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An Overview of Legal Professionals and Their Qualifications

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If you are in the process of reviewing lawyers and law firms for the possibility of hiring them, you may find yourself getting confused by the variety of degrees and certifications legal professionals can hold. However, understanding these distinctions can help you make a well-informed hiring decision. The following list explains the differences between the degrees, privileges, and responsibilities of various legal professionals.

1. Certified Paralegals

While they are qualified legal professionals, paralegals are not lawyers. Usually, they hold undergraduate degrees in government or related fields, though there are also paralegal degree programs available. Most paralegals hold certifications from either the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) or the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA). These certifications distinguish them as having mastered a body of legal knowledge, but the parameters of these certifications vary by state and law firm.

By law, paralegals are not permitted to give legal advice, represent clients in court, sign documents on behalf of a party, establish attorney-client relationships, or set or collect legal fees. Despite these limitations, paralegals are essential players in any law firm’s success. They can perform critical research, write briefs, contribute to strategy development, and prepare exhibits for trial.

2. Master of Laws

In your research, you may notice that some attorneys have obtained their Master of Laws (LLM) while others have earned their Juris Doctor (JD). This distinction generally signifies where the lawyers were educated. Lawyers with LLM degrees often received some or all their education outside the United States, while JDs are awarded to lawyers educated primarily in the United States.

In the United Kingdom and other commonwealth countries, law degrees are awarded at the undergraduate level. International students who wish to practice U.S. law can become qualified to do so by obtaining their LLMs. For example, a student in Spain could get an online LLM from USC, which would enable him or her to take the California Bar Exam. After passing the bar exam, the student could become a U.S. Attorney at Law.

3. Juris Doctor

Lawyers educated in the United States obtain their Juris Doctor (JD), which is a graduate degree obtained after a bachelor’s degree. Most people who go to law school earn their undergraduate degrees in areas such as government and policy or economics, although no specific degree is required. Usually taking three years to complete, JD degrees give prospective lawyers the knowledge they need to sit for the bar exam. Bar exams vary somewhat by state, but all of them designate individuals as being qualified to practice law.

As mentioned previously, lawyers have the authority to represent clients in court and provide legal advice. In general, it is illegal to practice law in the United States without having passed the bar exam. However, people who have graduated from Wisconsin law schools are permitted to practice law in that state without taking the bar exam.

4. Specializations

Many lawyers choose to limit their practice to certain areas of expertise. For example, some lawyers primarily represent personal injury victims, while others advise and represent clients during litigation proceedings. Lawyers who choose a specialization often do so out of a desire to serve their clients better and enjoy greater success rates. They can delve more deeply into the complexities of one type of law and therefore develop better strategies for reaching the conclusions they desire for their cases.

Knowledge Is Power

Seeking the services of any legal professional can feel daunting, but understanding the distinctions between them can contribute some clarity to the process. Now that you know a bit more about the qualifications and duties of various legal professionals, you may feel more prepared to consider additional factors and eventually make your final decision.

How Your Business Can Provide Reasonable Accommodation To The Disabled At Work

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As a business owner, you are responsible for adhering to certain laws regarding the rights of your employees. That includes proper accommodation for disabled employees. By following the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and other acts such as the Rehabilitation Act and Fair Employment and Housing Act, you can ensure that you are providing reasonable accommodation to the disabled at your workplace and not infringing on the rights that they are privileged to.  Failure to provide reasonable accommodation could result in a disability discrimination lawsuit against your business.

Accommodation

“Reasonable accommodation” does not mean giving preferential treatment to disabled employees, but giving them the means necessary to be able to perform as well as their able-bodied colleagues. Examples of these accommodations would be offering disabled parking right by the building, having reading materials printed in Braille for blind or visually impaired people and offering modifications to the job function that are within reason. Proper accommodations should not require any extensive overhaul of how the job is performed in order to accommodate a disabled employee.

Types of Disabilities

Disabilities covered by the ADA range in type. Examples of physical disabilities include loss of mobility that necessitates the use of a wheelchair, loss of limbs and diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Mental disorders include major depression, autism and schizophrenia. Chronic diseases and conditions include cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and HIV infection.

