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What Is Litigation? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

23Nov

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What Is Litigation? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

When a person or company has wronged you, the court system can provide an official forum for finding a resolution. Litigation is the term for the process of using the court system to resolve disputes. It is used across legal fields such as personal injury, real estate, civil rights and more.“Litigation is a way to use the power of the courts to make somebody pay attention to your rights and to remedy the problem if they haven't been paying attention to your rights,” says Louis Tompros, partner at WilmerHale and lecturer at Harvard Law School.There are two main types of litigation: criminal litigation and civil litigation.In criminal litigation, the government will prosecute someone for a crime. Usually, a district attorney for the state will ask the court to impose some sort of penalty fo...

What Is Arbitration and Who Does It Favor? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

26Oct

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What Is Arbitration and Who Does It Favor? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

The United States litigation process is both expensive and time-consuming. That is why many individuals who find themselves in a legal dispute will face the possibility of arbitration.Arbitration is handled outside of the traditional court system. In this alternative process, an arbiter is a qualified decision-maker – often a lawyer or a retired judge – who hears both sides and issues a decision.Nearly 8 million cases have gone through arbitration since the Federal Arbitration Act passed in 1926, according to the American Arbitration Association. The act established that arbitration decisions as “valid, irrevocable and enforceable.” Following arbitration, parties are prevented from subsequently entering the dispute into the traditional court system.The Arbitration ProcessGenerally, arbitr...

How Lawyers Can Navigate the Ethical Minefield of Legal Advertising | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

25Oct

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How Lawyers Can Navigate the Ethical Minefield of Legal Advertising | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

Attorney advertising is vital to law firm success and profitability, but marketing continues to pose legal ethics issues that must be addressed at every turn.In the decades since the Supreme Court issued its 1977 opinion of Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, which legalized attorney advertising, states have become more lenient about lawyer marketing, while the courts often strike down onerous limitations.When it comes to the formal limitations on advertising, “All the restrictions are eroding,” says Thomas Spahn, counsel at McGuireWoods, who has authored several books on attorney ethics.In the meantime, there is probably more variance between states on ethics rules for attorney advertising than there is on any other issue, according to Spahn. And this is hurting consumers on a national scale,...

What Is Pro Bono Law? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

11Oct

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What Is Pro Bono Law? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

The American Bar Association and other organizations encourage lawyers to do “pro bono work,” providing free legal services to low-income clients dealing with legal issues. While the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution provides that everyone has a right to counsel, only criminal defendants – those facing the possibility of imprisonment – are entitled to free legal representation. In civil cases, people can have an attorney represent them, but it’s up to them to pay for that lawyer. That’s true even in proceedings with life-altering impacts – such as child custody hearings, veterans’ benefits petitions or applications for a domestic violence-related restraining order.What Is “Pro Bono Law”?In the practice of law, pro bono (an abbreviation of “pro bono publico,” a Latin phrase meaning “for ...

What Is a Noncompete Contract? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

5Oct

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What Is a Noncompete Contract? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

Within the U.S. workforce, researchers estimate that nearly 30 million workers are bound by noncompete contracts that prevent employees from holding jobs where they would compete against their former employers. Approximately 38% of Americans will have a “noncompete” (as they’re referred to in legal parlance) at some point in their careers. In May 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reviewed the impact of noncompetes, finding evidence that few employees negotiate or reject these contracts, and many workers don’t fully understand the provisions. Jurisdictions with more noncompete enforcement have lower job mobility, reduced wages and lower entrepreneurship.Concerned about the impact these agreements have on workers, dozens of states regulate these contracts in some way. Four sta...

What Is an Indictment? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

30Aug

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What Is an Indictment? | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

An indictment is a document that notifies the defendant of the charges against them. It is the beginning of the formal criminal process, says Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor and now the Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.Under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, those accused of a crime must “be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation,” while the Fifth Amendment prohibits federal law enforcement officials from beginning prosecution of defendants accused of “a capital or otherwise infamous crime.” A grand jury must decide if a defendant should face prosecution for those serious crimes. Therefore, a grand jury indictment is part of how constitutional protections are met within the American justice system.While an indictment begins the process...

How to Navigate Work-Life Balance at a Law Firm | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

10Aug

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How to Navigate Work-Life Balance at a Law Firm | Explore Law Firms and Legal Advice

For lawyers, work-life balance can mean many things. For example, some understand “work-life balance” to describe spending time with their family or raising children. For others, work-life balance may apply to spending time on any activity outside of the office.Some experts suggest an alternate term: work-life conflict. It’s not about achieving parity between your career and the rest of your life, these experts say. Instead, it’s about recognizing the tension between the two.For attorneys, this new term may resonate because lawyers know conflict. They know its costs and the value of a good resolution. And they know it’s better to prevent conflict than clean up its aftermath.Are Law Firms Stressful?To a certain extent, law firms are stressful because the practice of law is stressful. Law i...