• Categories

  • Pages

  • Archives

Your Lawyer’s Site, Content Recommendations and Advice

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Lina Maini
The Lawyer

Image via Wikipedia

If we were all lawyers, we wouldn’t need any.  (Excepting, of course, the well-advised and -tested adage situation, “… fool for a client.”)

Frustration between a lawyer and  his/her client often arises from these two issues:

1.  The latter’s lack of familiarity with legal terminology/process and the attorney’s time constrictions towards explaining such.  It’s my experience that people are now self informing themselves before consulting with a lawyer.  That’s a good thing.  An informed client will more likely feel empowered and trust an experienced attorney.

2. Aside from the customary attorney bio(s) on a law firm’s site, there are no qualification verification links.

Addressing the first issue, that of legalese v. commonspeak: Recommendations for a lawyer’s resource page:

Difference Between.  Every day, Difference Between posts (or emails to subscribers) a sample of their incredibly comprehensive content, imparting  eponymous information.  Today’s serendipitous sample is: Difference Between:  Lien and a Levy.

NYS Unified Court System’s Glossary of Legal Terms.  Specific to New York but generally applicable to all States, this succinct, mini legal dictionary allows anyone to look up legal terms used in courts – from documents to procedures. Compiled specifically for the layperson, the NYS Glossary is easy to access, read and comprehend.

The Free Dictionary:  This site holds massive, categorized (legal, medical and financial dictionaries, as well as an encyclopedia, Wikipedia and standard dictionary/thesaurus) links.  (Visually, it could be a laid out a bit more appealingly but it works.  Well.)

On the second issue of qualification verification, potential clients ( having become more self-reliant in their search for quality legal representation) are not making experienced-attorney presumptions.  Post your quals on Martindale, Lawyers and LegalMatch.  From sole practitioner to international law firm attorney, these basic listings by themselves afford potential clients the assurance that their possible attorney of choice is, in fact licensed, experienced and in good standing.  (Obviously, more than 1-person practices vet their partners, associates, of counsels… But how often?)

We can easily drill down to more recommendations and advice on this topic but taking care of these two areas: effecting client self-reliance and quality assurance, is today, mandatory.

BNI: A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

Filed under: Client Relations | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

We’ve Broken A Record!

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Lina Maini

Well, the county of our central office’s location has by being hit so hard by this past Saturday’s  snowstorm that our electricity (therefore, connectivity), heat… is out for a few days. (Yes, that’s the official local power company’s estimate.) 

No worries.  We’re shifting operations to our Queens, NYC office starting tomorrow so check back in for our latest Bulletin!

Stay safe.

Filed under: General Information | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

NYPD Traffic Accident Reports; By Intersection And Borough

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Lina Maini

From the WSJ:

It took nearly four months past the deadline set by city law, but the New York Police  Department has finally begun to release the first public list of every traffic accident  in the city — a comprehensive corner-by-corner snapshot of everything from  minor fender-benders to fatal collisions.

Hitch: Unless someone was injured or killed, they are not listed.

The City Council earlier this year passed a law, over the objections of the  NYPD, requiring the department to publish the data on its website, just like it  does with precinct-by-precinct crime statistics. The NYPD posted statistics for  August [recently].

Do not expect more timely report access.  There is a necessary period to include criminality involved MVAs into CompStat records.  (Ok, another and perhaps more important truth. The City sells the records to a private company which compiles the information into for-fee maps.)

The first batch of data covers only August. And it does not include  information about traffic volume, so it is impossible to know whether a high  number of accidents in any one month or near any one corner is due to a poorly  designed street or an uptick in the number of cars passing through.

It is very possible to know whether a high number of accidents is due to a poorly designed street/intersection.  First on a case checklist should be to check the latest (and public) NYC DOT’s Top Twenty Accident Locations report.

Still, the data do provide a level of granular detail about individual  streets that was not previously available and could spur neighborhood groups to  push for street changes.

The data sheds some light on how August’s 16,784 traffic accidents occurred.  By far the most common contributing factor in crashes, the report shows, is  driver inattention or distraction. Lost consciousness, meanwhile, contributed to  three. Overall, 15 people were killed and 4,813 were injured.

(Do these numbers look right?? The number of accidents appears high and the fatalities, low.  We’re researching as I’m publishing and will get back to you on this very shortly.)

Read more:  WSJ

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.
As always, be safe.
Related articles

Filed under: mva | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Text or Video Crime Capture to 911 in Real Time – Makes For New Evidence

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Lina Maini
Glock 17C (compensated) with Glock Rail and ad...

Image via Wikipedia

In developing this week’s topic, I recalled an incident that occurred to me several years ago.  I was driving in a remote area behind Republic Airport (Farmingdale, Long Island, NY) after a flight lesson. For some odd reason, I’d left the airport using an exit I was unfamiliar with but nonetheless figured I could ground navigate myself to a major highway.  I was on that road for several minutes when the passenger in the vehicle in front of me threw a Glock out of the window and onto the road.  I immediately dialed 911 but could not adequately describe my position as a) my GPS was charged out and there were literally no street signs.  I began to name the shops and odd things (like a large spinning red light in front of one store) and the Suffolk County police quickly determined my location. 