Accommodation Requests

Any employee with a disability that needs accommodation to perform their job successfully will need to submit an accommodation request. There is no official format or guidelines for these requests, but they should be easy to parse and be specific in their intent. The accommodation request can be made orally or in writing and should be properly handed to by whoever receives it first and designated to the proper figure if necessary. As an employer, you can choose a specific person to handle these accommodation requests. Other employees should have some training for handling accommodation requests if they receive them.

Receiving Requests

Each accommodation request should be reviewed carefully and discuss any questions or elaboration needed from the requester. As an employer, you will need to ask as many questions as you feel necessary in order to offer proper accommodation. The requester will need to be as specific as possible about what kinds of accommodations they need. A disabled employee should be able to offer information regarding their requirements, but as an employer, you should be educated about typical accommodations needed for disabled people in the workplace. The limitations of the disabled employee and the extent to which they need accommodation should be determined in order to move forward properly.

Medical Requests

Sometimes, further information might be required, particularly if an employee’s disability is not readily apparent. As an employer, you have the right to request medical information pertaining to the employee’s condition that helps you to determine what kind of accommodation they need. This information can also provide information about the severity of the condition, such as whether it is going to stay stable for the foreseeable future or whether it is liable to worsen over time, and therefore require further accommodation. Any medical information received must be kept confidential by those who receive it.

Building Requirements

A workplace with disabled employees will be required to have structures in place that accommodate the disabled employees. These include things like handicapped parking spots and wheelchair accessible entry. For private employers, these are only required on the basis of an employee or applicant needing such access. However, if you are an employer who is making modifications to or constructing a new public or commercial facility, then you will be required to meet requirements for accessibility as listed in Titles II and III of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Responding to Requests

When a request for accommodation has been received, an employer should take the proper response measures right away. All necessary steps should be followed and the request should be fulfilled no later than 30 days after it is made. If the need for accommodation is already clear when the employee applies or begins working, then the request should be fulfilled in a much shorter time span.

 

Should You Handle A Fender Bender Yourself Or Call The Police?

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Do you need a car accident attorney? There are quite a few things you may do when you’re in a car accident, and you should take this advice to heart, depending on the type of accident you’re in.

You may walk away from the accident if there is no damage, or you may choose to use the police to ensure that the accident is reported properly. Here are a couple rules of thumb to consider when you’re deciding whether you should or shouldn’t call the police after a car accident.

Scenario 1: Damage to the Vehicles, or Someone is Hurt

You need a report when you have damage to both vehicles, and you will need a report if you are filing with the insurance company. Your lawyer cannot do anything for you if there is not a report on the accident, and you must have one in your hand when you leave the scene of the accident.

The officer will help you determine who was at-fault, and you will avoid any confusion that may arise when you have an accident or claim with the insurance company. Damage to your vehicle cannot be settled without a proper police report.

Scenario 2: Vehicles Aren’t Damaged and Everyone is OK

You and the other driver may choose to walk away from the accident when you are unharmed and have no damage to your vehicles. The mutual agreement you have with the other driver will help you save time dealing with the police, but keep in mind,  you may not protected if the other driver wishes to sue you at a later time. You will have no record of what happened at the scene of the accident, and your lawyer will need to investigate the case completely before they have come to a conclusion.

If you do end up going this route, and avoiding the police, it’s best to take photos of both vehicles to cover your butt in case the other party tries to come after you for damages later. At the end of the day, whether or not you choose to call the police is a judgment call on your part, but it could come back to bite you later, even if no one’s hurt and both vehicles are still in tact.

What is a “Slip and Fall” and Who is Responsible?

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Anyone who lives in a snowy climate will know how easy it can be to slip on a patch of ice while walking down the street.  While this might be a very common reason for people to fall on a sidewalk, it is only one of the many things that can cause people can injure themselves while walking down the street – others include cracks, potholes, uneven surfaces, or items like slippery leaves, toys or branches.

