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What Can You Expect Out Of Legal Case Management Software

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Law firm managers and partners will agree on the fact that they will do everything in their capacity to improve their range of services to their clients. At the same time, you will come across people who are not quite keen on investing in a Legal Case Management tool as they think that the return of investment does not match up to their expectations, especially when one considers the short term benefits. Though this kind of thinking may appear to be a sign of short-sightedness, there are several such instances.

Again, it would be a mistake to assume that a case management tool is a one-time deployment that can bring about a paradigm shift within a short span of time. It needs to be implemented in a proper way. It would end up creating a framework for the entire firm and help it to function as a consistent and cohesive unit. The tool can become an indispensable one for the firm’s staff, partners and associates and aid them in the accomplishment of their regular tasks. Here is a quick wrap-up of the long and short term benefits of using such software.

Long Term Benefits

Securing institutional knowledge and the assets of the firm Retaining the trusted clients and also developing a new base of clients steadily on grounds of providing excellent client services Prompting new employees to change gears and complete the task within the stipulated deadline Offering productivity metrics and firm management solutions

Short Term Benefits

Records billable time effectively Simplifies the process of conflict checking Provides access to all information concerning a particular case and also ensure proper communication from a central location using a single interface Making the intake process fully automatic Ensuring complete client satisfaction by offering substantive and time communications Saving on the time required for searching documents and every other bit of information To acquire all relevant information at a glance including information about witnesses, opposing counsel and judges along with the current status of the case Furnishing documents with key information automatically Creating alerts for the staff and attorneys whenever a new file is passed on to them Generating customised workflows for each and every practice area

There are several instances where you would find the adoption of such advanced technology generating short term results for your business. Even a couple of decades back, one could not imagine replacing the services of a seasoned typist for one who was just starting to learn keyboard commands required for word processing. But today you cannot deny the importance of using advanced technology for carrying out various tasks connected with case management. Legal case management software is thus no longer an alien concept in the legal field and is been taken up by solicitors across different parts of the world. However, the use of such software can begin only after you are clear about your requirements and the demands of your business.

Intercompany loan agreements

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It’s probably unfair to say that it’s a hallmark of a well-run company that it has established processes for documenting all of the processes which are key to its business. That would be easy to assert, but very hard to do. But if that principle did apply, then it would also apply to the creation and documentation of intra-group loan relationships. This includes cash-pooling arrangements, which typically amount to loans made by the various participating companies to the cash pool leader.

From a legal perspective, this is not rocket science. The key terms will include:

drawdown and utilisation of advances conditions precedent to drawdown term (repayment date) and the borrower’s ability to repay early (prepayment) interest rates, interest periods and compounding security and subordination events of default triggering early repayment, and default interest

As with any intra-group arrangements, a critical litmus test is whether directors can properly approve the terms of the loan relationship as being in the interests of each individual company of which they are a director.

From a lender’s perspective, this ‘corporate benefit’ issue is particularly relevant for loans by a subsidiary to a parent company or a sister company. It may less of an issue in the case of a loan by parent to its subsidiary, since the parent has a clear financial interest in the success of its investment. However, for upwards or sideways loans within a group structure, factors such as the borrower’s ability to repay the loan will obviously be important. It should go without saying that it’s not enough for the making of the loan to make sense from a group-wide perspective. The loan must also be justifiable from the perspective of each legal entity participating in the arrangements.

In one extreme but typical example, a group finance company made a loan of over a billion dollars to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which used the loan proceeds to acquire listed securities in the market. The SPV was a sister company of the finance company – in other words, they were both subsidiaries of the same holding company. The loan was expressed to be repayable on demand. As was expected, the value of the securities fell almost immediately, leaving the SPV with negative net assets. It would be hard to justify those arrangements as being for the corporate benefit of the lender, in the absence of additional arrangement such as a parent company guarantee to support the borrower’s obligations.

From the borrower’s perspective, a parent company guarantee in favour of the lender doesn’t help. If the guarantee were to be called on – and the parent procured repayment of the loan amount to the lender – the balance sheet position of the borrower would not be improved. It would simply owe the same amount to the parent rather than the original lender. From the borrower’s perspective, it would therefore need some additional comfort, such as a subordination agreement with the parent or some other commitment of financial support.

Please see the following link for examples of short-form intercompany loan agreements.

http://www.groupreorganisation.com/?p=115

Lawyers When Do You Need One

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Normally, when you think of the potential situations in which you would need lawyers, the image of a mug shot and the back of a police car comes to mind. A person who finds themselves in some sort of criminal trouble most likely does need legal representation, but there are many other times in life in which a person might need legal counsel.

