Posts Tagged ‘ediscovery’

Litigation Training Solutions

litigation training solutions

Litigation Support Services Companies

litigation support services companies

Car Charging Group, Inc. Partners With Icon Parking in Manhattan to Offer Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
MIAMI BEACH, FL–(Marketwire – August 23, 2010) – Car Charging Group, Inc. ( OTCBB : CCGI ) today announced it has entered into a pilot agreement with Icon Parking Systems, the premier provider of parking services in Manhattan, to provide electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at select trial locations helping to smooth the transition to EV by creating a useful charging network for Icon’s …

Litigation What Is

litigation what is

What is the statute of limitations for a medical malpractice complaint or litigation?

two yrs

in TX it fall under Proposition 12 – Political correct name for – You are SOL.

BP is looking for "Limit release of backout 'details in court as BP girded for what promises to be a tsunami of litigation on the Deepwater Horizon, his daughter, Alaska continues to be in a great process of state to defend against the company filed last year.

The Litigation Group

the litigation group

Does Your Practice Qualify as a Group Practice Under Federal Stark Law

The Federal Stark law prohibits physicians from referring Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries to an entity in which they (or an immediate family member) have a financial relationship for designated health services (“DHS”), unless an exception applies.  DHS include: clinical lab; physical therapy; occupational therapy; radiology (including, MRI, CAT scans, and ultrasounds); radiation therapy and supplies; DME and supplies; parenteral and enteral nutrients, equipment and supplies; prosthetics, orthotics, and prosthetic devices and supplies; home health services; outpatient prescription drugs; and inpatient and outpatient hospitalization services.   In addition, physicians should also be mindful that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a proposed rule to amend the Stark regulations effective January 1, 2006 to include diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine, including PET scans, to the list of DHS.

Physicians must keep in mind that they cannot ignore Stark, as nearly every financial relationship between physicians and entities that furnish designated health services (“DHS”) implicate the law.  Violations of the Stark law have substantial consequences for all parties involved, regardless of the intent of the parties.  Sanctions include denial of payment for DHS claims, civil monetary penalties ($15,000 for each claim submitted plus two times the reimbursement claimed), and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.  In addition, parties who enter into circumvention schemes are subject to a civil monetary penalty of up to $100,000 per scheme.

Group practices are well advised to document their compliance with Stark.  Documentation supporting compliance is particularly important in today’s health care environment, which has had an increase in Federal False Claims litigation and investigations stemming from Qui Tam whistleblowers utilizing technical violations of the Stark law as a predicate for False Claims Act violations.

Application of Stark in the Group Practice Setting

Many common financial relationships can trigger the need for a Stark analysis.  This article, however, will focus on Stark’s applicability in the group practice context as Stark applies to referrals of DHS within a group practice.  For example, if a physician practice provides services such as physical therapy, clinical lab, x-rays, and/or ultrasounds, within the practice, Stark will be implicated.  Once the prohibition is triggered, the relationship(s) must then fall within a Stark exception.

The in-office ancillary services exception has been arguably the single most important exception in the Stark law.  This exception is designed to protect the in-office provision of certain DHS that are genuinely ancillary to the medical services provided by the practice.  In order for a physician practice that provides DHS to protect its referrals under the in-office ancillary services exception, the physicians must first qualify for the group practice definition.  The group practice definition is not an exception to Stark in and of itself, but any “group” of physicians that want to take advantage of the in-office ancillary services exception must be structured to meet the group practice definition.

The Group Practice Definition

Under Stark, a group practice is a physician practice that meets the following conditions:

Single Legal Entity.

The group practice must consist of a single legal entity operating primarily for the purpose of being a physician group practice in any organizational form recognized by the State in which the group practice achieves its legal status.

Physicians.

The group practice must have at least two physicians who are members of the group (whether employees, or direct or indirect owners).  Stark defines a member of the group as a direct or indirect owner of a group practice (including a physician whose interest is held by his or her individual professional corporation or by another entity), a physician employee of the group practice, a locum tenens physician, or an on-call physician while the physician is providing on call services for members of the practice.  An independent contractor is not a member of the group.

