Legal White Papers

In this white paper we look into the most basic of legal citations as well as some of the rules that go into writing one. The Legal Bluebook contains the rules, abbreviations and style requirements of all types of citations that are used in legal documents of all kinds.

In the litigation world, the merits of the case are determined by the
admissible evidence obtained by the parties during discovery and at trial. One category of such evidence is the testimony of the witnesses called by the respective parties.

The plaintiff will seek to establish the elements of the client’s cause of action while the defense will seek to show that one or more of these elements are disputed by credible evidence or to establish defenses which absolve the defendant.

This paper will discuss the purposes of professionally produced video, the various video formats and their appropriate uses, an overview of the applicable law and considerations when retaining a videographer.

Although the paralegal profession is still relatively young, approximatelytwo thirds of all attorneys use the services of a paralegal. Various national associations have been formed for paralegals, which have published rules regarding professional ethics and responsibility. Two such organizations that have published rules include the National Association Of Legal Assistants (NALA) and the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA). These rules in significant part parallel the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (“Model Rules”) promulgated by the American Bar Association for attorneys and adopted in whole or substantially by a majority of the state bar associations. See Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. and W. William Hodes, The Law of Lawyering (3rd Ed. 2000) (“Hazard & Hodes”) § 1.15. Even in states that have not adopted the Model Rules, the ethical principles contained in the Model Rules are still applicable through the governing rules of any such state. Id. at 1-27. The American Bar Association also published the ABA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegal Services (“Model  Paralegal Guidelines”), which are intended to give guidance to attorneys in working with paralegals.

The context of the Internet is important. Understanding how legal information is organized online and the methods for accessing and retrieving it will make research efficient. The Internet is often characterized as a vast storehouse of information. That may be true, but free information on the Internet is scattered and semi-organized at best. Content can be available in several formats. Some files may need external viewers aside from the browser. Some documents can appear as text on a screen while others may be viewed or retrieved as word processing files, presentation files, text files, PDFs, and various audio and video formats.

The attorney-client privilege is a testimonial privilege growing out of the law of evidence. It appears to be the oldest of the evidentiary privileges, going back at least to the 17th century and probably before. The purpose of the privilege is to protect confidential communications between an attorney and his client, by preventing the attorney from being required to testify against the client and thereby divulging matters told to the attorney by the client in confidence. The policy underlying the privilege is the desirability of encouraging frank, free and open communications between lawyers and clients. It is thought that an attorney can only give sound legal advice to a client if the attorney has full knowledge of the facts involving the client's matter, and that the client will divulge the full facts concerning his situation only if the client can be assured that those facts will be held by the attorney in confidence and that the attorney cannot be forced to disclose those facts in a subsequent proceeding.

People say that we live in a litigious society. There is some truth to that. Litigation often comes unexpectedly, is costly, messy and the outcome isn't always predictable. But as business concerns, we strive to understand our costs and factor them into comprehensive models to assure profits. The role of in-house counsel has grown in recent years in an effort to become more proactive in limiting exposure and controlling the costs which can threaten profits. Much of this effort is focused on managing outside counsel to improve adherence to case budgets. However, there has been a reluctance to provide the tools to the outside counsel that can truly enhance efficiency, particularly within the area of discovery. This article will provide an understanding of how new tools and procedures can help to make the litigation process more efficient. Perhaps even more importantly, we show how these tools will provide a better understanding of potential liability earlier on to enable better decision making, more predictability and even help promote economies of scale in the ongoing battle to contain legal costs.

100 answers to the questions you should be asking as a legal professional. Can you afford not to check out this white paper? We think not.