the attorney-client privilege, and conflicts of interests.

The Opinion comments on one unfortunate example of a breach of confidentiality involving an outsourced project subcontracted to India. There, the subcontractor threatened to post confidential patient records on the Internet unless the UC San Francisco Medical Center retrieved money owed to the subcontractor from a middleman. (David Lazarus, Looking Offshore: Outsourced UCSF notes highlight privacy risk. How one offshore worker sent tremor through medical system, S.F. Chron., March 28, 2004.)

Attorneys need to carry out their own research into the confidentiality and security safeguards that the legal services offshoring company they are contemplating contracting with, has in place. See here for details on how LawScribe deals with these crucial concerns.

The Opinion concludes that although permitted outsourcing in no way dilutes the attorneys professional responsibilities to his or her client. California attorneys may satisfy their obligations to their clients in contracting with offshore legal service providers, but only if they have sufficient knowledge to supervise the outsourced work properly. It is crucial that they also make sure outsourcing does not compromise their other duties to their clients.

The legal outsourcing phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down and Im sure we can expect to receive more of the same from other State Bar Associations over the coming months.

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Well, it's time to start doing my own research into the apparent solution. No big eureka moments here, but gaining confidence that things are not as they seem... My heart know where it stands, so I hope my skills begin here... Thanks to scenicvideos for the use of the Video Background. Check him out @ www.youtube.com Common Law UCC Sovereignty Sovereign Freeman-on-the-land On The Land Maritime Admiralty Jurisdiction Citizen Voter Driver Passenger Guest Operator Debtor Bill Lawful Remedy Court Right to Travel Property Security of the Person Legalese Corporation Commerce Artificial Person Strawman Legal Persona Birth Certificate Situs Trust Commonwealth Crown Courts Cities Countries are For Profit INC SEC Stand Under Understand ? Tax State Federal Provincial Income Taxes Inalienable No Liens Allowed Constitution Charter of Rights and Freedoms Magna Carta Notary Notice of Understanding Declaration of Intent Claim of Rights Fee Schedule Given Name Family Name Christian Name Corporate Fiction Name Legal Definitions Research

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Laws in the United States, particularly Michigan.

PLEASE only knowledge answers...links to credible sources are fine also.

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Mark Ross

Mark Ross was formerly a partner at the UK law firm Underwoods Solicitors. Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession 07 refers to Underwoods as a highly influential flagship firm and model for other firms...It has pioneered offshoring of legal work. Mark oversaw the firm's applications for Investor in People and Lexcel (UK Law Society Quality Standard) accreditation. He also developed a case management system for the offshoring of personal injury cases to South Africa and immigrated to Los Angeles henceforth joined LawScribe in 2006. Mark is a regular speaker at legal conferences on outsourcing and offshoring and have had numerous articles published in legal journals on subjects as varied as: death of the hourly rate, liberalization of the Indian legal sector and the ongoing salary hikes by the US and UKs top law firms. His article calling for Accreditation and Self-Regulation for the Legal Process Outsourcing Industry has been widely acclaimed and published as a white paper
by the LPO Network, and the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP).

He is a professional member of the IAOP, and Chapter Chair of the IAOP Legal Outsourcing
Topic Chapter.

If you are planning to start your organization then there are certain things that you need to keep in mind very necessarily, however, the most important among them is that when hiring new employees, you must conduct civil litigation check as a compulsory part of apps.d-law.com/DLawPortal/faces/feature.jsp" target="_blank" title="pre-employment screening">pre-employment screening to know about the background of the person, you are going to hire. This type of background check also known as online legal research will not only give you detail information about the educational credentials and work experience of the person, but will also throw light on the legal history of the person (if any). This will help you to know whether the persons (who is going to be associated to your organization) name has been mentioned in any of the defendant records. Thus this type of civil check also referred as litigation check by many, will enable you to secure your business and conduct it safely.

Availing legal research services from a reputed and reliable source like D Law and getting it conducted for your organization is perhaps the most informative form of gathering valuable pre-employment history. Unlike a criminal history check, which only checks for actions in violation of a jurisdictions criminal code, civil litigation check provides a wide-array of relevant information. For example, this type of legal search services offered by a quality legal service provider; D Law, involves such diverse legal actions as torts, workers compensation, employment discrimination, bankruptcy, credit/debtor law, property, real estate and contracts, just to name a few. Understanding a potential hires involvement with any of these topics can prove to be invaluable to your business interests.