Range of Care.

Each physician who is a member of the group, must furnish substantially the full range of patient care services that the physician routinely furnishes, including medical care, consultation, diagnosis, and treatment, through the joint use of shared office space, facilities, equipment, and personnel.

Services Furnished by Group Practice Members.

Substantially all of the patient care services of the physicians who are members of the group (that is, at least 75% of the total patient care services of the group practice members) must be furnished through the group and billed under a billing number assigned to the group, and the amounts received must be treated as receipts of the group.  Patient care services must be measured by one of the following:

• the total time each member spends on patient care services documented by any reasonable means (for example, time cards and appointment schedules.) 
• Any alternative measure that is reasonable, fixed in advance of the performance of the services being measured, uniformly applied over time, verifiable, and documented.

Distribution of Expenses and Income.

The overhead expenses of, and income from, the practice must be distributed according to methods that are determined before the receipt of payment for the services giving rise to the overhead expense or producing the income.

Unified Business.

The group practice must be a unified business having at least the following features:

Centralized decision making by a body representative of the group practice that maintains effective control over the group’s assets and liabilities; and

Consolidated billing, accounting, and financial reporting.

Volume or Value of Referrals.

No physician who is member of the group practice directly or indirectly receives compensation based on the volume or value of referrals except as provided under the specialty rules for productivity and profit shares.

Physician-Patient Encounters.

Members of the group must personally conduct no less than 75 percent of the physician-patient encounters of the group practice.

Special Rules for Productivity Bonuses and Profit Shares

The special rules for productivity bonuses and profit shares allow a physician who is in the group practice to be paid a share of overall profits of the group or a productivity bonus based on services that he/she has personally performed (including services “incident to” those personally performed services), provided that the share or bonus is not determined in any manner that is directly related to the volume or value of referrals of DHS by the physician.  CMS now takes the position that diagnostic-testing services cannot be billed as “incident to” but practices that provide physical therapy can, however, bill physical therapy services as “incident to” services (provided that all of the “incident to” requirements are met).

The Stark regulations specifically set forth examples of formulas that will be deemed not to relate directly to the volume or value of referrals.   For example, a group’s profits will be deemed not to relate directly to the volume or value of referrals if revenues derived from DHS are distributed based on the distribution of the group practice’s revenue attributed to services that are not DHS payable by any Federal health care program or private payer.

Documentation of Compliance

Group practices that choose to take advantage of the special treatment that the Stark law affords them must be prepared to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.  In this regard, if requested by the Secretary, group practices are required to provide documentation of the total time each member spends on patient care services, and to maintain documentation supporting compliance with the “substantially all” test.  The “substantially all” test is intended to guarantee that the group practice members are providing a substantial amount of their services through the group.  Groups can document compliance by any reasonable means, including without limitation, time cards, appointment schedules, personal diaries, or other reasonable means that are fixed in advance of the performance of the services being measured, uniformly applied over time, and verifiable.  Groups are also required to document, in writing, a new member’s employment with, or ownership or investment in, the group practice before the new relationship commences.

The In-Office Ancillary Services Exception

In order for a group of physicians to provide DHS within the practice, including without limitation, clinical laboratory, physical therapy, x-rays, and ultrasounds, the group must first meet all of the requirements of the group practice definition.  If the group practice definition is met, the group is then eligible to utilize the in-office ancillary services exception to protect its in-office DHS referrals.  The in-office ancillary exception exempts services personally provided by the referring physician, a physician who is a member of the same group practice as the referring physician, an individual that is supervised by the referring physician, or if the referring physician is in a group practice, by another physician in the group practice, provided that the supervision complies with all of the Medicare payment and coverage rules for the services.  In addition, the exception contains a location and a billing requirement.

Conclusion

This article is intended as only a brief summary of the Stark II Phase II Final Regulations in connection with the in-office provision of DHS within the group practice context.  Physicians and groups that provide DHS should also be mindful that many other common financial relationships may also trigger Stark, including, without limitation, (1) lease agreements for space and equipment; (2) medical director agreements; and (3) physician employment contracts with group practices and hospitals.