The CDC reports that almost 20,000 slip and fall accidents occur every year, and about half of these are caused by the sorts of things mentioned above. Thankfully, in the majority of these cases, the result is little more than a loss of dignity and perhaps a skinned knee or bruise.  However, in some cases serious and even life-changing injuries can occur leading to long-term or permanent disability and even death.

Sometimes these falls are genuine accidents, but in other cases they are the result of negligence on the part of a third party. Such injuries may be considered “personal injuries” and if you have been injured in this way you may be entitled to compensation.

What is a personal injury?

Not all injuries are considered to be “personal injuries” under the law.  In order to qualify for compensation, there must be a finding of liability on the part of a third party.  This means that the injury was caused by another person’s actions or inactions.  In order to qualify for compensation, you must have suffered from damages as a result.  This means that if you fell but injured yourself only slightly and had no medical bills or out of pocket expenses, then there is no basis for a claim.  It is important to note that damages are related only the injury itself.  If you fell and broke your phone as a result, you are not considered to have suffered a personal injury.

Who is liable for my fall?

The determination of liability is not always a straight-forward thing, especially when it comes to slip and fall accidents.  This is because there is some leeway given to property owners to have a reasonable amount of time to discover and repair a problem with their sidewalk.  The most obvious case in which this would be relevant is with snow and ice.  If you fall on a snowy sidewalk at 5am after a snowstorm, it may not be reasonable to expect that the owner would have had time to clear the snow, or perhaps even to know about it.  However, if you slip and fall mid-day, it becomes easier to argue that the owner is liable for his or her failure to clear the sidewalk.  In the case of city sidewalks, there is also some leeway.  Because it is not considered reasonable for cities to continually inspect every sidewalk in the jurisdiction, it is possible that they may not be considered liable for an injury unless they have ignored a reported sidewalk problem.

Because of this space for interpretation, it is very important to seek legal advice when you have experienced and injury in a slip and fall, whether it was New York sidewalk injury caused by a pothole, a trip over a child’s toy left on the sidewalk, or a slip on a snowy sidewalk in front of a private home.  Be sure that you don’t miss the opportunity to receive the compensation to which you may be entitled.

The Truth about Drunk Driving

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When you head out to a pub on a Saturday evening, you might not be thinking clearly about how you are going to come back home that night. All you want to do is to have fun with your friends and there is nothing that can stop you from it. You park your car carefully and then the whole night is ahead of you. Before you even know it, you sip one too many drink and you find yourself under the influence of alcohol. It is time to go home, but should you drive? I guess you should have planned everything more carefully before the evening. If this is your reality and if you have had an accident, you might want to contact hollowsboonen.com.au immediately.

It is estimated that in Queensland, Australia, over 30% of accidents are related to drunk or drug driving. You have to admit that the number is rather huge and way too many people in the country die this way. but this is not where it all ends. Of course, you can always choose to walk home when under the influence of alcohol (provided that this is an option of course), but still 1 in 3 pedestrians who get killed on the roads die due to have alcohol in their blood. Let’s not forget that alcohol is a depressant and it slows your reactions dramatically. Your judgement is impaired, and you are more likely to make the decisions that are unreasonable. even your balance is different then usual and you might feel extremely sleepy after even moderate consumption of alcohol (this is what happens to me and this is why I always drink at home only so that I can go to bed immediately if I feel like this is the best thing for me to do in this case).

Finally, it is not cool to drive when you have alcohol in your blood. This is something that many people will tell you. Just ask around and you will know what I am talking about here. Why would anybody endanger the lives of others just so that they can have fun and drink when going out?

Supporting Your Family In A Time Of Crisis

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You have been through a great deal in the last few months. Recovering from the accident has not been easy. Most of your energy has been put into learning to walk again and reacquiring the use of your limbs. Family and friends have been supportive. Not a day has gone by when the people you love most have not been there for you. The emotional support has been crucial to the regaining of your physical strength. However, your material well-being, and that of your family, is another matter. The bills are piling up, and there is not enough money coming into pay them. For the first time, you have had to think seriously about money. You desire strongly to go back to work. But you don’t need a doctor to tell you that, in the near term, it is impossible for you to do so. Your family is in trouble. You must find some way to get them out of it.