It can be difficult to know if you need legal representation. Of course, the need is more obvious and pressing in certain situations than in others. Other than instances in which you are charged with a crime, you will also need representation if you are ever served with a lawsuit, or if you have been involved in an accident where someone was injured or property was damaged. Lawyers can also be necessary if your familial status is changing-if you are involved in a divorce, if you are adopting a child, or in the event of a birth or a death. You could also need legal representation is if there is a change in your financial status, like filing for bankruptcy, losing or acquiring valuable property, or in a real estate transaction.

Then, of course, there are some instances when it is unclear whether or not lawyers are necessary. In most cases, it is better to at least have an initial consultation with an attorney so you can better understand what, if any, legal implications could arise. It is often wise to seek out legal advice first, paying a small fee, rather than facing a potentially disastrous situation, which could cost you a huge amount of money in legal representation and other costs.

If you are unfamiliar with the role of lawyers, you could have some question about the basics of hiring an attorney to represent you. Lawyers are expected to both uphold the laws of their jurisdiction and to protect the rights and interests of their clients. They are also responsible for making sure that their client has a clear understanding of their legal rights and their options, as well as resolving their clients’ needs to the best of their abilities and in an ethical manner. An attorney may not spend the majority of their time assisting you in court. A lawyer may be able to assist you by simply reaching out to any other parties involved in your case. Or, they may conduct extensive amounts of research on your case to better define your legal positioning.

Still unsure if you need to contact an attorney? Lawyers in Lansing, MI are here to assist you. Turn to Fraser Trebilcock for legal counsel. .

Where To Find General Transcription Training

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Many people who are unfamiliar with general transcription ask where to find transcription training so they can start working at home as a general transcriptionist. Some people think you don’t need any training at all and it’s simply a matter of being able to type fast and listen well. And there are some people that are naturals; they learn quickly how to use the software and other tools and they start right in on picking up work within a few days.

And some others start in this business after learning and doing transcription on the job with a former employer. Since they have the skills already in place and have been doing transcription for a while, they simply need to adapt to being home-based and self employed.

But for many others, it’s not so simple and they really need to get back to the basics and learn additional skills before attempting to move into this business as a source of home-based employment or income because this isn’t just some “type from home and make money” scheme. This is a genuine business working with real people and real companies to earn real money.

And it’s up to you to use your best judgement and decide if paying for a transcription course is really necessary.

If you’re unfamiliar with what “general transcription” is, let me start by saying that in my opinion, there really is no way to “train” to do general transcription. There are no accredited or certified General Transcription courses and learning to use a transcription machine or software is often part of another course in business or a part of certified medical and legal transcription programs. But so far, you cannot become a Certified General Transcriptionist.

And why is that? Because general transcription fills in the gap; it is everything but medical and legal, so you can get transcription work from any industry and any individual. Unlike the medical and legal fields, there are no industry specific structured ways of typing information into specific templates.

You may do an academic transcript one day in one format on one subject, then do a podcast or general interview the next day in another format in a completely different subject. And since each client sets up their documents a different way depending on what they’re going to do with it, the same client may have several different formats they want you to use.

In fact, your clients may simply say, ‘Just set it up how you think is best,’ and you get to be creative. So you simply cannot learn to use only one or two different “one size fits all” templates. It’s much too varied.

So basically, if you decide you need hands-on training in a formal setting, you’re more than likely looking at having to take a medical transcription or legal transcription certificate program and then adapt what you’ve learned into the general transcription field. And that’s not really a bad thing because you can never have enough education.

Now if you already have a solid grasp of the English language, typing and you can learn software rather quickly, you may not need to take any professional courses to start in general transcription. But you may need to learn a little bit more about the business end of things, like what software you need and how to get clients. In this case, there are a few books and online resources you can buy.

You need to thoroughly check these resources out though to make sure you’re not wasting your money. So check for testimonials and even contact the authors. Make sure the course or book will provide a wide variety of sample document formats to use and how to set them up. This will help you learn your word processing program. But remember, these are just samples. You won’t know ahead of time what your specific clients may want, but if you get enough practice, you’ll be able to set up anything they require.

Good transcription training courses that are worth their money should also provide you with several sample digital audio files you can practice with, and where to find more samples online, such as business podcasts to download and practice with. It should also include a section that shows you how to record a webcast or podcast from the Internet using digital audio recording software, and a brief section on how to convert a physical cassette tape to a digital file.

And finally, it should show you how to use AutoCorrect and other keyboard shortcuts that will help you with your typing speed.

So, while taking a formal course in transcription training can be costly without getting a college grant, finding a decent course online or simply learning by doing does not have to be expensive. With a little research and effort, you should be finished and on your way to working from home in as little as a few months time.

