2010: GET LAWYERS

Foreign nationals that are interested in immigrating to the United States now have one of the fastest ways of doing so through the EB-5 Investor Immigrant Pilot Program. The EB-5 is a business investment based visa that requires an investment of $500,000 into a government approved EB-5 project known as a Regional Center.

A Regional Center is defined as any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment.

Aside from the investment, the foreign applicant must undergo a background check, medical examination and must be able to provide evidence that the invested funds were obtained legally. Once those prerequisites are completed and approved, the main requirement of the investment is that the Regional Center chosen must create a minimum of 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers.

Through the pilot program, the investment allows for both the direct or indirect creation of jobs. Direct job creation is considered the jobs that establish an employer-employee relationship between the newly developed business and the people that they employ. Indirect job creation is considered the jobs held by persons who work outside the newly established commercial enterprise. For example, indirect jobs include employees of the producers of materials, equipment, and services that are used by the commercial enterprise. There is also a sub-set of indirect jobs that are calculated using economic models that are known as induced jobs. Induced jobs are those jobs created when direct and indirect employees go out and spend their increased incomes on consumer goods and services.

Whether the jobs are created directly or indirectly, the minimum requirement is that there must be 10 full-time positions filled. Full-time employment is defined as employment in a position that requires at least 35 hours of service per week at any time; intermittent, temporary or seasonal jobs do not qualify as full-time jobs and they do not meet the requirement.

Once the job creation requirement is fulfilled, the investor, the investor’s spouse and their unmarried children under the age of 21 receive an EB-5 visa and permanent U.S. residence.

In any endeavor in which the origination of new business involves work and/or expertise, there will be persons willing to offer such service/expertise for profit. The business of lawsuit loans or cash advance funding for pending cases is really no different in this regard. Previously, we discussed some of the benefits brokers offer to those seeking pre-settlement loans. In this article we will examine exactly what function a lawsuit funding broker serves in the business and examine the cost associated with this specialty.

Let us first define what we are talking about when we use the term “broker”. For purposes of the lawsuit funding industry, a broker is a person(s) or entity which originates new business for lawsuit cash advance companies and serves as a liaison between the applicant and the company. As stated before, origination is a vital part of any business. Therefore, brokers want to be compensated for their efforts. After all, it is not as easy as throwing up a website and answering a few phone calls.

Lawsuit funding brokers originate business in a variety of ways. Some focus efforts on historically effective marketing mediums such as print ads or mailers. Other brokers utilize the internet and market their service on the web. Still others market to attorneys with whom the broker creates a working relationship. Regardless of the way the business is generated, the brokers job is to get clients funded.

To this end, the broker must:

1. Get the client to call.

2. Compile the necessary paperwork.

3. Choose the appropriate lawsuit loan funder and submit the case.

4. Monitor the progression/status.

5. Field the clients calls and questions.

6. Forward the funding agreement to the client and the attorney.

7. Field questions regarding the contract and its terms for funding.

8. Secure and forward the Lawsuit Funding Contract to the funding company.

9. Confirm the client receives the cash advance.

Because lawsuit funding brokers offer the above and they expect to be paid for their time and expertise, brokers charge fees which are added on to the amount of the contract. Generally, broker fees for funding contracts range from15%-20% of the amount the client. Sometimes they are negotiated downwards on very large cases. However, it is important to remember that pre-settlement funding brokers work tirelessly answering questions from both clients and funders alike. Also, valuable time and expertise is often uncompensated as cases are denied funding for a variety of reasons.

Equally, and perhaps more important is the effect of a broker commission on the ultimate payoff of the lawsuit loan or pre-settlement funding transaction. Because the client often needs a specific amount of money, he usually does not want the broker commission to be deducted from his portion. But because the broker must be paid, the amount of his “commission” is added to the contract amount. Yet the amount of “interest” charged for a cash advance is not calculated on the amount the client receives but on the amount of the contract. So essentially the client is paying interest on money he did not receive.

Nevertheless, brokers serve an important function for clients and funders alike. Brokers give clients additional access and expertise that otherwise may not be available to clients dealing directly with a lender. Brokers help lenders in the origination business so that they can focus on other aspects of the lawsuit funding industry.

Ultimately, each client must decide whether to use a broker in lawsuit loan transaction. As with everything else, the value added versus the costs associated with this decision are subjectively determined.

Thank you for your interest in the lawsuit funding business.

pmc

The purpose of this and all articles posted by the undersigned is to educate the public about the lawsuit funding business as a whole. The premise is that if the public is more aware of the business and how it works, it will benefit the lawsuit loan industry and clients alike. This article will touch on the various ways lawsuit funding operations originate cases to consider for a lawsuit cash advance.