Therefore, as a savvy employer you must get these online legal research services to conduct a background check in order to verify all the necessary areas. And with the fact that D Law is a world famous legal service provider which provides civil litigation check services at the most genuine prices to its customers from all over the world, you dont have to worry about the authenticity of the services or the money matters at all.

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Introduction; Basics of Legal Research; Legal Citations View the complete course: ocw.mit.edu License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA More information at ocw.mit.edu More courses at ocw.mit.edu

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Michael lee

Michael lee is a freelance consultant in High court, Hong Kong and provides article and suggestion regarding civil litigation check. He also consults for background check and case record check and defendant record etc.

Legal transcription is one of the most outsourced jobs after medical transcription and business transcription and is proving to be highly helpful for law firms, business firms, non-profit organizations and attorneys. Most of the firms which offer legal transcription have their services offered in a highly competitive and time-bound manner for their clients, mainly in the United States and the UK. Legal transcription involves creating legal documents from recorded files of court proceedings and trials. Some of the legal transcription services being made available in these transcription facilities include verbatim transcription, legal letter transcription, wire tap transcription, correspondence transcription, and court transcriptions.

The need for these legal transcription services arises from the fact that lawyers handling civil and criminal cases require hard copies of proceedings at their offices. These can be pleadings, judgments, or interrogatories. To address the need for effective transcription of all these proceedings, most legal transcription service providers are offering their quality services for a wide range of clients which include:

Attorneys
Legal departments
Non-governmental organizations
Public prosecutors
Financial/banking firms
Insurance companies
State/Federal agencies and more

In legal transcription, hard copies are generated from either audio or video tapes which contain recorded legal proceedings. The need for quality and accuracy in transcription is important and to ensure accuracy levels of up to 99% in the transcribed documents, legal transcription providers have employed mostly law graduates and to guarantee quality, most firms also have in-house quality checks for errors and misspells. Most of these firms are also imparting high levels of training for their employees and often take care to update their knowledge levels regarding legal terms.

Security of legal documents is critical and to ensure high levels of security, most of these legal transcription providers are using internet security encryptions such as SSL for all online transfers of audio, video and processed legal documents. Since all legal documents are digitized and securely stored by outsourcing firms, retrieval of documents is easy, saving considerable time and effort.

Apart from legal transcription services, most of these firms also undertake a lot of other related services such as legal coding, legal research, litigation support, legal scoping, and court reporting. To serve clients better, all legal transcription firms are offering their services on a 24x7 basis. These firms have sufficient staffs and equipments to address all client requirements. The competitive, efficient and affordable services being provided by these legal transcription providers always ensure that law firms and attorneys have more time to concentrate on important matters, thereby serving their clients better.

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Improbable Research Colleciton #117: Swear Words The lengthiest spoken oath commonly required of witnesses in a formal legal trial is... action-packed. Related links: "Swear words": improbable.com

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Rajeev Rajagopal

Legal transcription outsourcing service involves legal transcription work where a variety of different legal voice files are converted into text formats. Managed Outsource Solutions (MOS) is a US company providing managed outsource solutions that are focused on several industries, including medical, legal, information technology and media.

It is a well known fact that being involved in a lawsuit or being part of the legal search is one of the most irritating, frustrating and tiring activity, one can be involved in. No matter which side of the lawsuit you belong to, it is always a tedious situation when you need to appear in the court or in front of the magistrate to defend yourself/business or company. Not only these, but it also consumes a lot of the hard earned money and kills the precious time of the person concerned. Undoubtedly it can be said that in the present times, due to various types of job limitation, financial crisis and many other problem, the chances of being involved in such type of activity have increased than before.

This is also because many times candidates seeking a good job uses ill approach for the sake of getting it or when they get a job, then to serve their personal interests ditch the organizations itself. This can be said also because it has been proved many times. Therefore in situation like these, what can be most helpful for you are the online legal research services. Legal search is the process of throwing light in the past life of the person concerned and bringing in forth all the desired information which will help other people and companies in passing a judgment regarding the person.

Services like these, which are also known as background check, as it primarily deals with the overall background of the person, will not only help you in securing your business and staying aloof of all such people and even the companies who might take undue advantage of your association with them, but will also bring you in the right position from where you can choose the best suited candidate from the list of applicants. Online legal research covers a vast range of offensive aspects like theft, robbery, bankruptcy, family dispute regarding land matters, real estate conflicts, violation of law and many more.

Thus with its umbrella covering the entire gamut, background check have proved to be of great help to the people, especially the medium and large scale firm who need to work with many other people whose past is practically unknown to the company and the recruitment agencies, who are the suppliers of employment services to a firm.