Which of the following tactics is LEAST commonly used by interest groups?

Which of the following tactics is LEAST commonly used by interest groups?
A. creating alliances with other groups
B. handling the media
C. testifying at hearings
D. filing litigation
E. helping to draft legislation

the answer is C.

Thomas Group announces second quarter 2010 results for quarter ended 30 June 2010 IRVING, Texas —- Thomas Group, Inc., a Global Change Management and Operations improvement consulting firm, today announced a net loss of $ 1,400,000, or $ 0.14 per share negative for the second quarter of 2010 on revenues of $ 1.0 million, compared with a net loss of $ 1.4 million or $ 0.13 per diluted share, on negative revenue of $ 2,600,000 for the second quarter of 2009.

The Litigation Document Group

the litigation document group

Stylewriter V4.0 Review – Plain English for Legal Document Writing

How would you like it if every letter and report from your professional adviser was quick and easy to read? If their documents were quick to review, with the main points emerging clearly? If you could copy their advice to your business colleagues without first having to translate it into business English?

Some law firms know their clients would love this, but are not quite ready to deliver it. Their lawyers learned their style from judgments, statutes, textbooks, teachers and colleagues, all pretty much using the same style clients have been complaining about for hundreds of years. (IT professionals sometimes meet similar criticism from lawyers.)

That style is not easy to read or quick to review. See how long it takes you to find the error in this 56-word sentence.

‘Without prejudice to any other right or remedy we may have, we reserve the right to set off any amount owing at any time by you to us, whether under this Agreement or any other agreement which may exist from time to time between us, against any amount payable by you to us under this Agreement.’

Perhaps your clients don’t mind legalese in their agreements. But do they want it in your advice? Or in your legal updates and pitch documents? One way to eliminate hard-to-read documents is to use plain English style checking software, such as StyleWriter.

What does StyleWriter do?

StyleWriter is a Word add-on. You click on a button and in seconds it has checked the whole document for the three main obstacles to understanding: long sentences, passive verbs, and hard words. It gives the document a score for the first two, and an overall score for clarity. And it suggests improvements.

It works like a spellchecker, flagging word patterns it has been taught to recognise as potential problems. Where possible, it offers alternatives for the writer to accept or reject (or ignore) with a click of the mouse. Or it may suggest ways to edit out the problem. As you edit, StyleWriter updates its scores. It gathers statistics to help organisations audit their documents for clarity. What you can measure, you can manage.

In three years of working with StyleWriter, I have found its advice sensible and user-friendly. If a document scores well on StyleWriter Software, it is not hard to read.

What doesn’t it do?

StyleWriter is no substitute for expert editing. It can’t solve problems, only flag them up. It can’t tell you where to add headings, or how to chop up a long sentence or why lawyers keep saying ‘from time to time’. If you don’t know these things, you need training to go with it. But it can tell you whether your own solution to these problems is easy or hard to read.

StyleWriter can only check language, not other important aids to ease of reading such as good layout, useful headings or a logical treatment of the subject. And it is no judge of context, so the author must always decide whether to accept its advice.

Other Writing Software like whitesmoke, ginger software are only check spell & grammar too, but they are focus on text enrichment & grammar checking. More about these 3 top rated writing software, see whitesmoke, stylewriter, ginger software comparison.

Example

Here’s what you get when you run StyleWriter on the clause just quoted.

The ‘Style index’ is the score for clarity, taking into account the average sentence length, percentage of passive verbs, and a lexicon of tens of thousands of words and phrases it has been taught may unnecessarily hamper the reader’s understanding.

Here’s another version of the clause, ten words shorter and in three short sentences, making it quicker to review. See how long it takes you to find if the mistake is still there.

‘Set-off:We may set off anything you owe us under any agreement against anything we owe you under this Agreement. This does not affect any other right or remedy we may have. It is not limited to agreements already made or sums already due.’

