Open the Yellow Pages and you’ll find page after page after page of legal advertisements. They are generally categorized by ’specialty’, but all of them seem to be specialists in multiple areas of the law. The sheer number of ads is astonishing.

“Well, here’s a nice advertisement. Big letters, toll-free phone number, a nice picture of a classy office and a distinguished gentleman.” Guess what? You’ve just figured out which law firm is good at advertising. You have, in effect, selected the best ad writer, not the best lawyer for your circumstances. And pages of ads, all offering the same ‘free consultation’ doesn’t help either.

You shouldn’t choose a lawyer like you would choose a plumber. Rather, finding a lawyer to take on your case is more like finding a doctor to treat your illness. You are going to develop a long-term relationship with your attorney – a relationship built on trust and communication. The Yellow Pages will not help you here. In fact, they can hurt you.

The advertisements will not tell you how much a lawyer charges. They will not tell you who pays the law firm if you lose your case. Did you know that you might be responsible for paying the attorney fees if your case doesn’t result in a collection? What about expenses related to investigating and pursuing your case? Who pays for those?

All of these questions and more can only be answered in person. You will need more than a phone call, you will need to interview a few lawyers to find one that you trust to handle your matter. Someone you can be confident in and a firm you can rely on.

Put the Yellow Pages away. Take some time to investigate both your type of case and local attorneys on lothe Internet. Lawyer Ahead is a great place to start as it carries the most comprehensive information on a lawyer and only publishes lawyers that meet its minimum publishing standards.  Set up an appointment (usually free) and ask some key questions:

1. Does my case have merit?
2. Who pays if I lose? How much of any judgment will go toward attorney fees and expenses if I win my suit?
3. What is the expected outcome and how will your firm get me there?
4. What is your track record with my type of case?
5. Who else could you recommend in this area of law?

Remember, what you want is someone who can guide you through the legal minefield, someone with expertise and someone you trust who you can communicate well with. Leave the Yellow Pages for when you need lawn service or snow removal.

To get more information on Vancouver Lawyers, Toronto Lawyers, Ottawa Lawyers, Brampton Lawyers and Mississauga Lawyers, please visit www.lawyerahead.ca

Social media forums are growing rapidly. Millions of internet users have accounts with sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, dedicating many hours of week to attend to and build their networks. It is a logical step for lawyers to start using these free sites to market his or her law firm.

Many Lawyers have a website as a formality. These sites tend to go into little depth about the firm, usually with brief blurbs about their history and contact information. In turn, these sites shortchange the firm of potential business. By utilizing social networking sites like Facebook and LawyerAhead, a lawyer connects with millions of potential clients.

Rex Gradeless is a prime example of social media’s potential. Rex is a third-year law student at the St. Louis school of Law. After joining Twitter in November 2008, Rex built his following to six thousand in two months. He attributes his following to his daily link sharing to those that follow him. The potential benefits of social media are shown by what Rex said during an interview with LexBlog. “I send about 15-20 useful, or interesting, links a day to those following me. These links range from topics including (but not limited to) social media, web 2.0 technologies, lawyer tech tips and legal marketing with social media. From there, I began to talk with those in the legal community and build relationships. People enjoyed my links so much that I quickly gained, and have maintained, a substantial following in the legal community.” To date, Rex7, Rex Gradeless’ username, has over ten thousand followers.

Although many will not find their following grow as quickly as Rex’s, Twitter is catching on like wildfire. They say when you first try it you will not get it. Twitter is a mixture of blogging and text messaging, limiting posts to 140 characters. This is still in its infancy yet many people are “getting it” and growing Twitter by leaps and bounds. One would be tempted to cop out and create a generic “firm” Twitter account, but in Smashing Magazine’s article, “8 Useful Tips to Become Successful with Twitter”, Paul Boag makes it clear that you need to keep it personal.

The speed at which one is able to build relationships and connections with the use of these sites is remarkable. As it stands, LinkedIn has 30 million users, Facebook gets 132 million unique visitors per month, Twitter is the fastest growing social network, and Youtube is the second largest search engine. All of these comprehensive services are excellent ways to get a lawyer’s name and the name of her firm out there. 

Learn more about Lawyer Ahead Inc.’s social networking features and see how you can reach many potential clients.