Now granted, mobile technology has grown leaps and bounds since even a few years ago but the below article truly explains the future of emergency transmissions, using various mobile techniques.

New 911 may allow text and video ‘calls’

November  23, 2010: 2:22 PM ET

 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The U.S. government is trying to bring the 911 emergency service “into the 21st century” by looking into allowing text, photo and video reports from mobile phones.

The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that 70% of 911 calls come from mobile phones. It also said some situations — such as a home intruder — don’t allow the victim to make a voice call safely.

 

“Today’s 911 system [launched in 1968] doesn’t support the communication tools of tomorrow,” FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. “We primarily use our phones to text, [but] right now, you can’t text 911. It’s time [for] the digital age.”

The proposed “Next Generation 911” would allow emergency call centers to receive text messages and use mobile photo or video for information about the situation in progress.

The FCC also wants to introduce automatic reports coming from medical devices, car electronics, security cameras and more.

The commission admitted that today’s 911 call centers are not well equipped technologically, with some even lacking access to broadband. It also said 911 texting would have been valuable during the shooting at the Virginia Tech campus in 2007.

“Students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 911 that dispatchers never received,” the FCC said. “If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with first-hand intelligence.”

Genachowski, the FCC chairman, said he will launch a program in December to get public input on the changes to 911 services. To top of page

 

(Hat tip: CNN Money)
Related Articles

Filed under: 911, cell phone, crime report | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Product Recall and Defect Investigations: Where to Start

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Lina Maini

From cars to painkillers, we’ve conducted numerous product defect investigations.  This Bulletin shares with its reader several relevant jump off research sites.  We concentrate on the Big Three: cars, kids and OTC` and prescription drugs.  For:

Vehicle Recalls and Defect:

1. We suggest a first step: check that your client’s car is the vehicle is appears to be.  The obvious DMV and owner records aside, a visit to CarFax is a good idea.  Bear in mind however that CF is,  after all, a private for profit company, not a governmental agency.  (Vehicles that have been impounded and resold, for example, may not have the same VIN with which they left the factory.  This will not generally show up on a CarFax report.)

2. Next stop: safercar.gov.  A section under the National Highway and Traffic Safety Adminsitration (NHTSA) site, safercar yields up-to-date recall and defect investigation data. 

3. NTSB.  The National Traffic Safety Board is the source for all official aviation, highway, marine and railway accident-related data.  It is the agency of jurisdiction for multiple fatality motor vehicle incident investigations.

 

Children’s Clothing, Furniture, Toy and Other Products

1. US Consumer Product Safety Commission.  In depth reports, easily viewable online via the CPSC’s Reading Room (FOIL compliant.)

2. Food & Drug Administration.   For kids products that contain any form of liquid or food (e.g.,  soap bubbles, shampoo toys,  lickable stickers…).

 

OTC and Rx. Drugs:

1. FDA.  The Food and Drug Administration is the government agency that regulates and supervises the safety of foods, tobacco products, dietary supplements, medication drugs, vaccines, biopharmaceutical product, blood transfusion, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices, veterinary products, and cosmetics.    The site displays an informative recently updated jump off page, FDA 101: Product Recalls – From First Alert to Effectiveness Checks.   The FDA also regulates the marketing of over the counter and prescription drugs.

Of course it makes sense in any investigation, to review prior and active lawsuits involving same or similar product.  JDSupra, Lexis, Pacer and FindLaw are superior sources for this information.

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

Related articles

Filed under: Product Recalls and Investigations | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Best Things In Life Are Free (Software)

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Lina Maini

This week’s Bulletin comes from our IT head, Jonathan Caspian (not the above feature); a timely update regarding computer virus software.

Most firms have fairly good firewalls in place but that protection generally does not extend to individual laptops, home PCs, smart phones…

This week’s Bulletin is a short and sweet list of free security app tips for those can’t-do-without gadgets:

Tip 1 (For Windows users, any version):
Free Malicious Software Removal Tool from Microsoft. This software, which should be run once a month (at least) whether you think your computer has been infected or not, scans your computer and removes the most popular and pernicious viruses and malicious software. This software is free from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Note: FOR THE FREE VERSIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO APPS, GO TO DOWNLOAD.COM. (dl.com also has many other tools, software, patches… that you can download for free and with very accurate editor and reader reviews. CNET tested.)

Tip 2 (Spyware Removal)
SPYBOT. For immediate removal of those pesky cookies, spyware and malware, Spybot is the best in the business. The computer security industry gives Spybot high points for ease of use, efficiency, effectiveness and it constantly updates itself for new hacker threats.

Tip 3 (All around firewall, virus protection)
AVG. There is no better security monitor and virus removal software. Again, it’s free.

All three of these protection softwares will offer a report at the end of a session (which you can program on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis).

BNI Operatives: Street smart: web savvy.

Stay safe.

Related articles

Filed under: avg, malware, Microsoft, removal, scanner, security, software, spybot, virus | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 186 other followers

%d bloggers like this: