Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Fundamentals of Social Security Disability

By Rainier Policarpio
The Federal government has initiated several programs that aim to cater to the needs of the disabled workers. These include the Social Security Disability benefits that provide financial and medical support to those qualified employees who have incurred disability. Such program is implemented by the Social Security Administration, which also has the authority to evaluate and approve the petitions of the claimants.

Eligibility Covered workers who have been paying their Social Security contributions and completed work period specified by the SSA (at least five to ten years) can avail of the Social Security Disability benefits. That is, if their disability prevents them from performing "substantial gainful activities" in a period of twelve months. Meaning, their ailment should be serious enough to impede them from working or earning adequate compensations.

Benefits Once the SSA approved a claimant’s petition, he will receive monthly checks. The amount will greatly depend on his average earnings during his employment career. In California, the disabled workers may also receive Medi-Cal benefits that are essential in obtaining medical treatment and rehabilitation while waiting for the SSA to approve their cases.

Claims Procedure 1. Initial Application – an application for the Social Security Disability benefits may be filed in three ways, through a phone call, via the internet, or personally at your local Social Security Office. However, there is a little chance that your claim will be approved at this stage. In fact, majority of claims initially filed to the SSA are rejected for some reasons such as technicalities and lack of documentary evidences. This will definitely compel you to try the next step in filing. 2. Request for Reconsideration – In this procedure, it is important that you hire an experienced Social Security lawyer coming from a reputable Disability Law Firm. An expert representative will help you in reassessing your case, gathering vital documents and filing an appeal to the SSA. You will then need to wait for at least two to three months before the SSA gives their decision on your request. 3. Hearing before the Administrative Law Judge – If your request for reconsideration was also denied, it is now the time to schedule a case hearing to the Administrative Law Judge. In this process, you will need to defend your eligibility and try to convince the judge to reverse the former decision. 4. Civil Litigation – if again your last petition to the SSA was denied, the law entitles you to result in civil litigation. This is where you may file charges against the SSA if you really believe that you are qualified of such benefits. If the court judge favors your claim, he will ask the SSA to bestow you your benefits.

You may see that the actual filing procedure in filing a Social Security Disability Claim is very much intricate for an individual who lacks the understanding about the basic principles of such SSA program. It is therefore vital to consult a law firm that is well known in handling Social Security cases before the initial application.

Our law firm is among the highly acclaimed in representing and advocating disability cases among other Disability Law Firms. We have widely experienced Disability Lawyersto help with your case.

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The Importance of the Legal Profession in our Society

By Rainier Policarpio
Typically, litigation lawyers should understand the basic principles of law and justice. Being a legal professional can be tiring yet very much exciting and rewarding since he is capable of affecting many of people’s lives. The practice of law is indeed a great experience.

Like any other class of professionals, such as doctors, scientists and engineers, lawyers also have a certain standard to follow, which the legal profession requires. They should set a good example to people in abiding by the laws of the land. Their failure to do so may be considered as grounds for the revocation of their licenses in practicing their profession.

Although there are lawyers who practice law in general, majority of them opt to have their fields of specialization. Here is a list of some areas of law:

• Maritime Law attorneys – help clients in resolving legal cases like freight and passenger vessel liability, oil pollution complaints, aquatic resources regulations, international trade, maritime injuries, cargo disputes and others.
• Aviation Law attorneys – handle cases concerning air travel safety.
• Civil Rights litigators – defend the people’s rights and privileges under the United States Constitution. These include the right to suffrage, peaceful assembly, press freedom, right against slavery, among others.
• Corporate lawyers – provide assistance to business entities regarding their creation, organization and dissolution.
• Criminal Law attorneys – handle criminal cases or violations of public laws that may be punishable by fines and/or imprisonment. They may act either as prosecutors or as defense lawyers.
• Labor lawyers – act as advocates of good employer/employee relationship. They take charge in handling cases such as employer abuse, harassments, wrongful termination, employment disability and other labor law violations.
• Personal Injury lawyers – assist injured victims of negligence or strict liability. They ensure that the aggrieved will recover proper damages from the liable party who caused their pain and suffering and deter the defendants from committing similar acts in the future.
• Family Law attorneys – deals with family-related cases such as marriage legitimacy, divorce, annulment, property settlements, legal adoption, child abuse and abduction of minors,

While a number of people believe that litigation attorneys practice their profession purely for profit, a great majority of these law professionals offers their assistance at low costs or sometimes free of charge. In fact, the overwhelming benefits of employing a lawyer far outweigh the cost of hiring one.