Its scores reflect the improvement.

Style Index 45 Average for General Writing
Average Sentence Length 15 Excellent
Passive Index 33 Good

Does it work on legal documents?

StyleWriter is designed for business, government and academic use. So it doesn’t pick up problems unique to the legal profession, like the abuse of ‘shall’ and ‘such’ and it questions legal terms that lawyers use correctly, such as ‘novation’ and ‘fiduciary’. You can tailor StyleWriter’s advice for legal documents; I’ve done it myself twice, although it’s not a job for the novice. But if your aim is to write business English, the original lexicon will give useful results even on legal documents.

What about pitches and legal updates?

Contracts and legal advice don’t need to grab the reader’s attention; any reader usually has a strong motive to find out what they say. If the writer has set no obstacles in their way, you can honestly call the clarity ‘Excellent’.

But the Bog index draws on an even wider lexicon of 200,000 words, plus acronyms and technical terms, to measure whether the text is gripping or boring. If boring, StyleWriter can offer only general advice – to write in personal terms (you and we), use contractions (can’t and won’t), include names (Daphne not The Author) and use lively verbs. You can display graphically the most and least boring words and sentences in your work, to help you edit. The Bog index for both the original and rewritten clauses is better than the Style index, because it gives them credit for using you and we.

The real value of the Bog index is for pitch and marketing text or anything the client or prospective client has not paid for and might decide not to bother with. Take this text from a firm’s web site, which has an Excellent style score but is still boring, with an Average Bog index (55).

A negligence claim against a professional services firm can be expensive, time-consuming and, for the individuals concerned, traumatic. Our lawyers have been helping these firms for more than 10 years. Our professional liability team consists of experienced lawyers from our commercial litigation, construction and finance groups, based in our offices throughout Europe and the Far East.

Compare this opening paragraph from a legal update, with a Good Bog index (27).

Say you received your payslip one day and noticed that out of the blue your salary had been doubled. Tempting as it would be to keep schtum, surely most of us would put our hands up and query the figure?

Doesn’t Word have a style checker?

Word 2003 and 2007 both include a Grammar check tool. It works like a spell checker, with an option to display statistics. Word’s readability statistics for the original set-off clause look like this:

This tells you the percentage of passive verbs and the average sentence length. And it says you’d need 25 years of education to understand this clause at first sight. But it doesn’t identify this clause as a long sentence, because it only does that for sentences over 60 words. In fact, Word finds no fault with the clause at all.

Its grammar checker merely tells you ‘That style is not easy to read or quick to review’. If you can add a Style check (2007 only) it actually strips out plain English, suggesting you replace But with Nevertheless and Or with On the other hand. Lawyers don’t need this sort of advice.

Other products exist to help edit your writing, such as MyWriter Tools. This is cheaper but you may not find it as useful.

Are there any technical limitations?

You need Word to get the full benefit of StyleWriter. If Word is your email editor, you can also use StyleWriter to edit Outlook files. And you can edit clipboard text copied from other programs, but you need to copy it back again when done.

You can install StyleWriter on a network, which may involve some work to get it working smoothly with a document management system. You’ll need to decide whether to allow users to add or delete words and phrases, or to do it only centrally. You could also decide to add your own house style to StyleWriter’s advice.

StyleWriter v4 costs £110 plus VAT or $160 for a single user.

Right Haven continued complaints of copyright RJ, 91 total lawyers in a law firm continues to attack stories a copyright infringement action campaign with Review-Journal, now it is a "massive cash-grave" is aimed at coercing settlements from small website owners.

Litigation Readiness

litigation readiness

Litigation: an Overview

“If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.†Litigation is a very customary method which works on the foundation of this citation.