Why You Should File A Law Suit

You don’t remember much from the accident. But as you think and recall the images and actions that led up to the collision you cannot help believing that the fault lies with the other driver. The only way to gather the evidence that will prove this is to hire a lawyer.

Your lawyer will not only help you get the evidence that proves the negligence of the person who hit you they will also work to get you compensation. Personal injury lawyers such as the ones found in Ankin Law Office possess the insight, expertise, and experience to help you file a law suit that will get you the money you deserve.

You should not hesitate to take this action. Personal injury law suits are not about seeking revenge. They are among the most civilized tools ever devised to settle disputes between individuals. And make no mistake: the collision and its consequences amounts to a dispute between you and the person who hit you.

Getting The Right Amount Of Money

Some law suits go to trial; most are settled out of court. The latter is the preferable outcome as it saves you a great deal of time and money. However, you must still get a settlement that is commensurate with the pain, suffering, emotional strain, and missed opportunities for work you’ve had to endure. It is important to work with a lawyer who knows how to handle such cases—an able negotiator who can get a settlement that is very much in your favor.

In the end, getting the money is more about ensuring the safety and material security of your family than anything else. The loss of revenue that is a direct result of the accident imperils everything you’ve worked so hard to build. Your home, your car, your other possessions are now under threat. You must move fast to save them. You should not allow the recklessness of another to ruin your life.

The Business Benefits of Getting Compliance

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Getting compliant is of the utmost importance for businesses when they wish to prevent violations of the law and unethical conduct. Having an effective and well-considered compliance program in place can go a long way in reducing the risk of prosecution against the business and mitigating sentencing if there is a failure in compliance. Moreover, there are also positive, significant secondary benefits of a compliance program for businesses and these advantages can vary as per the company’s nature.

Some of the top benefits that most businesses can enjoy if they get compliance are:

Quality Improvements

A good compliance program proves to be immensely useful in preventing errors or failures before they occur and can also detect them at an early stage. This eventually reduces the need for redoing or repeating tasks. Early guidance for assuring compliance with standards can save considerable time because it reduces the need to redo tasks that don’t meet the appropriate regulatory standards. Thus, this can contribute to the bottom line of a business.

Increased Efficiency

Regardless of industry, every business is focused on improving efficiencies for the purpose of increasing stakeholder returns, but only a few of them have considered compliance as a way of boosting operational efficiency. However, it is a fact that when compliance is incorporated in a business’s operations instead of being restricted to a single department, it can actually enhance efficiency. If compliance is ascertained at every level, there is a lesser need to spot check every task. Employees can be trained to be compliant in order to make it a real-time and efficient process instead of a cleanup. There are companies, such as Minutes Depot, which can be helpful in this regard.

Risk Management

Every business faces operational, strategic, financial and other risks and these risks increase tenfold in industries like finance and healthcare, which are highly and strictly regulated. An efficient and effective compliance program is fully integrated for risk management purposes. All risks and benefits are considered for optimizing decision making and for mitigating risks. When you follow the standards that have been set out, there is a lesser risk of getting into trouble.

Trust and Brand Loyalty

When a business has an effective, clear and broadly communicated compliance program in place, it is basically signaling stakeholders that compliance is their top priority. It highlights their commitment to do business in the proper way and by following the highest ethical standards. It is also a demonstration of the business’s expertise concerning the relevant laws and regulations. When vendors, suppliers, employees and customers see this commitment of the business, they have a higher overall feeling of trust, which eventually breeds brand loyalty.

Competitive Advantage

Last, but definitely not the least, having a compliance program in place can also give a business some competitive advantage. When your rivals are not following a program, you can market your business as one that follows the highest standards that have been set. As people see that you are not trying to circumvent the law or hide from it, they are more likely to come to you than your competition.

How To Recover Your Health And Get A Just Settlement

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If you have been injured in an accident and you know it wasn’t your fault, then you have the right to seek justice. An accident lawyer Las Vegas can help you claim the money and get the remuneration you deserve.