Unfortunately, some relationships do not work out for a variety of reasons. In some cases where counseling fails or a couple cannot continue their relationship, they may choose divorce.

Divorce can be a tricky process, but there are some general principles you should know. First, get a lawyer.

There is no law that says you have to have a lawyer to get divorced, but when it comes down to it, having one makes the whole process flow smoothly. They are able to answer whatever questions you may have relating to debt, alimony, and child support and they have a keen sense of what specific details you would need to include in a settlement agreement if you and your spouse go that route.

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A settlement agreement is an agreement you sign voluntarily. These are negotiated voluntarily as well. Settlement agreements offer a broad range of options for both parties to pursue and they are only limited slightly, i.e. someone must support the children and the children must not be subjected to danger or neglect. Your lawyer can guide you based on her experience in court to what you will “probably” get if you go to trial. This guidance is made more accurate by your lawyer’s history with the judge and his years of experience.

Not many guidelines govern divorce. The judge uses his own discretion and each case is unique. Every divorce deals with five basic issues. These are alimony, property division, custody of the children, visitation, and child support. Obviously, if you do not have any kids, divorce is a lot simpler and deals mainly with asset/debt distribution. When it comes to property, the province needs to know who will be holding the deed to maintain the property’s transferability.

The concept of alimony also refered to as Spousal Support has changed lately. The classic view of alimony is the man paying alimony payments to his estranged spouse. Alimony used to be considered the norm, but recently there has been a push towards having both parties support themselves. Technically, the court has the right to order a wife to pay her husband alimony, but this rarely happens. Nowadays, alimony, if awarded, is awarded for shorter periods and for smaller amounts. Alimony payment amounts tend to be the hardest to agree upon during divorce settlement negotiations.

As for assets and debts, they are disseminated between the parties during the divorce process. Assets, or marital property, are tangible property like cars, jewelry and real estate and intangible property such as pensions, patent rights, or retirement accounts. The laws vary on this subject depending on where you live. Your divorce lawyer will help you with this.

The single most important step in a divorce is getting a lawyer. Divorce is extremely difficult to go through emotionally and you might not be thinking clearly. Additionally, lawyers know all the ins and outs that you do not know. Finding an attorney you trust and that works with you will help ease the mind and make the divorce process as painless as possible.

Click here to find a top Family Lawyer in Brampton or a Divorce Lawyer in Brampton.

Click here to find a top Family Lawyer in Mississauga or a Divorce Lawyer in Mississauga for your family legal matters.

Despite the crisis in the global automotive industry there is still a huge number of cars on the streets of every city. Huge number of cars lead to huge number of crashes, even if everyone is extra careful. And the number of deaths, injuries and damages in this accidents is huge, so be sure to keep in mind some of the following things in case you will have your car crashed.

You need to report to the police about the accident as soon as possible, just be sure to do all the needed things to collect evidence about the accident. After the cops arrive at the place of accident, the accident area will definitely become a more crowded place, so be sure to keep some evidence of the initial crash site. As we already wrote if someone is seriously injured it is a different situation and you need to report to the cops immediately.

So after the initial things we will step to more law related stuff. First thing that you need to know – do not take any fault. Even if you are guilty, the whole situation in the end will be solved by insurance companies and car accident lawyers and they will tell you what you need to do.

The next most important step is gathering information. Get other drivers info, license plate numbers, driver’s license numbers, full names, telephone numbers and addresses. It will be very useful to film the crash site, the best helper will be the camera in your phone, or better a digital camera. You need to capture the position of the vehicles and damages. It will help you to charge money if your car was also damaged by the tow truck, that dragged it away. Also do not try to repair the other drivers’ car, except when the repair is small and is needed to start the car. Get some info from neutral witnesses who saw the accident. Try to make a clear and detailed picture of the accident and the contact your insurance company and describe the situation.  Find top lawyers for your accident by posting your case on Lawyer Ahead - its as easy as step 1, 2, 3 and it is the best, free way to find a lawyer.

The last thing is the most important one. After you’re done with everything try to relax, you are still alive and damaged property is not such a huge problem.

Famous baseball player, Roberto Alomar is being sued by an ex girlfriend for unprotected sex. Ilya Dall claims Alomar repeatedly refused to be tested for AIDS claiming that he was tested and AIDS-free. The couple lived together for three years during which time Ilya states she watched as his health worsened.