Litigation is another technique, in which both parties present their case before the Judge, the lawyers try their level best to get the final verdict in their client’s favor. The final decision is based on court rules and evidence and arguments presented by the lawyers. The Litigation considers only those issues which are under lawful frame; there is no room for emotional issues. This method involves filing of case, presenting of case supported by legitimate evidences trailed by heated arguments and number of trial sessions. The procedure is very expensive which makes a substantial cleft in your pocket. The usual time period involved in proceedings 11 to 14 months or more, bigger the number of trial session larger is the crevice. Moreover, the concluding upshot is not satisfactory as the absolute decision is of judge and not of the client. And Judge’s point of view is based on lawyer’s presentation of case. This technique affects the person psychologically also as in order to well- built their case lawyers usually humiliate the other party crossing all limits of graciousness. As the process been public, it puts both the parties to shame in society. Litigation is a real twinge which affects the very essence of your personality in all means let be emotional, monetary or physical.

Due to all kinds of headaches involved in litigation, usually lawyers recommend their clients to go for out of court settlement. This is a popular method usually known as “Settlement conference†, in this method the lawyers present their case in front of neutral party. The neutral party can be an experienced lawyer or retired judge. The neutral party after hearing both the parties and induce the parties to agree on the decision which is based on the unbiased third party point of view with regulation of law. Settlement conference saves both the parties from unnecessary humiliation.

Litigation is usually considered most appropriate in highly conflicted cases in which corporeal exploitation is involved. And parities are not ready to settle the issues through discussions or intervention of a neutral party. In such cases, the abhorrence is so much in existence that things cannot be worked out by serene and matured discussion as said earlier the court of law justify the virtuous and revile the iniquitous.

Litigation Document Software

litigation document software
What are good brands of software to use to learn the legal profession?

I want everything from legal document software for LDA’s to getting higher LSAT scores to getting knowledge about law legal research and being prepared for law school and Litigation as well as learning specific like california law etc

Don’t bother wasting your time trying to learn law before law school. Law school is the time and place to learn the law. To ensure a high LSAT score, use LSAT study guides.

A lawyer spends all his time writing, reading, and talking. To get a good heads up for law school and your chosen career, do everything you can that will help you write, read, and talk.

Take writing classes so that you are comfortable writing a lot, read a wide variety of material because lawyers need to know what is going on, and join Toastmasters so that you are comfortable speaking to others, individually and to groups.

Trinity Technologies -Litigation Document Management Software

Legal Case Management & Dps Software (document Processing Systems Software) Can Save the Planet – “less Paper Please – Save the Planet”

The problem with paper is that it is simply too expensive to handle. Posting, printing, filing, copying it for others, expenses we can all do without. The beauty of paperless systems is that files of information can be held in a central place and looked at by anyone you want to look at them. Taking files home to work on them has to become a thing of the past. Did you know that avoiding printing copies of emails can save thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions every year? Did you know that a 10% decrease in paper post worldwide saves millions of tonnes of carbon emissions every year? So why do we continue to post bills, cards, letters, brochures that have to flown, driven, and walked to their destinations every year? There is no two ways about it we need to develop systems that make using screen based files as easy as using paper files, where the, file can be searched easily and quickly and where the file contains all the information that we need. Not only does the software need to be developed but we as users have to be become comfortable using them. Case management has been in the legal market for years serving applications such as Conveyancing, Personal Injury, Probate, Criminal Billing and general litigation so well. A typical personal injury transaction can generate over 10,000 pages of documentation, this has to be stored, copies, distributed. This is all massive expense the case management software can avoid.

This type of software now has to focus on paper based systems outside the legal market. Accountants, Doctors, small businesses all store paper based files and they account for a huge number of documents that could be stored electronically. If we adopt these changes then we benefit not only ourselves but all our successors on the planet and in our own small technological way help avert the disaster of climate change.

One of the biggest culprits when it come to paper storage is MS Outlook™ it accumulates so much information which is passed from one person to another and each person in an attempt to store it may print it out. The problem is then multiplied many times. The solution is we believe a case management system, however the problem is in Outlook™ it would seem that the answer is to put the case management into Outlook. Microsoft have for some time urged developers to push their products into Outlook as add ins and some manufacturers of legal case management systems have done exactly that. The knock on benefits are enormous in that users that know and ‘love’ Outlook are instantly familiar and need little training to use the new systems, they can relate to a file being inside Outlook as they are already there. Since Outlook is part of the email solution, and integrated to the phone using TAPI, the file being stored inside outlook is a natural extension. Some software houses have gone further and integrated digital dictation into Outlook as well meaning that the solution becomes a complete communications centre. The point is that we all need to make a contribution to saving the planet and if that contribution can also save use money, time, make out lives easier then saving the planet became more attractive all of a sudden!