Dealing with shock, trauma, and other effects

It may have been an automobile collision, a slip and fall, or the sudden collapse of a structure you were near. No matter the particulars of the accident, intense violence done to the human body leaves it a state of shock. The physical tears, cuts, and breakages are one thing; the tremendous blow to your nervous system is another, and it tends to be the effect that is hardest to recover from.

Even as the specific places in which you were injured begin to heal, it takes some time to recover from the general soreness and mental depression that result from most accidents. The latter can leave you out of work for days or even months. You might, if you have a generous employer, keep your job; but you will certainly have to forgo the wages you would have received.

Through your strength of character and the help and support of family and friends you have managed to deal with the aftermath of the accident. But a great deal of money has been lost, and a pile of bills have stacked up. Someone must pay. And it shouldn’t be you.

What personal injury lawyers do

Personal injury lawyers gather all of the circumstances related to the events of your accident and help you put together a strong case for your law suit. Personal injury lawyers are trained to analyze the facts of the case and relate them to legal codes and statues that advance your interests. A personal injury attorney can be a comforter, advisor, and a friend in what is most likely a very difficult time in your life. A good attorney can ensure that you are able to explore all of the legal options available to you. A smart, disciplined, and aggressive lawyer can also make sure that the circumstances and conditions surrounding the case are fully fleshed out, so that those who are culpable for the accident are held accountable.

Get the compensation you deserve

There is no reason for you to go through hard times and financial difficulties alone. Working with a lawyer will ensure that you can use the law to your benefit. The pain and injury caused in the accident may eventually fade, but the memories won’t; nor will the financial difficulties encountered by being out of work for a long period of time. Fortunately, you don’t have to just take it. You can get the compensation you’re entitled to by working with an accident lawyer Las Vegas.

No one should have to suffer the travail of recovering from an accident without claiming the compensation they are owed by the parties responsible for the injury. Getting compensation for what you have suffered may not ease the pain of it but it will give you justice, which is equally important in fully achieving a full recovery.

3 Steps to Acquiring More Clients Through Your Law Practice’s Website

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As a lawyer, almost nothing is as satisfying as owning or being a partner in your very own practice.

But with great power comes great responsibility, and one of those responsibilities is getting more clients.

More clients means more revenue and you get to stay operational.

Now that it’s 2017, the internet is more powerful than ever for driving new customers to your business.

Whether you’re just starting out, or have a website already established, the 3 steps below will help you acquire more clients.

  1. Make Sure Your Site Design is Functional and User-Friendly

The first step to acquiring more customers has nothing to do with attracting new traffic, but everything to do with converting your current website visitors.

While lawyers are certainly familiar with the law, many aren’t as familiar with fundamental web design.

Simple imagery and color schemes make a big difference to site visitors, especially first-timers. Your design should be easy on the eyes and match your brand’s unique personality.

You’ll want to ensure your site loads fast enough so that users aren’t annoyed and leave hastily. With attention spans ever-decreasing, this is now more important than ever.

Finally, make sure your site’s navigation is both effective and easy to use. Make your most important pages easy to find and call-to-actions even easier.

You’d be surprised how many more clients you’ll convert by making a few simple tweaks to your site’s design.

  1. Write Useful Content and Share It

Once your site is converting optimally, next you want to focus on driving more traffic to it.

One of the best – and completely free – ways to do this is through content marketing.

Content marketing is exactly what it sounds like. It’s effectively marketing your website by creating and sharing content.

As a law practice, there are an endless amount of topics you could potentially write about. Choose 3-5 of the most important problems you feel your clients face and share advice about them through articles or video.

Then spread that content through social media, other websites, and general word-of-mouth.

A little bit of hustle when creating and marketing your content can literally bring in thousands of new monthly visitors with not much upfront effort.

  1. Learn Basic SEO and Implement

In Step 1, you learned about improving your website’s conversions.

In Step 2, you found out how to boost traffic to your site virtually immediately.

In this last step, you’ll learn how to play the long game of traffic and acquire more customers month after month, with minimal additional work.

