Category: Family & Personal Legal

One of my all time favorite movies ever made, and George Clooney if you ever find yourself reading this article I implore you to re-make this movie, is The Guide for the Married Man starring Walter Matthau. It is a hilarious comedy about a happily married man who finds out his friend Ed is having an affair. He becomes curious to the point of slightly obsessed with finding out why Ed would be having an affair given his marriage to a gorgeous and loving wife.

Ed explains the reason is to protect his wife and goes on to recount a story of a man who was attracted to other women but didn’t act on it until one day at a party he went crazy and attacked an attractive woman right in front of his wife deeply embarrassing her. So this was his 1960’s logic as to why he should have an affair. He convinces Walter to have an affair to protect his wife from possible embarrassment and tries to teach him how to cheat without getting caught. The scenarios Ed teaches him are played out by an all star cast of cameos. In the end Walter can’t go through with it and Ed ends up getting caught.

Fast track to today. The reasons for cheating might be just as thin as all the reasons in the movie but the technology that is available today makes it nearly impossible to not get caught. The only reason someone wouldn’t get caught is if their partner really did not want to know.

There are a number of spy apps that can be secretly installed on your phone that would not show up on your apps menu that basically record everything you do, everywhere you go and you would not even know that it is there watching your every move.

These apps record messages and phone calls, access your photos, and some can even pull data from popular free messaging apps. Ok so if you’re smart and keep your phone locked with a decent PIN and within sight at all times it might not be easy for someone to install an app like that but they can also be pre-installed on a phone before being given to you like a Trojan so any new phone someone gives you as a gift should be re-set to factory settings before using it.

Then there are the spy cams. These are getting more clever by the day. Some of the craziest ones were toilet bowl brush holders and bath gel bottles that are waterproof, actually hold bath gel on the top and the bottom part is a camera equipped with motion detection and a remote. There are even sports shoe hidden cameras. If someone wants to spy there are a lot of stealthy ways to spy. Dont forget about all the stealth GPS trackers available too.

Using a shared computer to search cheating sites are not wise either as auto-fill is something Google is good at so all someone has to do is start typing in the search bar and if something has been previously searched Google will auto-fill in the url. These are only a fraction of the ways a cheating partner could get caught.

The best advice: Dont cheat.

These days you will see a lot of DNA testing companies talking about how many markers they use in a particular DNA test they offer. Why is the number of markers tested of any importance? Well every human on the planet shares 99% of the same DNA as every other human. There is only a .01% difference in everyones DNA but that tiny difference is what makes each individual unique.

Markers are genetic sequences on a chromosome that have short repeating codes called short tandem repeats or STRs. A child will inherit 50% of its DNA coding from each parent so when a DNA test such as a paternity test is performed the lab is studying the number of matching short tandem repeats on a chromosome between the suspected or alleged father and the child being tested.

The more markers that are tested the higher the accuracy that is possible between the matches. The accuracy and conclusiveness of the test increases exponentially the higher the number of markers tested. This is simply a mathematical certainty.

So if higher markers mean significantly more accuracy why would some companies test a low amount of markers for a test that has life changing results to someone?

Well a lot of it comes down to a financial bottom line to some labs. After all they are in the business of making a profit and testing more markers takes more time and costs more money.

The number of false positives or inconclusive results are much higher for a 16 marker test, which is unfortunately the average industry standard for most companies. The accuracy is literally 1000 times more powerful when the amount of markers tested increases to 24 markers. Adding both parents also highly increases the conclusiveness of a DNA test so whenever possible that should be done.

This is not always possible though to include both parents DNA when testing so considering the importance of the truth being revealed and the consequences it can have on the lives of those being tested spending a bit more for a far more accurate and conclusive DNA test is well worth the money.

This can have far reaching effects both emotionally and financially as parental rights and duties are being determined, inheritance and estate issues can be affected, emotional connections that are formed between parent and child can also be affected. None of these things are trivial matters so the most important aspect of getting a DNA test is to find the real truth.

Don’t risk false positives or false negatives over saving a few dollars on such an extremely important and life impacting test. Remember higher marker testing is more accurate results.

A Paralegal is a type of legal assistant to attorneys and is an indispensable part of the legal team. They work under an attorneys direct supervision and routinely provide legal administrative duties. They routinely create legal documents, file motions, interview clients, and prepare retainers just to name a few of their duties.

A paralegal is typically a college graduate with some post B.A. education, either a master’s degree or a certificate. Paralegals are frequently individuals who chose to be paralegals, not simply individuals on their way to law school. Furthermore, they are generally people who have applied to and successfully accepted at competitive, selective higher educational programs.

How Paralegals are trained

Paralegals undergo extensive assessment and introduction in their certificate or masters programs. Lawyers, other paralegals, and expert teachers examine these programs and the paralegals’ performance. The curriculum of these programs usually focuses on the local legal market. Paralegal programs in Silicon Valley, for instance, will focus on tech or IP legal needs whereas programs in Washington, DC will focus on government contracting or international law.

Paralegal programs teach their students how to:

– Conduct print and web legal research

– Legal, company, and academic writing

– Guidelines of treatments and proof

– Movement practice

– Substantive law

– Filing procedures

How are Paralegals Regulated?

In 1997, The American Bar Association adopted this definition of paralegals: A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.

Regulation pertaining to paralegals differ from state to state.

The conversation of universally regulating the paralegal field has often sparked controversy and valid arguments from both proponents and opponents about standardization of the Paralegal profession. While some legislators make the argument mandatory, licensing would make sure clients receive services only from qualified, trained professionals, and it would distinguish paralegals from legal secretaries. Other legislators argue it is not necessary to regulate the Paralegal profession any further because the statutes already provide safe guards against the unauthorized practice of law and define what a paralegal can and cannot do.

Understanding What Paralegals Can Do

A paralegal’s usefulness go beyond preparing files and performing legal research study. In fact, paralegals can complete tasks that, initially, may appear legal in nature. These tasks include:

– Collaborating annual real estate tax appeal

– Review/coordinate existing 3rd party workplace leases

– Coordinate legal matters associated with acquisition, sale, zoning, and so on of corporate real estate

– Examine product liability concerns

By using paralegals on semi-legal tasks like those noted above, legal departments can give their higher salaried lawyers actual legal work.

Can Paralegals help law firms save money?

For many law firms, decreasing expenses can simply mean renegotiating their agreements with outside

Las Vegas criminal lawyers and attorneys, or laying off some of the in house staff of lawyers. Nevertheless, the effective use of paralegals can attain some impressive cost cutting results as well as enhance the performance and work/life balance of everybody in the legal department. To utilize paralegals effectively, in-house counsel must first understand their capabilities and limits along with the benefits they can bring.

Effective Use of Paralegals Benefit Investors
An apparent benefit of utilizing paralegals to decrease legal costs is the benefit to the investors. By efficiently using paralegals, in-house counsel can minimize those expenses, resulting in more funding being readily available for other departments or financial earnings.

The key to successfully handling paralegals and using them efficiently is for criminal lawyers las vegas firms to first have keen understanding of the legal departments needs. This would help law firms allocate work amongst paralegals and lawyers more effectively.