Like most businesses in which there is sufficient demand, new business is generated is a variety of ways. In the lawsuit funding business, business is usually originated either through the direct “in house” efforts or through lawsuit funding brokers.

Broker Origination

Originating business is essentially informing large numbers of people the services/products offered and then processing applications/orders for the product/service. The pre-settlement loan business is really no different. Lawsuit funding brokers specialize in the origination of lawsuit loans for funding companies.

Of course, there are costs associated with this part of the business and ultimately, all costs are passed along to the consumer. If you are applying for a cash advance funding on your lawsuit – you are the consumer.

Yet, a broker is also an entity which helps the applicant through the funding process. That company is a well qualified guide and can be extremely valuable to an applicant. Some of the benefits of working with a broker are:

1. Expertise in the Industry – Generally, people who earn a living in a certain endeavor obtain an expertise in that area. Specifically, the lawsuit funding business is a unique form of “specialty finance” in which common sense is mixed with intricate knowledge of the legal process. Those persons who have experience in the business are usually able to offer insight into the lawsuit loan process which otherwise, may not be available. This insight may prove valuable to applicants for pre-settlement loans.

2. Access to Multiple Lenders – Brokers also have relationships with various litigation cash advance funders. This may also serve to help the applicant since the underwriting of cases is fairly subjective and each lender has its own risk model. Access to multiple lenders can help the applicant with a “marginal” case obtain funding when cash would otherwise be unavailable.

3. Ability to Answer Questions and Personal Attention – Because lawsuit funding brokers are intimately aware of the funding process, they have the ability to answer most, if not all of your questions. More importantly, applicants have access to these individuals on a more consistent basis than if they were dealing with a direct lender. More communication usually results in more successful outcomes. Since applicants can better explain their position to the brokers, and the brokers’ compensation is contingent on the applicant receiving cash for the lawsuit, brokers are eager to help.

Of course, the benefits listed above come with a cost. In the next post, we will discuss in detail the costs associated with utilizing the services of a broker when applying for a lawsuit loans.

Thank you for your interest in the lawsuit funding business.

pmc

When you are charged with a computer crime, you want an attorney that will do everything he or she can to defend you. Staying out of prison, avoiding a criminal record and protecting your family is important to you. Then why would you hire an attorney for a computer crime if that attorney doesn’t know anything about computer forensics?

As an attorney, we have to be experts in everything. That’s what makes this job so fun. While we cannot be experts in everything all of the time, we need to have a basic understanding of the issues that we will face. Its the same reason why the days of the general practitioner are pretty much dead. There is just too much out there to know. Thus, I don’t expect that many attorneys will become a computer forensics expert, they should have a basic understanding of what it is and how to use it to craft a defense. However, most don’t because many lawyers went to law school before the modern computer became common place. Thus, many still have a fear of computers and technology in general. Even though this attorney may be great in other areas, selecting this same attorney to defend you in your computer crimes case could lead to disaster.

Computer forensics is the art and science of applying computer science to aid the legal process. It is a vast subject area that first requires a deep knowledge of computers and networks which is why many lawyers don’t even bother learning it. Thus, it is impossible to even tough on the most basic concepts of computer forensics in this article. Instead, I will highlight how and why it is important for the lawyer to understand computer forensics when defending computer crime cases.

In just about every case, the State will have a computer crime expert who will discuss computer forensics. Thus, you may need an expert as well. If you have one, he or she can help you make sense out of their expert’s reports and testimony. However, this person is not a lawyer. Relying solely on their input essentially turns the defense of the case over to a non-lawyer. Would you want a surgeon to operate on you based upon the advice of someone who is not a doctor? Furthermore, you may not always be fortunate enough to have a client that can afford an expert. Thus, you need to be able to understand what their expert is saying both in their reports and testimony.

This will also prevent the “deer in a headlights” look that experts often create when they “teach” the defense lawyer. As the defense lawyer, you should be doing the teaching, not the State’s expert. However, I have seen defense lawyers ask open ended questions in an attempt to understand the expert’s testimony. The expert winds up doing more damage that they did on direct as the expert is teaching everyone, including the jury and the defense lawyer on cross examination. This leads to sloppy, almost non-existent cross examination. Quite often, the case may be lost right then and there as the jury may wind up totally believing the expert. And after all, without anything to really impeach the expert’s testimony, why wouldn’t they?

Experts aren’t always experts but they sure think that they are. Quite often, they have been trained on how to testify. Some almost seem to have a script. If you don’t know what you are talking about, they will walk all over you. If you can talk the talk, you’ll not only gain their respect, but you’ll also scare them. Your cross can be much tighter and focused. More importantly, you can more easily take them off script by using their terms and by knowing their methods and policies. Your job is to know more than they do on the key issues in your case. You have the benefit of having everything you want right in front of you while they are on the witness stand with nothing. I have been able to impeach expert witnesses with their own policy manuals. I ask open ended questions where the answer cannot hurt me to test their knowledge. An “I don’t know answer” is not very damaging but a wrong answer is. As soon as you get the wrong answer, you can use their own materials to impeach them. Nothing takes the wind out of the State’s case faster than to show that the emperor (the witness) has no clothes.