It’s called search engine optimization (SEO), and it’s a proven way to boost your traffic.

There are many guides and tips out there with titles like “100 Essential SEO Tips for Your Blog” or “60 Must-Do SEO Tactics”.

Those are simply ridiculous.

A good, sound SEO strategy really only needs a few things:

  • Proper keyword targeting
  • Keyword utilization
  • Site design mechanics

Most other tips are nonsense and non-essential to the growth of your website. Sure, they might help out a little bit, but for the getting the best use of your time, these 3 are all you need.

There are tons of top quality, free beginner SEO guides to get you quickly up and running. A quick Google search of “beginner SEO guides” should get you started.

Once you are, definitely track your progress using an online SEO analyzer. You’ll be able to find your site’s top ranked keywords, content, and more.

Also, those analyzers are great for gaining insight on your competitors’ strategies, which can help you tremendously in improving your own.

Conclusion

More online clients for your business is a simple matter of attracting more visitors to your site, then converting them at the highest possible rates.

If you follow the steps above, your practice will start getting more inquiries than you know what to do with, which is almost always a good problem to have.

 

 

 

 

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Four Ways to Become a Solicitor in the UK

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Have you always dreamt of becoming a solicitor but thought that you couldn’t because you didn’t have the right A levels or have already been to University? Well worry not, you can still become a solicitor in the United Kingdom through other paths. Below I will be looking into the different paths you can follow to become a lawyer. None of these methods are quick and easy and will require lots of hard work to get to the top.

University Degree

The most common method of becoming a solicitor in the UK is to go to University and study a law degree. Getting a Law degree is not easy and you will have to have great A level grades before applying to do law at University. It is however the most recognised route and after a 3 year degree you will take the LPC (Legal Practice Course) and then become a trainee solicitor at a firm.

Law Conversion (CPE)

If you have studied for a different degree and decided afterwards that perhaps law is for you then you can always take the CPE (Common Professional Exam) or GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law) which will essentially convert your degree into a law degree in 1 year full time or 2-3 part-time.

Apprentice

If you don’t currently have a degree you may be eligible to take an apprentice to become a solicitor, there are many different programs where a law firm will take on board a number of apprentices to work at their firm. Usually this means that you will have to do a lot of mundane boring jobs for a number of years whilst you gain qualifications but it is the cheapest way to become a lawyer in the UK despite the low apprentice wages.

CILEX

This stands for Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and is an alternative route to becoming a solicitor. It works in a similar way to a law degree except at the end you will not be a lawyer but rather a Legal Executive. Today there is little difference between the two and they are often treated the same in law firms. Legal Executives can also become partners in law firms, so don’t think this as secondary to being a solicitor. If you still wish to be a fully qualified lawyer you can still apply to become a practising solicitor as a legal executive by taking a few exams and passing the criteria set by the SRA. One firm that provides these courses whilst working are Kirwans Solicitors in Liverpool.

 

Supreme Court Strikes Down Abortion Law In Oklahoma For Being Too Restrictive

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There is quite arguably no greater divider in the United States than the issue of abortion. A source of both political and social divide for decades, there are still those who vehemently oppose it and others who will fight for it with all that they have. Last week, abortion opponents scored one in the courts when the Supreme Court struck down a highly restrictive abortion law.

Oklahoma’s Supreme Court struck down a law that would impose restrictions on abortion providers that required such things as taking samples of the fetal tissue of the aborted baby from any mother who is younger than fourteen years of age so that it may be preserved for state investigators.

The restrictive law also made it criminal for providers to violate the statutes such as fetal tissue samples or to try to circumvent parent consent. It also allowed for more stringent inspection and overseeing powers for abortion clinics around the state.

The original intention of the fetal tissue requirement was to capture predators and child rapists when possible. It was a law that was intended to protect women and children’s rights. Center for Reproductive Rights, based out of New York, however, has challenged the restrictions saying that they unfairly target only those facilities, that perform abortions.