With that note, those noble legal practitioners should be commended for their great dealings; for protecting our rights and ensuring that justice prevails at all times. Without their expert services, law and order will definitely remain just a dream.

Our Professional Los Angeles County Litigation Lawyer are highly experienced with regards to litigation processes. For more information about litigation processes on personal injury cases, please log on to our website.

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Forget About Poor People If You Want To Be Rich - Learn The Law Of Gratitude

By Elaine Currie
There is no place in a grateful mind for thoughts of poverty. If you are striving to live in an attitude of gratitude, all thoughts of poor people and their sufferings must be dismissed from your mind. Does this sound terribly harsh? Perhaps so but, if you consider what it means, you will understand why you should forget about poor people.

In order to achieve your desire for wealth, it is essential that you understand the Law of Gratitude. It is, to quote The Science Of Getting Rich, "the natural principle that action and reaction are always equal, and in opposite directions." The giving of thankful praise is an "expenditure of force", the reaction to which is an "instantaneous movement towards you". Living in a constant attitude of gratitude will result in a constant movement towards you of the wealth you desire. The moment you lose your attitude of gratitude, a movement in the opposite direction will occur

The Law of Gratitude dictates that wealth will move either toward you or away from you according to your thoughts. If you live in continuous gratitude and an attitude of happy thanksgiving, you will naturally continue to attract more blessings. If you lapse into dissatisfaction and think of your problems and the problems of people around you, more problems will swarm in because you are attracting them by the negative nature of your thoughts. If you think rich, you will become rich; if you think poor, you will become poor.

Forgetting about poor people does not mean that you should become hard-hearted and treat the people around you with callous indifference. If a homeless person begs you to give him the price of a cup of coffee, there is no reason not to give him the money. Indeed, if you feel like it, there is nothing to stop you buying him breakfast. You can give thanks for the fact that you can afford to perform charitable acts but you must not permit your thoughts to dwell upon the unhappy circumstances of the homeless and poor. You can make charitable donations to help those less fortunate than yourself but you will harm yourself if you fill your mind with thoughts of the suffering in the world.

Thinking about poverty will not do one ounce of good for the poor people and can bring you a ton of harm. Wallace Wattles tells us that if you "fix attention on the common, the ordinary, the poor, and the squalid and mean" your thoughts will become mental images which you will transmit and, thereby, attract these things into your life. By allowing your thoughts to build these negative images, you are bringing into being more of the very things you would wish to eradicate.

If you desire wealth, you must focus upon wealth and be grateful for every good thing in your life. Take note of the warning in The Science Of Getting Rich: "To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things. On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best."

Elaine Currie is the owner of the Free Work At Home Directory at http://www.huntingvenus.com and author of the book Ezine Article Writing - 10 Steps To Success. You can download the book free of charge in pdf format at: http://www.huntingvenus.com/free_ezine_articles_writing_ebook.shtml

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Indian law firms to benefit from LPO boom

By Risabh Shastri
India might be considered as a growing industry till now also but legal process outsourcing or LPOs is expected to fetch up to $20 billion by 2015. One of the biggest driving forces for the success of law schools is that, it absorbs many of the 15,000 law graduates which India produces each year.

About 700 Indian lawyers are estimated by Nasscom which are presently getting the LPO boom benefit, debating and documenting the glittering fallouts of globalization family disputes, patents entertainment, and pharmacy. At Indian law firms, Gurgaon, Noida, Bangalore and Mumbai, the legal requirements of several MNCs in the US and Europe are outsourced.

It is for the first time that conference talked about law and legal framework, discussed by US-based Centre for American and International and Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) conference.

Legal outsourcing to India has begun as a low-end work which usually included transcription. But now it is history. Now, like other BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) activities, India’s legal services are affordable and efficient too. So, everything from patent application drafting, legal research, pre-litigation documentation, advising clients, analyzing drafted documents, writing software licensing agreements to drafting distribution agreement is being outsourced to India.

Currently, there are around 100 big and small law firms in India which are dedicated to serve their clients in the US, UK and other European countries.

Indian lawyers make pleadings ready and provide back-up support for litigation-related research. Moreover, they go through the patent applications.