Alomar was arguably one of the best second base players the New York Mets have ever had. He quit baseball because of health reasons in 2005.

The suit states that Dall and Alomar began dating in 2002. About a month into it, they began having unprotected sex, in part, because Alomar assured Dall he was disease-free. Two years into the relationship, Dall noticed he had cold sores in his mouth. About a year after that, Alomar was diagnosed with thrombocytopenia purpura, which is occasionally linked to HIV. Because of this, the doctor suggested Alomar get an AIDS test and Alomar refused.

Eventually, Alomar took an AIDS test, which came back positive. Afterwards, Dall took the test and, even though the couple had unprotected sex, she came up clean.

Despite this, Dall is suing for $15 million in punitive damages, claiming Alomar caused her emotional distress and exposed her children to the virus. Quoted in the suit as saying, “He jeopardized the health, well-being and life of the plaintiff, which caused her to have a fear of contracting AIDS, often referred to as AIDS phobia.”

In response to the suit, Alomar’s lawyer, Charles Bach stated, “We believe this is a totally frivolous lawsuit. These allegations are baseless.” “He’s healthy and would like to keep his health status private. We’ll do our talking in court.”

Ilya’s attorney, Anthony Piacentini had no comment.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. $15 million is an extremely large amount for some emotional distress. Not to question Ms. Dall’s motives, but the whole situation seems rather dirty. If she had contracted the virus because of Alomar’s actions, it would be a different story, but as it stands, it appears she is overshooting with her claim in an attempt to settle out of court for less than $15 million, but more than she probably deserves.

Since the beginning of marriage, there has been adultery. Statistics show first marriages have a 50% chance of ending in divorce and the possibility grows larger with each successive marriage. Divorces in Canada peaked in 1987 following the introduction of the Canadian Divorce Act, which shortened the length of separation required before divorce to a year and allows an immediate divorce when adultery or cruelty are admitted to or proven. Infidelity has ruined its fair share of marriages, yet the 21^st century has brought new forms of adultery into the spotlight.

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As times change, so must the law. Same-sex marriages are on the rise and this will inevitably lead to more and more same-sex affairs. With progressive provinces like British Colombia and Ontario taking the lead on issues like child maintenance and spousal maintenance during same-sex divorces, it is only a matter of time before these rights are ubiquitous.

In 2005, the Supreme Court of British Colombia amended their definition of adultery to include same-sex adultery. This was in response to a wife’s request for immediate divorce from her husband who had cheated on her with another man. Up until then, immediate divorce for adultery would only be granted if one of the spouses admitted to having “voluntary sex with someone of the opposite gender, to whom he or she is not married.” Although the federal definition of adultery is unchanged, this decision most likely influenced the courts of New Brunswick.

In 2006, a New Brunswick court heard a similar case. Courts initially refused Pascal Thebeau’s divorce because the federal definition of adultery was limited to heterosexual affairs. After Thebeau challenged their ruling, the New Brunswick court chose to expand the definition to include same-sex affairs as adultery and granted his request for a divorce.

This appears to be the way courts are leaning. Although there have not been landmark cases in each and every province, the cases on the books show a tendency towards granting divorce, albeit after challenge, due to same-sex adultery. The official definition of what constitutes adultery has yet to be changed and there is a chance a judge may take it upon his or herself to refuse a divorce, because the “adulterer” cheated with someone of the same sex, but that seems less than likely at this point. What is odd to me is that gay marriage was legalized in part back in 2003 and it took three years for the issue of same-sex adultery to arise- originating from a conventional marriage no less. Perhaps when 2010 brings around the dreaded “seven-year itch” there will be further precedent set on a nationwide basis.

Find a Family Lawyer, Lawyers and Attorneys at Lawyer ahead.ca.  Its quick, effective and is the best free way to find a lawyer.

Death is a part of life and like most big events, it is vital that you prepare. Although it is unsettling to think about, drafting a Will allows you to dispense your Estate how you see fit. In the absence of a Will, the court chooses the Estate Trustee, usually a family member and makes them responsible for distributing the estate according to provincial law. Obviously, this may conflict with your better wishes. Drafting a Will with the help of an experienced lawyer will aid the courts in determining your last requests.

Wills need to address a variety of concerns. These include naming of beneficiaries, what they will receive, when it is awarded, and how it will be disbursed. There is also the matter of appointing an Estate Trustee.