Therefore, keeping all the above mentioned factors in consideration, it would be true to say that getting legal search services from an experienced and genuine service provider like D-Law is always of great help. Also because they are indeed the best way of gathering all the necessary information related to the person concerned which will help the organization to select the best candidates from the lot.

For more information regarding civil litigation check and background check, please visit:

http://apps.d-law.com/DLawPortal/faces/legal.jsp or

http://apps.d-law.com/DLawPortal/faces/feature.jsp

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Legal Research doesn't have to be so hard. Check out this interesting ad to see what I mean...

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Michael lee

Michael lee is a freelance consultant in High court, Hong Kong and provides article and suggestion regarding online legal research - background review of companies. He also consults for company background check information and legal search services etc.

As the name suggests, Online legal research is a completely serious activity belonging to the category of legal group of works. They are absolute set of procedures which are carried out online with the main aim of finding out the statutes, cases, and regulations that can be cited in a brief as authority to support a litigant's position and to inform the judge of the controlling law in the jurisdiction. Legal search or as we may call it legal research in simple words, can be explained as the process of going through the legal history of the person concerned. Online legal search which is also referred as civil check or even as back ground check by many, is done so as to find out whether the person has been a part of the defendant record in the past or present or even to check whether he is involved in any type of offence; criminal or civil in nature.

This type of online legal search, which is also known as quick case record search, is one of the most important parts of pre-employment screening. This is because of the simple reason that legal search which is nothing but quick case record search helps tremendously in finding out the background of a person, thereby to making sure that he or she is not an offender by any chance. In the current global business scenario, which is highly advanced and practically dominated by the power of internet, there are many people in the world who misuse the facilities provided by the internet. They with the help of it, even fake their identities to grab a good job opportunity and thus establish their career. And it would absolutely not be wrong to say that these type of activities performed by any person can create severe problems for the organization who give them employment or even for other innocent people. Thus here comes the value of legal search or online legal search which is quicker and more effective and can greatly help the company or even individuals to stay away from all such wicked people.

Now-a-days, online legal research is preferred over simple legal search by most of the people and companies throughout the world because it is far more advanced and effective and thus can give better result. This is because internet is truly one of the fastest mediums of performing any kind of activity.

Therefore if you are a service provider of any nature and therefore need to work in association with some people, then the best way by which you can secure your organization and its business is by taking help of a service provider D-Law who provide legal research services. These service providers will carry out the activity of litigation check to make sure that the particular person who will be associated with your organization in any of the ways is not a part of any type of litigation record.

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virtual reference companion video to: bestofweb4lib.wordpress.com

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Michael lee

Michael lee is a freelance consultant, Hong Kong and provides article and suggestion regarding Online legal research, civil litigation check. He also consults for quick case record search, due diligence, background check etc.

The Legal Industry & Information Technology

Like all other industries, the legal industry is not insulated from the tremendous changes in information technology over the past decade, and the challenges and opportunities it presents. If anything, the changes have more bearing on law firms & departments because information management is at the core of what they do consulting with clients, colleagues or experts; increasing compliance & regulation demands, wading through a constantly expanding sea of legislation and case law; managing outsourcing partners; keeping abreast with latest developments; or managing a mountain of matter files.

Recent Trends

Perhaps the most significant change in the legal services industry the decline of relationship lawyering.

Recent times have seen increased competition, & changes in underlying market structure. There has been a continuing trend of decline of relationship lawyering. Traditionally strong relationships between law firms and corporates are eroding, with more companies opting for in-house legal departments, or shopping around for the best deal. Another significant trend is the increasing convergence of legal markets, where competition is as likely to come from a firm in another state or overseas as from a local firm. These & other developments are exerting greater pressures on legal firms to be more efficient, an it is imperative that attorneys spend their time analyzing information, rather than organizing or managing it.

Drivers of Technology Adoption by Legal Firms

Possibilities of Technology The primary driver of greater use of information technology by legal firms is developments in technology itself. New technologies & greater bandwidths allow great possibilities in the arenas of information management, productivity and remote collaboration. Information can be moved over the internet with greater security. And unlike yesteryear, law firms can access these technologies without hefty costs and the need to set up specialized IT departments.

In 2004, Forrester Research Inc estimated that some 39,000 legal jobs will have moved offshore by the end of 2008.