Relevant keywords: Case Management, Legal Software, Conveyancing, Personal Injury, Probate, Criminal Billing

Litigation Guidelines

litigation guidelines
City sued for drainage cleanup
A new civil lawsuit alleges that Half Moon Bay went too far when it sent maintenance teams to clear out vegetation along the drainage ditch along Kehoe Avenue.
Did Litigation and Junk Science Help Bring Down the World Trade Center? [Andrew Schlafly]

Expert Alphabet Soup – Jumble of Letters Represent Significant Expert Titles for Litigants and Judges

The financial forensic1 experts of today possess a litany of credentials and licenses that are intended to promote and define their particular expertise. This article provides attorneys and clients the recipe for the “alphabet soup†that follows the name of an expert in order to assist in their hiring or cross examination in litigation. Simplified explanations, commentary and web page references are included for the most common and widely-held litigation-oriented credentials2.

FINANCIAL: The CPA, Certified Public Accountant, is a state-issued license that is well known and respected by judges and juries. Currently, the CPA license requires a five-year college degree, passing what is perceived as one of the most difficult of professional exams plus two years of supervised experience. CPAs are governed by the holder’s state board of accountancy3 and the AICPA, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants4. CPAs must obtain forty hours of continuing professional education per year and must adhere to a strict code of ethics. CFAs, or Chartered Financial Analysts, 5 are focused on investment analysis and valuation. The designation requires an intensive educational course, passing a rigorous exam and three years of experience, but requires no continuing education. The CFP, Certified Financial Planner6, is oriented towards personal financial planning, requires passing a comprehensive exam and completion of thirty hours of continuing education every two years. CFAs and CFPs, along with CPAs, must adhere to strict ethical and competency guidelines. The CDFA, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst7 is a credential which requires passing an online exam.

BUSINESS VALUATION: Valuation credentials have become more prevalent in the last fifteen years and are essential if one is attempting to qualify as an expert witness. The ABV, Accredited in Business Valuation8, and CVA, Certified Valuation Analyst9 are issued by the AICPA and National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, respectively. The CVA requires an intensive valuation course or holding of another valuation credential and passing a rigorous exam. The ABV requires a similar exam and valuation experience. Both credentials require the holding of a valid CPA license, therefore the ethical and continuing education requirements apply. The American Society of Appraisers issues the ASA, Accredited Senior Appraiser10, which requires a college degree, passing a comprehensive exam, five years of experience and obtaining forty hours of continuing education very five years. ASAs are usually not CPAs therefore they generally have less of a background in accounting and tax issues.

FORENSICS: A relatively new but rapidly expanding designation is the CFF, Certified in Financial Forensics11, which is issued by the AICPA. The CFF requires holding a valid CPA license, a minimum of one thousand hours of work experience and seventy-five hours of education in forensic-related disciplines. Since the CPA is required, the ethical and continuing education requirements apply. Almost all serious fraud investigators hold the CFE, Certified Fraud Examiner12. The CFE is issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and requires a bachelor’s degree, two years of experience, passing a comprehensive exam and completing twenty hours of continuing education per year.

REAL ESTATE: Commercial litigation and divorce often require a real estate appraisal. Two very respected appraisal credentials are the MAI and SRA, both of which are issued by The Appraisal Institute13. The SRA is more residential-oriented. The two credentials are not acronyms like the others described in this article. Current requirements for the MAI and SRA include completing rigorous education requirements, submitting specialized experience descriptions and receiving credit for a demonstration appraisal report. The MAI additionally requires passing a comprehensive exam. Holders of both designations must adhere to a strict code of ethics and are subject to a peer review process.