Wills determine who the beneficiaries are. Some choose to leave all of their assets to their spouse. For example, a husband’s will awards his wife all assets with a provision that their children receive the assets incase she is already deceased. Others may choose to leave a significant portion of their assets to charity. Others choose a more detailed plan, dividing assets between friends, family and charities. In each case, there is no “right” or “wrong” beneficiary. It hinges more on your specific situation and desires.

Secondly, Wills need to determine what a beneficiary receives. As before, this is solely up to your own discretion limited only by provincial law. You may decide your daughter should get 50% of your assets and 10% should go to your estranged son. A particular beneficiary may be a more suitable recipient than another when both have technically “equal” rights to your estate.

Indicating when the assets release is another important provision. Wills should answer the specifics of when certain assets disburse. For example, a Will may dictate that assets disburse immediately upon death to help with funeral costs or in the case of minor beneficiaries, may hold a portion back until they reach eighteen. It is essential to consider if your assets should be awarded all at once or be doled out on an incremental basis. Choosing to release some of the estate to cover funeral and legal expenses while holding portions back is another viable option. You may also want to include provisions for when certain events occur, e.g. When your daughter gets married, she receives your beach house.

How you award your assets is another essential aspect of a Will. Methods include lump sum disbursements of cash, trust funds, or property. There is a lot of flexibility in how the Estate is awarded and what is best in one case may not be best in another.

If you have children, appointing a guardian is another important consideration when writing your Will. Although courts are not bound by your choice, guardians appointed in Wills will greatly influence the court’s decision. This may be of greater importance in a mixed relationship and discussing your specific situation with your lawyer will better resolve any questions you might have.

An Estate Trustee’s job is to manage everything pertaining to the estate. This should be someone close that you trust. Many times, a wife will name her husband Trustee or vice versa and make provisions in case they die at the same time. This person is charged with dispensing the Estate’s assets according to the specifications provided in the Will.

These are a few of the building blocks of a well-formed Will. Of course, every situation is unique and drafting your Will requires the assistance of an experienced lawyer. He or she will ensure the Will holds up in court if any provisions come into question. Emotions can run high over Estate disputes. Retaining a qualified attorney makes the entire process as painless as possible.

The Alien Tort Statute of 1789, an 18^th century law allowing foreigners to pursue claims in U.S. courts when “the laws of nations” are violated, came into play in late January during the 2^nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding the suit against Pfizer. The claim alleges that Pfizer secretly tested drugs on Nigerian children and other natives during a meningitis outbreak in 1996.  

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The drug in question, Trovan was approved by the FDA in 1998 for adult use only and its application was further restricted to emergencies only as reports of liver failure arose. In 1999, the European Union banned Trovan and the drug is now off the market altogether.

Richard Altschuler, a Connecticut-based personal injury lawyer is representing 58 of the Nigerian families as co-counsel to Nigeria-based attorney Etigwe Uwa. A New York firm, Milberg LLP, is representing the other 30 families involved in the suit.  Altschuler filed suit in 2001. In 2005, a New York district court said the case belonged in Nigeria, not America. This is the decision the 2^nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned in January.  Judges Parker and Pooler stated in the majority opinion, “The administration of drug trials without informed consent on the scale alleged in the complaints poses a real threat to international peace and security… Such conduct fosters distrust and resistance to international drug trials, cutting edge medical innovation and critical international public health initiatives in which pharmaceutical companies play a key role.”

Soon after the decision, Pfizer issued a statement saying the studies were “consistent with both international and Nigerian laws.” Moreover, that any deaths or injuries were “the direct result of the illness, and not the treatment provided to patients in the Pfizer study.” Kaye Scholer LLP, a law firm representing Pfizer, filed a motion for an en banc hearing of the case.  In regards to the decision, Altschuler touted, “We planted the seeds of truth for people to see and it’s just been growing. This decision shows that the U.S. is willing to bridle any immoral, oppressive acts committed by an American company.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer. Despite the favorable ruling, they are considering switching the suit to Nigeria, where the Nigerian government has a pending $7 billion suit against Pfizer.

After articles related the equality, freedom and anti-discrimination under the same law we will take a simple question that many women have asked themselves. 25 years ago it was impossible even to sue someone without your husband but today can you sue for emotional distress? The short answer is yes, you can. A more detailed answer will follow.