As far as competence is considered, Indian lawyers work out cheaper for a foreign firm to get it done by a firm in India compare to a US law firm. The Services Export Promotion Council, set up by the Union Ministry of Commerce, is also looking into various issues related to LPOs.

During the three-day conference which was jointly organized, security matter was discussed under the aegis of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce; the concern was addressed about protecting the confidentiality clause.

Source: http://www.itmatchonline.com/article/Offshoring_outsourcing_tips.php ITMatchOnline, an outsourcing hub where provider and buyer exchange their needs. Looking to Legal Outsourcing Services? Visit Itmatchonline.com

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Lemon Law Advice on Spot Delivery Scams

By Paul FlemingSo you purchased a beautiful new car, signed all the necessary paperwork and drove it right off the lot with a big smile on your face. The dealer got you approved on the "spot". Or so you thought.

A few days or weeks later, the dealer calls and asks you to return to "sign a few more papers". "Mr. Smith", they say, "we couldn't get the car financed and you need to sign a new loan with another bank" or "you need someone to co-sign", or "give us another $1000 and we can do the deal", or "Mr Smith, we need to increase your monthly payment to get this done". The dealer may even have delayed paying off a traded vehicle loan or refused to mail registration papers, all to place additional pressure on the consumer to do as they are instructed or to face dire consequences to their credit.

Sound familiar? It gets worse.

If you refuse, the dealer may threaten to repossess the car, tell you that you have no legal entitlement to keep it or even make you wait for hours at the dealership under some excuse, to wear you down. This situation is most common involving consumers with bad credit, since dealers perceive that such people are vulnerable and easy to take advantage of.

Most consumers assume the dealer is telling the truth and will do whatever the dealer says, resulting in higher payments, additional money being spent over the life of the loan and/or thousands of dollars in increased "hidden" costs. Those who refuse, see their cars repossessed.

What is happening here? It's a Scam. Dealer Fraud. Unlawful. Illegal. Call it what you will. The industry has given it a name: Spot Delivery, a description which refers to the dealer placing a consumer in a car "on the spot", to get the sale, only to "yo-yo" them back at a later date for additional funds. Played to perfection, a dealer can reap thousands of dollars in unearned fraudulent gain.

What to know about Spot Delivery: If you signed purchase documents and registration applications and if you obtained insurance for the vehicle, had a new license plate put on the car and/or had your old plate transferred, the car belongs to you.

Spot Delivery happens to unsuspecting consumers throughout the United States. It is very popular with dealers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. If you find yourself in this situation, the chances are good that you have legal remedies available to right this wrong. Tools to Protect Yourself from Spot Delivery or Dealer Fraud:

* Remember that if you have signed papers, you own the car, regardless of whether the vehicle has been financed.
* Your credit was good or the dealer would not have delivered the car to you at the price you agreed to pay
* A finance document showing payments, deposit, interest rate and other financial items is a binding contract, giving you specific legal rights.
* You own the car subject to making payments only. The dealer cannot change that once you take possession.
* Keep all copies of your paperwork and anything else associated with the sale (including calendars, photographs, advertisements). If the finance manager asks for your papers at any time for any reason, refuse! Keep these documents in a safe place, not the car.
* If you are called back to the dealership to sign additional papers, either do not go or do so in a different car than the one you bought.
* Have a friend or spouse drive you and witness whatever is being told to you. This will prevent the dealer from taking your car as hostage, an all too common happening.
* If a dispute arises with the dealer over the contract and the dealer demands the car is returned, park it in a garage or remote location until the matter is resolved, to prevent it from being taken against your wishes.
* Put together a complete timeline of everything that happened from the time you thought of purchasing the car until the car was taken away. Try to remember specific names of dealership personnel and any statements that were made to you during conversations with the sales and finance staff.
* Keep track of all monies you had invested into the purchase, including registration, insurance, down payment and trade. Never pay cash and always get a receipt!

If you believe you are a victim of a Spot Delivery scam and wish to discuss it with a consumer attorney, contact a specialist lemon law lawyer.

Paul Fleming represents Kimmel & Silverman who have been providing cost-free, quality legal representation to distressed consumers of lemon cars since 1991. Contact them at http://www.lemonlaw.com/mail.html or visit their website at http://www.lemonlaw.com .

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