Besides trial issues, a defense lawyer cannot make sense out of the discovery without a working knowledge of computer forensics. Again, while a defense expert can help, they should not be relied upon to interpret the entire case. In my cases, I rarely need my expert to tell me what the defenses are. Instead, I need the expert to testify as I cannot.

Just about every computer crime case involves some degree of computer forensics. If the defense attorney just assumes that police are correct, then the attorney is not properly defending the client. Computer forensics involves the collection, preservation, filtering and presentation of digital evidence. In each stage of this process, something can go seriously wrong that could make it seem like the client is guilty when they are in fact, innocent.

Collection of digital evidence is when artifacts considered to be of evidentiary value are identified and collected. They can take the forms of external disks, computers, phones, video game consoles, servers and any other device capable of recording data. The large number of storage devices and their ever decreasing size present a big problem for law enforcement. For defense attorneys, who collects this evidence and how is very important to the case especially when non-law enforcement people collect evidence.

Closely related to collection, is the preservation of digital evidence. In order for digital evidence to be reliable, the evidence needs to be complete, accurate and verifiable. Any alterations in the data can lead to a number of defense arguments. While most law enforcement labs have systems in place to prevent this from ever becoming an issue, lay people such as store employees or corporate security can completely alter the original data. Of course, only a defense attorney that understands computer forensics can pick up on this and make an issue out of it.

The filtering process is where the analysis is done. Evidentiary/suspect files are extracted and non-suspect files are filtered out. Due to the increasing size of hard drives and the lack of staff, this process can take many months. The computer crime defense lawyer must have a good grasp on exactly what the examiner is doing and why. Quite often, the examiner will rely upon automated tools to speed up the filtering process. While this allows them to “cut to the chase” pretty quickly, it may also present one side of the story. Defense lawyers cannot rely upon their own experts to know what to look for when crafting a defense. Instead, they must have a grasp of everything the examiner could have done but chose not to for whatever reason. What files were not examined? What settings were used with the automated tools? As a result, what files were ignored and why? What do those files show? What could they have shown? To be effective, the state must nail down everything. When they don’t, they hand the defense a blank slate to which the defense attorney can write down and present to the jury, just about anything.

Presentation of the suspect of the evidentiary data normally starts with the examiner extracting the artifacts and organizing them onto a form of media such as a DVD. In addition to the media that the data is saved on, reports and testimony are also a part of the presentation. In just about every case, the examiner will use some type of computer forensic software which will generate a report. The defense must understand how this program works and how to read and make use of the report. As previously indicated, sometimes what is most important in a case is not just what is included in a report but what is left out. Nailing the examiner down to the reports and then exploiting the gaps in them can only be done if the defense attorney has a good understanding of the entire computer forensics process.

As you can see, there is a lot to know when it comes to computer forensics. Even if you cannot afford an expert, if your computer crimes defense attorney has a working knowledge of computer forensics and the prosecutor does not, you will have a leg up when it comes to plea negotiations, motions and trials. When the case is in court, your lawyer is either trying to each the judge, the jury or both. If your lawyer doesn’t understand the material, how can he or she be expected to teach anyone anything? Instead, the State’s expert will do the teaching and they will teach the jury that you are guilty and that your defense attorney is clueless.

If you are having to take time off work due to illness you may be wondering about your rights and responsibilities during your time off sick. Are you entitled to be paid – and if so, how much? – and what information are you required to give your employer?

Most workers between the ages of 16 and 65 are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Statutory Sick Pay is the minimum amount you must be paid by your employer whilst you are off sick. Your employer is entitled to reclaim any SSP payments from the government. You are entitled to receive SSP for a period of 28 weeks and if you are still unable to work after this period your SSP will stop but you will be able to claim Incapacity Benefit. SSP starts from the fourth consecutive day of your absence from work due to ill health.

Some employers offer their employees Occupational Sick Pay (OSP) and this will be detailed in your contract of employment. It is often the case that you have to have been working for your employer for a certain period of time, i.e. three months, before you are entitled to Occupational Sick Pay. Usually your employer will pay you OSP equivalent to your full-time pay for a certain period, i.e. 6 months, which will then go down to half-pay for a further specified period. Occupational Sick Pay must never be less than SSP but it is down to the discretion of your employer as to whether or not to use the SSP scheme, bearing in mind, again, that they cannot pay you less than what you would be entitled to under that scheme.