Outsourcing/Offhsoring Legal firms are now increasingly open to legal process outsourcing of tasks they traditionally held close - research, transcription, coding and even legal research and the drafting of legal documents. It is commonplace to see a NY based law firm, subletting research work to a team of professional lawyers & paralegals in Bangalore, India. This enables firms to majorly cut down costs & concentrate on core legal functions. But it also necessitates a greater need to communicate, collaborate & monitor the functioning of outsourcing vendors hundreds or thousands of miles away. Security is also an issue, since performance of the services often requires access to regulated consumer data or other sensitive data.

In 2004, almost 60% of lawyers worked at multi-office firms and over 10% of lawyers work at firms with ten or more offices.

Geographic Diversification As mentioned before, there is a distinct movement towards multiple office firms, with offices spread both nationally and globally. US based companies are now serving many foreign clients, or serving foreign interests of domestic clients. There was a significant presence of international clients in even the smallest law firms of 1 to 20 lawyers. There has also been a spate of global mergers and acquisitions of law firms in the new millennia. All this necessitates a greater need for communication, collaboration and information exchange between branches.

Regulatory Compliance - Since the implementation of Sarbanes Oxley Act came into effect, records management has become an essential requirement. Organizations are required by law to retain certain documents for predefined periods. Also, the amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect on December 1, 2006, and apply to any firm involved in litigation in the U.S. Federal Court system. The amendments mandate that companies be prepared for electronic discovery. Firms have to drastically alter the way they preserve, retrieve and produce electronic data.

Competition is coming both from firms spread across the nation & the globe, as well as consultants & advisors who were traditionally not considered part of the legal industry

Competition Because of the death of relationship lawyering, and one stop shopping by clients, firms cannot afford to be complacent anymore. Moreover, competition is as likely to come from the opposite end of the country or globe, as from local companies. Competition is also coming from other quarters, consultants and advisors who offer services that were previously the purview of lawyers. In this arena of intense competition, lawyers have to double up as rainmakers & networkers (legal business development) in addition to traditional roles.

IT Needs of the Legal Industry

Centralized Document Storage The legal profession generates a tremendous amount of digital information in the form of case files, contracts, court filings, exhibits, evidence, briefs, agreements, bills, notes, records and other office activity such as email. This information is the firms collective knowledge & learning which sets it apart from competition and needs to be retrieved again and again. Compliance also requires certain documents to be stored & retrievable for extended periods of time. Attorneys across different offices need to access and collaborate on this information.

In 2007, 53% percent of lawyers used a PDA outside of the office, 32% to check e-mail.

ABA Law Tech Report 2007

Remote Access Ready access to crucial documents and information can sometimes be all the difference between a favorable or adverse judgment. Lawyers now have wings on their feet visiting clients, interviewing experts, or attending outstation court proceedings, and are often out of office. It is important that they are able gain LAN like access to documents from the firms repository even when theyre not at the office premises.

Document Collaboration It is not enough to only be able to access documents from the firms storage. A single case file may need multiple inputs from attorneys with different expertise, clients, experts, researchers, and other associates spread over the country or even the globe (in case of outsourcing). Therefore it is important to have the ability to concurrently access and work together on the same file, from right where everybody is.

Remote Conferencing Sometimes the ability to collaborate on a document may not suffice and actual discussion and knocking together of heads might be needed. Web conferencing allows multiple people to get together in a virtual meeting room and discuss issues as effectively as being there in person.

Security A lot of the information a legal firm handles is highly sensitive client information, which it is bound my business ethics and contracts to protect. Since this information is mostly accessed and distributed over the public network of internet, and often distributed to third parties at some page, security is right at the top as a concern.

Access Control Another level of security is the ability to manage who sees what information and what they can do with it. Since multiple parties like attorneys and associates across the company, outsourcing partners, and multiple clients access information from the firms central storage this is of prime importance.

Productivity Applications Although managing documents and information is one of the most important things a law firms IT systems need to do, it is not all. They also need the ability to manage and share schedules, to maintain lists of important contacts, to manage and track different tasks and litigations teams or individual attorneys may be involved with, or billing management.

What They Dont Need

41% of lawyers had no IT staff at any locations for their firm, while 17% have one person, 8% have two, and 38% have three or more

ABA Law Tech Report 2006

IT Hassles If getting all the above goodies requires setting up a specialized IT department, installing expensive hardware, and managing ongoing maintenance and upgrades, it might just not be worth it for a small to mid sized law firm. Bigger firms have the deep pockets and incentive to set up dedicated systems, but it might not be sustainable for smaller firms.

Complexity To ensure that attorneys embrace the IT system, attorneys should be able to concentrate on the information itself, rather than grappling with the nitty-gritties of the system.

