The Truth About LawyersWritten by Peter Cross
During matter of my divorce (that's lawyer talk - it's always matter of this and matter of that), I spent about $30,000 on three different attorneys in an extremely frustrating effort just to be able to see my own children. As each one failed to obtain one single worthwhile benefit for me, I fired them and hired another one. I couldn't help but notice that I was never allowed to speak directly to judge and I felt that these people were not saying things I wanted them to say as well as I could, so in end, I fired them all and decided to represent myself in court "In Pro Per" (as my own attorney). It was then that I learned most important lesson of all:The Name of Game in court is: DON'T PISS OFF THE JUDGE! The hard truth of matter is that attorneys have to work with judges and with other attorneys every day. A client is just a client, and when case is over, it's over and they need to get on with next one. It's really all about careers and about relationships, and attorneys' daily business relationships are with other attorneys. These are people they have to work with, and they have ethical guidelines that compel them to all get along even if they really don't like each other. But when it comes to judges, it's not a matter of like or dislike. The judges are little gods, and reality is that they have huge case loads that just get larger no matter what they do, and attorneys understand that way to help judges is to move cases through court as quicky as possible. Help a judge do that, and you're on their good side. Take too long with one particular client, and you're not. DON'T PISS OFF THE JUDGE, or judge will definitely find a way to take it out on you. You will not like it when that happens. I know one particular judge who said to me, "I don't get angry, I get even". So for attorneys, their careers may be at stake if they alienate their peers. The vast majority of attorneys will not put their careers at risk and jeopardize their professional relationships for any one particular client. So does anybody really need an attorney? The law actually implies that we don't because we are given right to represent ourselves in court if we choose to. Does anybody really want you to know this? Definitely not, because if everybody represented themselves, how would all law school graduates make a living? But here's big problem. When you think you need an attorney, it's almost always because you've gotten into some kind of serious trouble and you think that stakes are too high if you lose. It's kind of like needing a new roof. Nobody even thinks about their roof until it's too late and thing is leaking uncontrollably. And it's only then that they find out how incredibly expensive a new roof is, and how impossible it is to educate yourself properly on subject in order to know how to spend all that money and not get ripped off. Similarly, until you're in serious trouble, you probably don't even think about having to choose an attorney. And now stakes are much higher than when you need a new roof because with roof, great danger is spending a lot of money and not getting what you paid for. With your legal difficulty, it could be about having to go to JAIL, not to mention spending a lot of money on an attorney and then having to go to jail. So when you're in that situation, conventional wisdom is unanimous - get best attorney you can afford.
| | Free Non Disclosure Form (NDA Form)Written by Jefferson Highway, General Counsel
Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs, also known as 'Confidentiality Agreements') are an essential part of modern business. If you have a trade secret, an invention or a 'good idea', it can be worrying revealing details to a third party because you never know if your idea may be stolen. For this reason, NDA forms are common. The problem is, most of them are long winded, running to 10 pages or more, and they very length of them makes it difficult sometimes to get your target to sign in first place.For this reason, we here at www.lawyersbench.com have come up with this 'short form' NDA form you can use. It is short, unambiguous, and covers both parties, so you should find much less resistance when trying to get it signed. As always, www.lawyersbench.com recommend consulting your own lawyer in any legal matter. ----------------------- Non Disclosure Agreement ----------------------- Parties:- A) COMPANY (or person) A (E.g. www.lawersbench.com) B) COMPANY (or person) B (E.g. Jefferson Highway Esq) Whereas:- The parties possess valuable information, technical knowledge, experience and data of a secret and confidential nature relating to field, all of which are regarded by them as commercial assets of considerable value; and The parties are willing to disclose such information to each other on condition that recipient of information does not disclose same to any third party nor make use thereof in any manner except as set out below. In consideration of such disclosure to each other, it is agreed by and between parties hereto as follows; 1.The receiving party undertakes to treat as strictly confidential and not to divulge to any third party any of information disclosed by other and not to make use of any such information without disclosing party's prior written consent. 2.In event of one party visiting any of Establishments of other party, visiting party undertakes that any information relating to field which may come to its knowledge as a result of any such visit, inclusive of form, materials and design of various elements of any relevant plant and equipment which may be seen at such Establishments as well as all plant as a whole, methods of operation thereof and various applications thereof, shall be kept strictly confidential and that any such information will not be divulged to any third party and will not be made use of in any way by visiting party without other party's prior written consent.
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