In the litigation context, how does one score the relevance of a set of letters? In addition to the education, years of experience and testing required to obtain a credential, the question of relevance is answered by the professional standards, ethics and continuing educational requirements of the credentialing organization. The most respected organizations require continuing education in their specific discipline and have procedures in place for public complaints and disciplinary proceedings that can subject an expert to legal and monetary consequences by way of suspending a credential. Most of the above-described organizations have disciplinary mechanisms in place, but all of the credentials requiring the CPA license as a prerequisite have the full force and effect of state statutes enforced by a government agency, each state’s board of accountancy.

The “alphabet soup†of credentials can be a jumble, but these letters can help the litigants and judges separate the wheat from the chaff. A practitioner attempting to qualify in court as an expert should hold a recognizable and respected credential if one exists in that niche. The CPA is essential for all things financial since judges recognize and respect the license. The CFA and CFP are essential designations in investment-related matters and both boost the expert’s credibility in divorces due to the personal nature of the finances involved. The CFF represents longevity and a commitment to forensic accounting and litigation support and the CFE represents intensive training for fraud-related engagements. A business valuation expert must have a CVA, ABV or ASA in order to demonstrate competency in this niche and a real estate appraiser’s credibility is boosted greatly if he/she has earned the MAI and/or SRA.

by Robert Vance, CPA/ABV/CFF, CVA, CFP

Visit the  Valuation Services Web page
Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC
615-377-4600

1Black’s Law Dictionary defines “forensic†as belonging to courts of justice.
2Other very credible credentials that are less widely held exist, but were not included due to space limitations.
3www.state.tn.us/commerce/boards/tnsba/
4www.aicpa.org
5www.cfainstitute.org
6www.cfp.net
7www.institutedfa.com
8http://fvs.aicpa.org/
9www.nacva.com
10 www.appraisers.org
11http://fvs.aicpa.org/
12www.acfe.org
13www.appraisalinstitute.org

Litigation Review Software

litigation review software

Control and Reporting from Matter Management Software Keeps Risks Low

Litigation and legal reviews are part of modern business as goods and services are transacted in the U.S. and internationally. Legal departments and external legal counsels often become a part of daily business exchanges such as the execution of contracts, the purchasing of products or services and the creation of new business divisions. The value of legal review in these business transactions is the avoidance of risk, which could result in significant liability to any company. Controlling legal costs is critical to any company hoping to reduce risk and retain expert legal advice. For businesses looking to control costs and enforce legal policy and procedure, matter management software can effectively report on the entire spectrum of legal spending and process. Because matter management software can be integrated with legal hold and legal E Billing solutions, the entire legal business process can be traced from the initial incident throughout the case development until the case or issues are completed with invoices—the time submitted, tracked, paid and reported. The software is powerful enough to be a fully functional project management system and a timekeeping and accounts payable application. Monitoring the amount spent for each matter and providing drill-down and drill-through capability is a key feature of matter management software, so each spend component can be viewed or changed based on services, liability exposure, spent to date, spent against budget and spent compared to liability. The matter management software offers controls to set limits on cases and thereby report against such limits, also providing detailed reporting on external legal costs and performance against progress. Intelligent workflow triggers alert managers based on matter data when thresholds are exceeded. Such alerts are visible to management to ensure that progress and budget information are in line with business expectations. Controlling expenditures and providing visibility to corporate and business unit managers is a key component of matter management software where it also integrated with a legal E Billing and legal hold software system.

Video: Another family files lawsuit in LMSD webcam controversy
A second family of a Lower Merion School District student filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming that district officials spied on them through a school-issued laptop computer.

Litigation Management

litigation management

The Case for Better Contract Management: Reducing Risk, Cutting Costs

Up to 75% — or more — of business-to-business transactions today are governed by contracts. Think about it: leases, consulting arrangements, equipment rental, insurance policies — even that agreement with the cleaning service. As they’ve multiplied, contracts have also become increasingly complex. And each creates rights and imposes obligations.

