After some hesitation, a federal court has given the IRS the green light to obtain property tax information on real property transfers between nonspouse related parties. So, all those who skipped the required gift tax return when they transferred property to a child or grandchild may want to rethink that decision. (more…)
Filed under: Estate Planning, Legal Topics, Tax Law | Tagged: Board of Equalization, gift tax, IRS, property tax, real property transfer | 2 Comments »
Divorce has many costs, not the least of which are the attorney fees incurred by each party. But it’s not always the incurring party who has to foot his or her attorney’s bills. (more…)
Filed under: Divorce Law, Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: attorney fees, divorce, marital agreement, marital dissolution, rape, stipulation | 1 Comment »
The following is a guest blog post by Jessica N. Asfour, Esq. of Asfour Law Office in Oakland, CA.
Experts say that to begin your own law practice, you need only your own motivation and a mailing address. As an attorney with a new solo practice, I would like to unpack the last part of that statement: the mailing address. (more…)
Filed under: Practice of Law, Starting a Law Practice | Tagged: home office, law office, opening a law office, solo practice, starting a law practice, virtual law office | 3 Comments »
You’ve taken on a car accident case. Who’s going to be your best witness? Many times it will be the officer who arrived at the scene. But how do you evaluate whether that officer will really be a good witness for your client? (more…)
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Litigation Strategy, Tort Law | Tagged: automobile accidents, CHP officers, personal injury, police officers, witnesses | Leave a Comment »
For many people, dreams of a relaxing retirement have already been dashed by declining equity in their home, rising gas prices, and a volatile stock market. But federal retirees face an additional hardship: a huge backlog in the federal pension system.
Filed under: Family Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: division of assets, divorce, federal pension systems, marital dissolution, pension, retirees | Leave a Comment »
Here are 10 arrows in your quiver of objections to shoot at any discovery request. The key is to aim only with an objection that is factually justified and to hit the request on the bullseye. (more…)
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Discovery, Legal Topics, Litigation Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged: discovery, litigation, objections, pre-trial preparation | 2 Comments »
The following is a guest blog post by Alan D. Weinfeld of Parker, Milliken, Clark, O’Hara & Samuelian in Los Angeles.
The United States Supreme Court recently recognized the existence of a “ministerial exception” in the First Amendment, which precludes lawsuits by ministers against their religious institutions for violations of employment discrimination laws. This decision could have wide-reaching impact not just on churches, temples and mosques, but on all types of religious-based organizations. (more…)
Filed under: Business, Employment Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: American with Disabilities Act, churches, employment discrimination, First Amendment, freedom of religion, ministerial exception, retaliation, Supreme Court | 3 Comments »
The contract binding you and your client is the fee agreement. This is not the time for simple boilerplate and formulaic thinking: Draft your fee agreements with care and attention to the particular case at hand. (more…)
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Practice of Law | Tagged: attorney fees, contingency fee agreement, fee agreement, fee agreement forms | Leave a Comment »
For most of us, moving our clocks forward from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. for daylight savings time means crankiness due to an hour less of sleep. But for nonexempt overnight workers, it means one less hour of work, and thus one less hour’s worth of much-needed pay. (more…)
Filed under: Employment Law, Legal Topics, Uncategorized | Tagged: daylight savings time, employees, hourly employees, nonexempt employees, overnight workers, overtime pay, wage and hour | Leave a Comment »
Most attorneys, when planning case strategy, focus on cross-examination, opening statement, and legal questions. But overarching all of these, and fundamental to any case, is this question: “How am I going to make a jury understand my case?” (more…)
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Criminal Law, Legal Topics, Litigation Strategy | Tagged: cross-examination, jury, opening argument, trial skills | 4 Comments »
