Wednesday 8 September 2010

Study: Location, Firm Size Key to Billing Rates

Law Firm
The September issue of The American Lawyer Offers a preview of the Real Rate Report, a study produced by CT - TyMetrix Inc., a company that audits Law Firm bills, and The Corporate Executive Board Co., a company that provides best practices research and analysis. They studied the bills sent to 36 large corporate clients between 2007 and 2009 -- more than $4 billion worth of time sheets submitted by 90,000 people at 3,500 firms. They scrubbed the data to protect the identity of the billers and the billed. Then they got to work crunching the numbers.

A lot of interesting statistics jump out. For starters, legal bills increased at rates that exceeded inflation, in-house Lawyers who spent more at a particular law firm were not getting any discounts, and partner status added nearly $100 on average to a lawyer's rate regardless of experience.

But what most struck us about the report was its portrayal of an industry fraught with inconsistency. The vast majority of lawyers -- 85 percent -- charge clients different rates for the same work. The location of the biller and the size of the biller's firm -- not the biller's experience -- are the variables that most influence how much a client will pay. And though in-house counsel talk a good game about keeping rates in check, they approve almost three-fourths of all timekeepers' rate hikes.

Monday 26 July 2010

Choosing the right litigation Lawyer for your business

Risks and laws are involved with every type of business, whether the business is new or an established one. To solve the legal matters through trial and discussion is the work of the business Litigation lawyer. Any dispute related to your personal, public or civil matters can be resolved with the help of a litigation lawyer.

Litigation is a term used to describe all legal steps involved in settling a controversy between two or more parties. There are instances when you are not able to protect your rights as a business owner and have to sue for damages. In such situations, it has become very important to choose the right person for your legal affairs.

While selecting the right litigation attorney for your business deals, it is important to consider checking the past records of the person you want to handle your legal matters. The complexity in business deals occurring today makes it really significant to have an expert business attorney.

Business Law
Such lawyers are proficient in analyzing the business and its functions, are capable of handling contract negotiations and preparation, are aware of rules and regulations of the federal and state securities, buy and sell agreements between the parties, can manage business disputes and civil law and have a good understanding of Internet laws, copyrights and trademarks of the business organizations.

Hiring a Business lawyer can be a complex and confusing process as selecting the right candidate for your legal issues involves a lot of discussions and matters related to your business concerns. You should talk with many people and friends before making a choice.

A business litigation lawyer must be aware of your Business Legal Issues and should be honest in their work. It is good to get a recommendation from a close friend, relative or a colleague. But remember, every legal situation varies. Hence, the recommended lawyer might not be suitable for your type of business problems.

Source : ArticleBase

Tuesday 20 April 2010

What Does A Personal Injury Attorney Do?

Personal injury attorneys specialize in helping clients who have suffered a physical, emotional, or mental harm and believe that another party is responsible for that injury.

Although most commonly associated with car accident cases, personal injury attorneys also handle slip and fall cases, defective products, assault injuries, and work and home accidents. Some Personal Injury Lawyers also handle workers compensation cases, asbestos litigation, and even hospital and medical malpractice suits because the burden of proof in those suits is similar.

Under the law, the plaintiff in a personal injury suit may recover monetary compensation when they are hurt if they can prove that the defendant is liable for it. The standards for liability differ from state to state, but generally a person suing is required to prove that the defendant's action or inaction was the primary cause of the plaintiff's harm. To prevail in a lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's negligent or malignant actions are the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injury and that the defendant had a legal duty to act more responsibly.

For instance, in a car accident suit, the plaintiff is required to prove that the defendant's behavior caused the accident and that the plaintiff was injured as a result of the car crash.

Wednesday 31 March 2010

What They Can Do For You - Business Lawyers

Business lawyers and attorneys can advise you on how to properly structure your business, (be it through a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation), on how to deal with disputes that may have arisen during the course of your business operations, or on how to dissolve the business. With respect to the latter, it is worth mentioning that I have and am dealing with a number of business dissolution here in Toronto (it may be the poor economic times?). There are a number of issues which come up which you may not realize (i.e. unless you're a lawyer and you are trained on and deal with these things regularly). Typically, these issues include:

* Division of business assets.

* Responsibility for business liabilities - particularly the lease, supplier agreements, employment agreements, and tax obligations.

* Preparing the necessary paperwork (e.g. bookkeeping, taxes, government forms) to dissolve the business.

* Ensuring compliance with the business' internal documents (e.g. partnership agreement, corporate by-laws and resolutions, shareholder agreements, and articles of incorporation, etc.).

* Informing customers (both past and present), employees, and other stakeholders of what is happening with the business.