Businesses can’t live without contracts. But it’s often questionable how well we’re living with them. Negotiated agreements can be assets or liabilities, depending upon how well they’re managed.

THE RISKS OF POOR CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
What’s hidden in the fine print in your filing cabinets can threaten the health of your organization. The business, legal, and financial risks in failing to effectively manage contracts are substantial. The costs may be hidden, but they are real.

Overlooking an automatic renewal date on an unfavorable contract can multiply your costs over a period of years.

Consider the impact of a missed escalation clause, un-enforced delivery date, or failure to give required notice of a price increase. People don’t intentionally ignore these key milestones. Expensive slip-ups like this often happen simply because no one noticed the deadline in time.

Then there’s the true boogeyman. Poor administration of contracts makes disputes more likely. And settling disputes entails legal expenses and, potentially, costly litigation.

BENEFITS OF GOOD CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
The risks of poor contract management are clear. The inverse is also true: the potential upside of good contract management is substantial.

The list of benefits is long. At the very top are visibility and control.

By implementing an effective contract management system, an organization gains visibility into what contracts it has and control over the impact of those contracts.

There may be opportunities to consolidate vendors. Unsuspected waste. Companies have even realized they’re paying service agreement fees on equipment they haven’t used in years.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM
You’re convinced that better managing contracts is vital. But how do you go about it?

Administering negotiated agreements via hard copy files is labor-intensive and notoriously ineffective. Internally developed spreadsheets are a band-aid at best.

Fortunately, technology comes to the rescue. Any number of software developers have turned their attention to the issue and come up with applications designed specifically for contract management.

Contract management software puts you in control.

You’ll be better able to meet your contractual obligations and to ensure that other parties meet theirs. Within each contract, you’ll gain visibility into key dates and milestones, obligations and requirements (both yours and the other party’s).

You’ll be able to begin negotiations of contracts coming up for renewal in a timely fashion, improving your chance of obtaining favorable terms. And you’ll avoid the automatic renewal of unfavorable contracts because you won’t miss giving the necessary notice. You’ll give required notice for price increases and be aware of impending delivery dates.

You’ll more easily manage master purchase agreements and blanket orders. You’ll have the opportunity to improve cash flow by collecting monies when due and making payments in the right amounts at the right times — not too much, not too soon or too late.

You’ll avoid penalties incurred through inadvertent noncompliance.

The potential savings are even greater than the sum of these benefits. Your increased ability to live up to your obligations and enforce your rights will decrease the risk of costly litigation.

You’ll even be able to easily review your past experience in order to structure more favorable agreements in the future.

THE BOTTOM LINE
With the bulk of business today conducted under negotiated agreements, effective contract management is essential. Fortunately, dedicated software packages are affordable, simple to implement, and easy to use.

The business case is compelling. The measurable benefits are clear. ROI is favorable, payback speedy. Young businesses should implement contract management software as an important part of building their infrastructure. More mature firms should take this step to reduce existing risks and enable them to proactively manage their negotiated agreements.

I have an old cell phone bill (slight over $2000) from Verizon. Can my wages be garnished over this?

The debt was originated in Kentucky in 2004, I just moved to Indiana over the summer. The reason that I’m concerned is because I received a letter from Midland Credit Management that stated something to the effect of “we are considering initiating a binding arbitration preceding as an alternative to litigation”. I don’t know what this means.

Bud Hibbs was written about this arbitration issue being used by Midland…See site below.

http://www.budhibbs.com/debtcollectorpages/midland_credit_management.htm

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This debt is within the statute of limitations for written contracts in Kentucky.

When a debt collector first contacts you, your first step should always be to request validation of the debt per your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Even if the debt is valid, request validation anyway. Send Midland a letter via Certified Mail + Return Receipt stating:

Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I am requesting written validation of this alleged debt, which includes:

- a copy of the original signed contract with my signature
- a copy of the original arbitration agreement showing my signature
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* DO NOT sign your signature on any document that you mail to a debt collector. It could end up on a forged document t

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