All nine members of the Supreme Court unanimously found that the abortion laws violated the state’s Constitution in the respect that each legislative bill must only address one subject. The reason for their decision is that only one subject is allowed per bill to prevent legislators from tacking on provisions to pass laws that are unpopular and would likely not make it on their own merit.

The argument from proponents was that the bill does address only one subject, that subject being women’s reproductive rights. But, their argument was struck down. The court rejected it saying that the current bill violates the single-subject law and that the abortion law had the presumption of an “all or nothing” passage.

In addition, four of the nine judges stated they would have struck down the law on grounds that it was unconstitutional because it put an additional burden on those seeking an abortion, which is allowed by law.

Law enforcement and many a trial lawyer are disappointed by the ruling. They saw great gains in being able to prosecute child rapists using fetal tissue as evidence, especially in cases where girls are less than fourteen years of age.

President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup, believes that the law’s intention was nothing but a first step to limit the rights of women to make decisions for themselves. Stating it was a shameless attempt at intimidating women against following through with their abortion rights.

Oklahoma’s government is a Republican-dominated agency primarily focused on enforcing conservative ideals. The current ruling is a small victory for more left-minded thinkers. With the Presidential election on the horizon, the discussion of women’s rights is in full swing, making the issues more prominent across the nation.

In June of last year, the US Supreme Court struck down laws in Texas that likewise restrict facilities that performed abortions across the state. Other issue lately being debated in the courts is the recent ruling that pro-life pregnancy centers must give information about the option of abortion in California.

Although claiming that they have the first amendment rights to uphold their religious beliefs, any center that is licensed through the state must inform their patients about all options including abortion. Although a federal law, many abortion mandates are being tackled on a state level. Many abortion mandates are continually being passed and then challenged across the nation.

Health Risks For Students in 2017

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On the positive side, with the exception of Chicago, most major cities continue in some fashion or another to have a fairly low crime rate when it comes to violent crimes that involve students. Nonetheless, there are risks that can quickly outstrip the protections that the school district has in place for many youth.

Here are some of the potential health risks that can become legal issues for students in North American high schools in 2017:

Sonic Weapons:

Ever since 3D sound came on the scene, gangs and other groups have been measuring neighborhoods and implementing sensors, speakers, and radar to create systems that help them to push sound and neural routines into buildings and public areas where students can be. High schools near military bases have been especially hard hit, with Sweetwater High in National City leading the way as a popular place for gangs to use sonic to assert control. Baltimore, Washington DC, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Seattle are other cities that have had similar problems.

The problem for students that have hearing or nervous system sensitivity is that they can easily get ADHD when hit by sonic, potentially lowering their test scores. Another problem is that school administrators will acknowledge that sonic vendors have tried to sell them the technology as a security instrument, but they do not know that sonic is being used on campuses because they haven’t thought about putting in a system that could actually detect it. So without counsel, students end up having to just put up with harassment.

Physical threats:

Whether it be hazing or another form of physical abuse such as fighting, high school children have a great deal of injuries each year from altercations on campus. If you take a look at the police crime map for the metro area that you are in, the statistics will bear this out. Does that mean that teenagers are not safe? Not always.

In Israel, 3 teenagers were kidnapped and murdered recently. Yet a high school that caters to Americans was nearby and relatively unaffected by attacks. According to Jerry Sokol Miami resident affiliated with that school, tragic as the attacks were, the commitment to a security program has so far allowed the high school to be fortunate enough to avoid similar problems. Of course what Jerry Sokol and his community went through are an extreme example of the normal bumps and bruises that children may end up having when they are involved in school altercations.

One thing that young people do not typically realize is that when students attack other students and cause damage that may require a hospital visit or surgery, they remain liable for their actions. And although it isn’t the reaction that you see victims making on television shows, by suing the perpetrator of violence that cause physical damage you can actually defuse future problems because an economic judgement weighs heavily on people- and their families are likely to push for them to grow up and stop attacking people instead of ringing up a lot of economic charges at their high school.

Overall, there are several types of physical and potential health threats can face students at almost any high school in North America. By answering those threats with a legal solution when they come about because of illegal action or incompetence, you will forestall future problems and allow your child a better environment going forward.