And remember, having the freedom to work at home with a business that is growing in demand will provide you with the means to enjoy your family, avoid the stress of the average workplace, and give you a sense of pride that you can only achieve from being your own boss.

The U S Constitution — John Eidsmoe Falls Short Of Proving It’s A Christian Document

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According to John Eidsmoe, the U S Constitution was heavily influenced by Christianity. That is the thesis of his book Christianity and the Constitution. Published in 1987 by Baker House, the book is 415 pages in length.

The book leads off with a survey of various philosophical schools popular in the 18th Century, not least of which was Calvinism. John Eidsmoe states that a majority of Americans were Calvinist, but fails to demonstrate its influence on the Founders.

The book deals briefly with “John Locke’s social contract theory,” which is said to be the “secular expression” of the covenant. Mr. Eidsmoe equates the two, a usual tactic of Christian Federalists to explain away the obvious secularism of the U S Constitution.

For example, he glosses over Locke’s humanism with the assertion that he was “a Puritan by background” who “based his political theories on Rutherford’s Lex Rex.” Thus he excuses Locke’s humanism and Latitudinarianism to arrive at an very tenuous conclusion. John Locke was a Puritan prodigal, not a faithful son.

Mr. Eidsmoe’s repeated confusion of social contract theory and Bible covenant is his biggest problem. He naively mistakes the preamble of the U S Constitution as a commitment to Bible covenantalism, instead of the godless social contract which it is. This confusion is typical of Christian Constitutionalists, who frequently equate the U S Constitution and the Word of God.

Another chapter looks at aspects of 18th Century Puritanism such as optimistic eschatology and the application of Biblical law to all of life. John Eidsmoe wants his reader to draw the conclusion that these were incorporated into the U S Constitution. But this does not follow. The first Great Awakening of 1742 is described as a revival of Puritanism. This tenuous conclusion supports the non sequitor that Puritanism was built into the U S Constitution of 1787.

Several aberrant philosophies of the time are also discussed, including Freemasonry and Deism. Freemasonry is introduced and then waved off as an innocent social club, useful for political and business networking. John Eidsmoe simply ignores the anti-Christian oaths integral to Freemasonry.

It is hard to summarize all the problems in the chapter on “Law and Government”. For one thing, Mr. Eidsmoe presents Montesquieu as a champion of Biblical law. In reality Montesquieu took the Bible as but one among many authorities, with all subject to natural law.

Likewise Blackstone’s Common Law is presented as a compendium of Biblical law par excellence. The fact of the matter was it had morphed into a barnacle- laiden anachronism by the 1750s. For example, some 200 mostly petty crimes carried the death penalty. Most juries refused to enforce it because it was so obviously unjust.

In reality Blackstone rarely even mentioned the Bible in his Commentaries. We assume John Eidsmoe has read Blackstone, so he should be aware of that.

Returning to Locke, Mr. Eidsmoe justifies his humanism and “blank slate” theory of the mind, which denies original sin. Again he draws the faulty conclusion that Locke’s “social compact theory is similar to the Calvinist idea of covenant.” This is a misleading statement because the two ideas are diametrically opposed. They represent the authority of man versus the authority of God.

All of these misperceptions color the religious biographies of the founders which comprise most of the book. For example, of John Witherspoon he notes that “He devoted his life to instilling the principles of Holy Scripture into the minds and souls of young men who then used these principles to shape America.”

It is difficult to see how anyone who has read Witherspoon’s class notes for his moral philosophy class could draw such a conclusion. Moral philosophy was the culminating class of the curriculum that Witherspoon taught personally to all the graduating seniors at the College of New Jersey. They are an exposition of natural law and secular social contract theory, with very little reference to Holy Scripture.

Typical of Christian apologists for the U S Constitution John Eidsmoe spends a good deal of time arguing that the Founding Fathers were all solid Christians. The usual assumption is that if we can prove the founders were Christian, the document they gave us must of necessity be Christian. But this is a non-sequitor. Space does not permit us to say all that could be said of these biographies.

At the end, John Eidsmoe lists all of the alleged biblical principles he has found in the U S Constitution. But most of what he cites is Enlightenment theory of the natural rights of man, egalitarianism, and natural law. The “consent of the governed” is the source of governing authority rather than God.

Mr. Eismoe is correct in concluding that knowledge of the sinfulness of man prompted the Constitution’s limited, delegated powers. This is the one point at which the Founders got it right, and we have Witherspoon to thank for that. But overall the complexities of this book should limit its use to the advanced student who is well-versed in the issues involved.

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