At the end of the day, you will likely need a number of documents and agreements prepared by a business lawyer in order to help oversee the business dissolution. For example, you should have a lawyer explain the various options and then draft some type of dissolution agreement for all the parties to sign off on. Next, you may need your lawyer to draft and/or negotiate terminate and release of liability agreements for landlords and suppliers, etc. Finally, your lawyer may be called upon to prepare the government forms to submit in order to dissolve the corporation. Finally, if business partners take issue with and dispute the steps along the way towards dissolution, then lawyers may be also called upon to try to negotiate a settlement or resolve the issues through litigation.

In any event, you should definitely consult a business lawyer before trying to do any of these things yourself. Doing so will save you time, money and aggravation in the long run and make sure that your rights are protected and your interests

Business lawyers and attorneys can also help you understand your legal rights and obligations with respect to your business. They can tell you if a particular course of action could be challenged by (1) breaching a private contract, (2) giving rise to a possible tort liability, and/or (3) violating a statute or regulation established by the government.

Source: Ezinearticles

Sunday 7 March 2010

Outline of Canada's Court System

The court system of Canada is made up of many courts differing in levels of legal superiority and separated by jurisdiction. Some of the court is federal in nature while others are provincial or territorial.

The Canadian constitution gives the federal government the exclusive right to legislate criminal law while the provinces have exclusive control over civil law. The provinces have jurisdiction over the administration of justice in their territory. Almost all cases, whether criminal or civil, start in provincial courts and may be eventually appealed to higher level courts. The quite small system of federal courts only hear cases concerned with matters which are under exclusive federal control, such as immigration. The federal government appoints and pays for both the judges of the federal courts and the judges of the superior-level court of each province. The provincial governments are responsible for appointing judges of the lower provincial courts.

Monday 8 February 2010

Different Types of Law in Toronto Canada

Every citizen should be familiar with the Law of the Land. There is no excuse for not knowing the law. It can help a person to defend him or herself at a time of legal crisis. Even when you have not acted against the law, you might need to know the law in order to protect yourself from people who might violate the law. To know ones rights and privileges is not only beneficial, it is absolutely essential. You will never know when the information you have at your disposal might come in handy. Having it ready before any crisis strikes will help you take immensely wiser and more informed decisions which you will not regret later. Just as there are varied disciplines in the field of medicine, there is a wide range of divisions when it comes to law. For instance, everyone knows that you don't visit a general physician for a severe heart ailment. You want to consult a heart specialist in this case. Likewise, for every particular type of law, there are specific attorneys who specialize in that particular field. It really helps to search and identify the suitable attorney for your particular case, instead of heading to the nearest or most familiar attorney for every case.

Here are some of the different types of law that Toronto law firms can assist you in:

Accidents and Injuries: Involved in an accident where you suffered personal injury?
Business: Need corporate or commercial agreements? Need to have a lawyer help you do a transaction?
Charities and Not-For-Profit: Need to establish a Not-For-Profit corporation or obtain charity status?
Civil Litigation – Higher Court: Have a serious legal claim that needs to be litigated in the Superior Court, Divisional Court, etc.?
Civil Litigation – Small Claims Court: Have a legal claim (e.g. breach of contract, negligence, etc.)
Constitutional / Human Rights and Freedoms: Challenging a law or government action / inaction?
Criminal: Charged with a criminal offence? Appealing a conviction?

Employment and Labour: Need an employment agreement? Unjustly terminated? Need to know your rights?
Family: Going through a separation or divorce? Fighting to get custody or access? Dealing with spousal and child support?
Government: Need to lobby the government? Need to resolve a dispute with a government agency?
Highway Traffic Tickets: Charged with speeding or DUI? Need to fight traffic tickets?
Immigration: Need to immigrate to Canada? Fighting against deportation?
Insurance: Having difficulties with your Insurance company?.
Intellectual Property: Need to register a copyright or trademark? Need help with a patent?
Landlord and Tenant: Need a resolve a dispute? Need to know your rights?.
Notary Public / Commissioner: Need to notarize or commission your documents?
Real Estate: Need someone to facilitate your residential or commercial purchase, sale, or lease?
Tax: Need help structuring your tax affairs? Need help resolving tax disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency?
Wills, Estates and Trusts: Need a will? Need to update your will? Find out why having an up-to-date will is a must.

Try to consult Canadian Law firm and Toronto attorneys and bring an end to all your worries.