What about your responsibilities to your employer? Your employer may have a particular policy or procedure on sickness absence which will need to be followed. For example, they may require you to notify them by a certain time on the first day of your absence that you are not going to be attending work due to illness. If you are absent for four consecutive days or more you are required by law to complete a SC2 Self Certification form which will provide your employer with details of your illness. After seven days of consecutive absence due to illness your employer is entitled to insist on you obtaining a doctor’s certificate (sometimes referred to as a ‘medical statement’ or ‘fit note’).

Being absent from work due to illness can be a worrying time, especially if you are likely to be absent for a substantial period of time. It would benefit both you and your employer if you can keep in regular contact with them (or if someone can do this on your behalf) to keep them updated on your condition and the likelihood of you returning to work. This will enable your employer to make provision for your job to be done in your absence and will help you to maintain good relations with your employer.

Copyright (c) 2010 Robert Gray

The process of following in order

When you think about succession planning, and website succession planning in particular, it’s important to keep in mind that succession is the act or process of following in order, or sequence.

At the heart of website succession planning is consideration of the intrinsic value of your internet properties measured by tangible and intangible factors that are independent of the internet properties’ value to anyone or anything else.

A unique purpose

Every website serves a unique purpose to each owner, whether an individual, family, corporation, government agency, school, organization, association or charity; and its public and customers.

Expectations are great and every website and internet property takes on a life of its own. Each is touched by many hands to create, build and maintain a vibrancy of content and presentation. Some are “set ‘em and forget ‘em” sites while others require care and attention around the clock.

Owner vulnerability

With so many hands touching each phase of development and maintenance, owner vulnerability has increased. Without realizing it, owners relying on others to create, build and maintain their websites and internet properties have in essence handed over the keys to their business and livelihood to them.

We are way beyond having a few email accounts and passwords. Our lives, and businesses, have moved online with lightening speed. A digital device is always at the ready and within a fingertip’s reach of generating opportunities and risk.

Knowing key access points

Best practices dictate every owner of internet properties have all key access points and the fundamental pieces of information necessary to take control of their domains, websites and internet properties – if they need to. At the minimum, some key access point information includes user names, passwords, emails associated with accounts, and an access URL, and who is authorized to access the account.

All facets of digital assets and intellectual property need to be accounted for in the event of losing essential personnel, service providers or even the death of the owner. Without this information at the ready, online businesses and internet properties will begin to fray around the edges and the necessary results a business relies on will eventually disappear.

In control of information

Our families, customers and public expect us to be accountable and in control of this information. Gone are the days when we can shrug our shoulders and assume someone will figure all this out when we’re gone. Now is the time to begin gathering fundamental key access points and assembling them in a safe and secure way so you’re always in the position of being able to hand them to a successor, family member or attorney to attach to your will, trust or estate plan. Someone, besides you, has to know where you keep the information, and how to access it.

Income-producing internet businesses and internet property estate planning

When you use estate planning laws for website succession planning for income-producing internet businesses, you could also think of it as the order in which, or conditions under which one person after another succeeds to your internet properties and digital assets. When you create a website succession plan, you can create a legal entity that provides the structure of one person taking the place of another in the enjoyment of or liability for rights or duties or both. In essence, when you create a website succession plan your goal is to preserve the continued operation of your internet business, the digital assets, its access points, and the income it generates for future generations providing for their financial benefit and life-long security.

The internet has made it possible for many to realize dreams of owning a high-income producing business. These internet businesses have helped many live a lifestyle of their dreams and enjoy the benefits of passive, perpetual and residual income as a result. The internet has also created a new set of legal challenges in terms of passing on websites, internet properties and a family-owned internet business to future generations.

The Website LLC

In the past, families relied on a business succession plan, estate plan or a trust or even a simple will to pass the family business to their family. There are inherent risks with passing an internet business to someone without process flow knowledge and without knowing the key access points to guarantee a lifetime of uninterrupted operation and cash flow. In many instances an internet business will cease operations with the death of the owner and ultimately income will be lost without the knowledge of process and knowing the key access points. One option to consider is developing a website succession plan utilizing a Website LLC with a Website Operating Agreement to move the family internet business to the safety of being governed by entity laws.

Developing a Website Operating Agreement

A Website LLC has at its core the Website Operating Agreement so you can control when and how the family internet business is passed to future generations. When you use a website succession plan in this manner you are in control of another aspect of succession planning which is the act or process of a person’s becoming beneficially entitled to internet properties, digital assets and intellectual properties or the internet property interest of a deceased person.

Legal Documents and Website Succession Planning

It’s easy to begin the process of developing a website succession plan. First, gather all key access points for each facet of your internet properties. Organize and record this information in a safe, secure and offline manner using either printed documents or software made specifically for recording information about internet properties and internet businesses. Meet with your attorney and attach this information, or how to access this information to your legal estate planning documents.