Monthly Archives: June 2010

With the arrival of summer also comes vacation season. But what if that trip you planned long ago included a visit to a Gulf of Mexico destination? Your dreams of white sandy beaches may have turned to nightmares of tar balls and oil slicks. Everyone who’s vacationed knows that trips seldom go according to plan. It rained for a week straight. The kids all caught colds. That charming hotel you’d booked was actually something out of "The Shining." If there’s …

Before you help your kids pack their suitcases, load up the car and drop them off at summer camp, spend some time preparing both yourself and your children for the experience that awaits them. Pick a Camp Together: By this point you’ve probably already selected a summer camp for your child. But if you haven’t, make sure you’re both involved in the process of picking a summer camp. Parents should make sure their kids have realistic expectations when it comes …

In 2006, about 14 months after Hurricane Katrina, I joined a group of about 1,000 other volunteers for a working weekend trip to New Orleans. I know we were just some of the hundreds of thousands of people – paid workers and volunteers alike – who played a part in the relief efforts. Even as we approach the five-year anniversary of Katrina, volunteers are still needed to help rebuild homes and get affected communities – which include more than just …

Whether you need to hire an attorney to handle your divorce or a custody issue, write a will or represent you in a criminal matter, you should put some care and thought into the process to ensure you hire the right lawyer for you and the right lawyer for your legal matter. Before hiring an attorney, consider scheduling an initial consultation, or preliminary meeting, to help you learn more about the lawyer’s background, skills, suggested strategy and personality. Many attorneys …

Small claims court, which hears financial disputes worth a few thousand dollars or less, is a great feature of the U.S. justice system. That’s because small claims courts make the legal system accessible for non-lawyers like you and me. Many people would write off a debt of a couple hundred dollars before they’d hire an attorney and sue someone in court because it’s simply not worth the expense. But small claims court makes it possible. In last Thursday’s article, we …