Costs Cost, of course is a top consideration for small to mid sized companies across industries. The ongoing costs and hefty capital investments needed for custom and enterprise systems are just out of reach.

The Software-as-a-Service Advantage for Legal Companies - HyperOffice as a Case in Study

SAAS allows firms to pay for using the software rather than owning it

About eight to ten years back, it was true that access to the above technologies was available only to huge firms whose budget and scale justified dedicated IT departments. Times have changed since then. The software as a service (SAAS) approach, allows even small to mid sized firms easy access to big business technologies, but without having to deal with the messy underbelly and huge costs associated with them.

Benefits of SAAS Solutions

- Low Implementation

- Cost Effective

- Flexible

- Mobile Access

- Enterprise Class Features

- Backup & Security

- Updates & Enhancements

Software as a service (SAAS) is an approach where the software vendor undertakes the burden of creating, hosting, maintaining and securing the application upon himself, and further lets it out to customers over the internet as a service. Customers do not pay for owning the software itself but rather for using it. Some specific benefits of the SAAS approach are as follows:-

No Implementation, No Dedicated IT Department Since the backend is taken care of by the vendor, users dont have to bother about hardware, software downloads, server security, configuration etc. Implementation cycles of months are cut down to just a few days. For example, HyperOffice just requires a sign up, and customers can get it up and running within minutes.

Cost Effective: Scale Up & Down as Needed The cost structure of SAAS solutions is usually a reasonable monthly per user fee. This ensures that minimal costs are locked in, unlike enterprise solutions where tens of thousands of dollars are committed. Moreover, there is no cost uncertainty, as terms are clearly laid out, which allows for greater predictability.

Big Business Features A range of big business functionality is available to users, but they dont have to bother about the complex backend which goes with implementing this functionality, since that is the vendors headache.

Flexibility & Mobility: Keep Connected Always These solutions are developed with a view to delivery over the web. This ensures that the system with full functionality is available over simply a web browser, saving users from tiresome downloads or implementations on local workstations. Moreover, since these solutions are children of the internet & mobility era, they also allow access over mobile devices. HyperOffice allows almost full functionality over many mobile device with internet access including iPhone.

User Friendly Ease of use is of prime importance to a non techie attorney. SAAS solutions are out-of-the-box. Emphasis is on ease of use, with the messy backend taken care of. The entire HyperOffice solution can be managed from a central console and needs no technical expertise at all truly childs play!

Backup & Security: Let the Experts Handle It Ensuring security and disaster preparedness requires effort. Antivirus software needs to be purchased and implemented, the system needs constant monitoring, and physical security of the servers needs to be ensured. Disaster recovery plans also have to be put in place in case of events like fire, natural disasters etc. Backup servers and magnetic tapes have to be maintained, frequency of backups has to be managed etc. Whew!

With SAAS, all this is a part of the messy backend taken care of by the vendor. Moreover, these vendors have developed an expertise hosting and securing applications, since this is their core operation. This is an expertise a mid sized law firm can not, nor would like to develop.

Updates & Enhancements Since it application resides on the vendors servers, the vendor can simply add updates, enhancements and new features at his own end which are instantly available to the users of the application.

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A song parody from the 100th Annual Libel Show at the University of Virginia School of Law to the tune of Mr. Big's immortal "2 Be With U." Masterfully performed by Will Cleveland, the song chronicles the trials and tribulations of an aspiring associate in Big Law. Lyrics by Request: In my 1L fall, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Started at UVA, to academic grandeur my dreams sailed. Brand new laptop, add/drop, I knew that I would reach the top. Fall grades put my career in question. Legal theory gave me indigestion. I no longer want to practice law. In class I play web Win, Lose or Draw. Lawyering does not rock the Kasbah. I was a fool to think I'd love the law. Built back my confidence, when I killed my 2L interviews. First day on the job, I got assigned to doc review. Kissing ass. Getting fat, and no window on top of that. Buying new suits and billing hours. Each day knowing you have to shower. I no longer want to practice law. Working at a firm is so bourgeois. After all the bullshit that I saw, I was a fool to think I'd love the law. I no longer want to practice law. This was is not the lifestyle I foresaw. This jobs requires me to wear a bra. And I no longer want to practice law. I no longer want to practice law. Practicing the law is blah, blah, blah. Legal research sticks right in my craw, and I no longer want to practice law.

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Pankaj Taneja

The author has 5 years experience working with web based technologies. His expertise lies especially in collaboration applications for the SMB segment.