Monday 18 January 2010

Advantage of being a Top Lawyer in Toronto

It is obvious that being a top lawyer is going to be a bit different in Toronto than being a lawyer in a small town with about 15,000 residents. Along with increasing responsibility there is always a big opportunity in such big cities, as the citizens of such cities are educated enough to fight for their rights. Much of it has to do with the fact that people are no longer afraid to sue when something happens to them and these is possible only if they are educated enough to take right decision. At one time, an individual could have pain inflicted on them by another person or even a company and they would let it roll off their back. That has changed drastically because people are tired of becoming victims and letting it slide. Lawyers in small cities have these cases as well, but lawyers in big cities have a larger potential customer base and they thrive on that. That is great because that means a better income, a better reputation, and leads to even more excitement.
Being a lawyer in the big city means the cases are going to be a bit more diverse. With more people come more unique situations in which a lawyer is needed. This gives the lawyer the opportunity to set a standard in law when a legitimate and unique case comes their way. The excitement alone is hard to contain and then there is that income and reputation factor. In small towns, the income ceiling is a bit lower because there is only so much to work with. If you are a small town with ten lawyers, then the earning potential is not as high. However, a lawyer in a large city such as Toronto has an incredibly higher earning potential.
It is obvious that each lawyer has to compete with another in terms of quality of service and marketing to capture the market as many of them will target such a vast market and these competition factors makes the profession even more exciting. Lawyers in small cities do have competition amongst each other, but lawyers in big cities have more lawyers to compete with and a larger playground to compete on. The sky is pretty much the limit in this area and that can make ad campaigns, signs, and other advertising media a lot of fun. As a lawyer in a big city, you have the money to do it so run with it. The only thing to lose is being one of the top lawyers, if not the top lawyer, in the city. Many big cities are now getting to the point where they offer awards and other types of recognition for lawyers who have done something exceptional, so you want that case that is going to get you that recognition. More recognition means you're going to get more clients. Most importantly, you're going to be upholding the law and being in a bigger city allows you an even larger opportunity to do just that. And that is why being a lawyer in Toronto definitely has its perks.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Partnership Firm Registration

A partnership is form of business, when two or more people decide to work together in a business and they register a form called a Partnership Registration and, in some cases, enter into a Partnership Agreement. There are three types of partnerships in Canada. A general partnership, a limited partnership and a limited liability partnership. There is no limit to the number of partners in any type of partnership. A limited partnership must have at least one limited partner and one general partner however it could have as many of each as it wishes. A general partnership must have at least two general partners and can have as many general partners as it wishes but it would not have any limited partners.

Partnerships fall under the provincial and territorial legislation and a form usually called a Partnership Registration must be completed and filed with the appropriate provincial or territorial government office. You can register the partnership yourself by completing the appropriate form and attending your local provincial or territorial government and in some cases may be able to register online. In some provinces and territories you will be required to provide a Nuans Name Search report or similar report to register a partnership. In Ontario this is not required.

In a general partnership each partner is liable for all of the partnership's debts and obligations, even those incurred by one partner without the knowledge or authorization of other partners. If one partner is sued then the other partners in the partnership are equally responsible for any financial judgment imposed by a court. Unlike a corporation, which is considered an entity on its own, partners are liable personally for any debts to the partnership. Partners are responsible for each of the other partner's actions. Each partner is deemed to know any information that has been given to another partner. Therefore partners must be able to trust each other to reveal all information.

If there is no partnership agreement in place, a partnership is dissolved upon the death or withdrawal of any partner or the acceptance of a new partner. A partnership agreement may be entered into with clauses therein which provide that the surviving partners may purchase the interests of the deceased or withdrawing partner. You should have a partnership agreement. When one partner decides to leave a partnership the partnership is automatically dissolved unless a partnership agreement has been signed saying otherwise. If the business is viable the remaining partners might not wish to dissolve the business. Also, in cases of disputes, it is a good idea to have some clauses in your partnership agreement to cover possible situations that may arise. If you do not have a partnership agreement in place then the Partnership Act of the particular province or territory in which the partnership was formed must be followed and in most cases the statute remedies are narrow.

Your best option would be to have a partnership agreement drafted up by a solicitor and each party to the agreement should have independent counsel. This is to ensure that each party is protected from any changes occurring in the partnership such as a death, resignation, sickness, disagreements, etc. and also to determine in writing how the financial aspects of the business will be managed. Without a well drafted partnership agreement you could be opening yourself up to a problem in the future which could cost you a loss of income if you have not provided for a partnership agreement with proper provisions. Independent advice is especially important since a solicitor will look at the agreement from your personal view and insist on adding clauses to protect you in the future for any number of situations occurring. Law firms operate as partnerships and have a better understanding of the law behind all types of partnerships.