Within the Canadian Legal System a spouse can seek a divorce from a husband shall the other spouse has committed any cruelty, damages or has been physically abusive.  Unlike our neighbors down South, Canadian Law does not allow the the party seeking divorce because of emotional distress to sue for Emotional Distress.

One of the main cases in the field was McCulloh V. Drake (Wyoming, 24P. 3d. 1162 (2001)).  the case revolved around a husband that began physically and sexually abusing the wife, soon after the marriage.  the wife decided that emotional distress caused to the other spouse by extreme and outrageous conduct by one spouse that can creat a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress and entitile the victim to collect compensation for her suffering.

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The conclusion of the court was following:

“emotional distress is as real and tormenting as physical pain, and psychological well-being deserves as much legal protection as physical well-being’. In preserving marital harmony as their main goal, the court held that ‘behaviour that is truly outrageous and results in severe emotional distress should not be protected in a misguided attempt to promote marital harmony.”

 The husband’s lawyers in this case argued this decision by backing it up saying that emotional distress caused while legally bound in a marriage does not count for anything illegal. Actually in some situations it is hard to understand if the emotional distress is a cause for a trial. A family is a complex thing and it is okay that two people won’t get along well in everyday life. Still some courts consider that a distress claim is better for a family than a divorce claim.

Another example is what to do in this situation if you are from Canada and you husband is from the United States (for example). In this case the laws of the civilized countries will protect you, but similar to the Canadian case you will be able only to get a jail sentence for the husband (if this is the first case of violence, he will most probable get a scolding and probation). The fees in this case will be impossible to get. Still we live in a time when the laws protecting women are becoming stronger every year, so don’t be afraid to sue your husband and demand a personal injury fee. If you have a good lawyer and great courage, you can probably end up as one of the cornerstone cases in women rights movement and some day we will write an article about you.

Facebook today is the largest social network with estimated 175 million active users. If you happen to be not familiar with this system it is easy to understand. You can register in Facebook and create a page with your personal data, like the places where you studied, personal interests, photos, etc., and people who know you will be able to find you in this system. And here we are coming to the first problem – who guarantees that my personal info won’t be available to third party companies. Let us take a closer look at controversies and lawsuits that surround this website and some of its clones.

 The most disputed problem is privacy. Of course no one leaves some real personal info on his social network account, but some main stuff like education, photo or address is required in this system. In the original rules Facebook has the rights to sell the information to third party companies, but the administration claimed that they never intended to do so. Another issue was connected with deleting pages, if you remove your page from Facebook, the data would still be stored on the companies servers. After numerous complains, on February 29, 2008 Facebook was modified and the people could finally erase their data when deleting pages.

Fake profiles is another problem, in any social networks you can create a fake profile of anyone, put some abusing info, and before the year 2008 it seemed to be impossible to track you down and bring you to justice. The historical case for the web happened on July 24, 2008 when the High Court in London ordered Grant Raphael to pay GBP £22,000 for breach of privacy and libel. Raphael posted a fake Facebook page of his former schoolfriend and business colleague, Mathew Firsht. The information on the fake page claimed that Firscht was homosexual and untrustworthy. Before that on February 5, 2008, Fouad Mourtada, a citizen of Morocco, was arrested for creating of a faked Facebook profile of Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco, there is still no verdict on this case.

 Facebook was sued a few times for copying the idea from various websites, but if we look at this case more seriously, an idea of a social network with personal info is not unique, Facebook was just the most successful site from all the competitors.

 Despite the numerous copyright lawsuits a Facebook twin (even designed exactly the same as the original Facebook) called Vkontakte is openly operating in CIS. It is one of the most popular sites in Russia and Ukraine, it already has 27 million users and is quickly rising and right now it is the 24^th website on Alexa overall traffic world-wide. The rumors in Russian blogosphere concerning this site are very curious, the most popular is that the website is controlled by Russian intelligence and used to gather information on people. A very post-communism version of the social network privacy issue. As for the Intellectual Property issues, there was also a rumor that Facebook will purchase Vkontakte and integrate its client database into Facebook. This will probably be a more efficient solution for this problem than facebook lawyers filling million dollar lawsuits, especially against Russia, where the laws connected with copyright and internet are almost absent.