Monthly Archives: April 2010

Until you actually become an attorney, it’s difficult to fully understand what the job entails. Some aspiring lawyers are fortunate enough to have part-time jobs in law offices or work as paralegals or have family members who are attorneys. But not everyone has that exposure. If you’re still in high school or college, consider joining your school’s mock trial team. A mock trial simulates a real trial, using team members that argue the defense side and the prosecution or plaintiff’s …

In last Thursday’s blog post, I started to demystify the process of hiring a lawyer. In that post, I talked about how to know what kind of lawyer you need to hire, and how to identify lawyers who are qualified to handle your case. Today I want to discuss how to select among lawyers and how to know if a lawyer is right for your case. People often talk about someone in terms of being the "best" at what they …

The first time you need to hire a lawyer, it may seem like a complicated or confusing process. How do you identify lawyers who are qualified to represent you? How do you know if they’re any good? How much will it cost? Once you know what you’re doing, you’ll find that hiring a lawyer really isn’t that complicated. I’m going to try to demystify the process for you so that you can feel like a pro when and if you …

I was paying my bills the other day and had a morbid thought. Most of my account statements arrive electronically and I have password-protected my computer. I’m happy to be saving trees and taking the right steps to secure my information, but should I die or become incapacitated, my family would have a tough time identifying my assets and knowing what bills to pay. Culturally, most Americans don’t like to think about death—and we procrastinate! How else to explain the …

Twice in my 20-plus years of driving I’ve been in an automobile accident. The first was clearly my fault, but another driver caused the second accident. Whether you’re the one who bears the blame or if you’re an innocent victim, a car crash can be traumatic, and in the aftermath it’s easy to forget the basic rules of the road. In my most recently accident, about half an hour passed before it even occurred to me to call the police. …