Posted on 08/10/2003 3:34:07 PM PDT by sarcasm
And this is bad because?????
Long term debt comes from acquiring office space, building out the space and equipping the offices with furniture, computers, and the like. These costs can be very substantial, as office space is not cheap, good office furniture is also quite expensive, and law firms tend to have well-appointed and decorated offices.
Furthermore, the tax laws encourage firms to have a revolving line of debt. At the end of the year, each partner gets a report on his share of the pie and has to pay taxes on it, even if that money is left in the firm as working capital. Therefore law firms generally distribute all of their cash at the end of each year. This means that during the early part of the year, firms generally draw on a line of credit to pay employee salaries and expenses in the first part of the year. Then, toward the end of the year, there is a big effort to get clients to pay bills so that the line of credit is paid off and there is a net pie for the partners to split.
Obviously, if a firm expands too rapidly, both types of debt pile up.
Neither did a teacher I represented once who was accused of not reporting child abuse. Unfortunately for your shortsighted comment, there are statutes out there you are surely unaware of that apply when someone decides to pick you as the fall guy.
2)go to arbitration in the contract dispute or destroy whatever the contract was about,
Fine. Arbitration fees start at about $4500 just for the proceeding, and if you go unrepresented, you WILL lose. I do have some arbitration experience. Unlike taking on a pro se in court, where the proceeding can get out of hand easily (which favors the pro se), you WILL get bitch slapped by the arbitrator if you try to create a circus. This is one of the more naive and dumb ideas I've read on here lately.
been there, done that, my lawyer was all smiles and handshakes for my arbitration case opponents.... they can all die for all I care.
That was YOUR problem for not hiring a good lawyer. And I suspect you didn't tell us the complete story. Either way, if you are in Texas and need a good (civil) defense litigation attorney, call me. I'll be completely honest with you, charge you fairly, and argue like hell on your behalf. Contrary to popular myth, most attorneys are like me. The ones that aren't are usually that way for a reason. Judges don't like making criminal appointments to lawyers who are going to clog their docket or screw with their conviction rating (i.e. win); too many folks hire the attorney who got their kid off a drug charge to handle their company's affairs; and insurance companies won't let attorneys completely do their job sometimes because the cost of defense -- paid by the insurer -- is something the insurance company just doesn't want to pay for.
You can bitch about attorneys all you want, but what you are bitching about are symptoms. The causes of most of our problems are by common folks who 1) don't give a rip enough about our judicial system to research and vote for the right judges (in states like Texas where judges are elected), but complain like hell when one of them lets someone off -- like that idiot who, with his son, beat up the Royals' first base coach; 2) behave as if contracts they sign don't apply to them; 3) want to sue the hell out of someone when they get their feelings hurt or when medical science wasn't 100% certain (as if it ever were or ever could be); 4) bitch about jury awards, but try to get out of jury service every time they get the card in the mail. Does any of this cause you or anyone else here to take a close look in the mirror?
I did. I quit my practice and now I produce something worthwhile instead of looking for a stream on wealth and finding someway to weasel into it.
Now, I am dealing with people who don't automatically lie to me or try to extort something from me or one of clients in the name of "justice."
nope.... cause I'm not a lawyer.
As far as the legal profession is concerned.... (excuse me while I wipe the barf from my shoes). I'm an ER doc that's been "named" in 3 suits in 20 years of work. All over the last 3 years due to "poor outcome" after the patient was admitted and treated by the attending and the hospital.
The deal is if a patient dies every doctor with a name on the chart gets named in the suit money- mining excavation ..... all the nurses (agents of the hospital=deep pockets), pharmacy, anesthesia, everybody.... then after you get a LAWYER, you may or may not get your dismissal.... Meanwhile lawyer still getting your billable legal hourly fee....
or go on to deposition, obtaining expert witnesses, presenting records... meanwhile your LAWYER bills per hour... guess what?
No EMTALA law mandates that he or you has to take pro-bono work, whether I pay or not. So even if I get "off" I get "billed"... by a LAWYER and the insurance rates go up.... so kiss my a@#.
My defense lawyer in the last case wanted me to say something for getting an arbitration of "only $35,000.00". like "thank-you" or "I'm grateful....!"..... cause he and the med-mal insurance company number cruncher figured a cost-benefit ratio that I was on the wrong side of .... I just told him that if I ever saw him or his family in the ER, they'd have a nice 12 hour wait in the ER while I ordered every test I could think of, consulted every specialist on call, and referred all my med orders including Tylenol for pharmacology consultation, consider air transfer to a teaching or training institution with appropriate consult and then I would take care of the life threatening "problem" but wouldn't think of giving him or his rat wife or his little rodent kids pain meds.... you know why..... as a fine attorney explained to me in my last deposition.... "you don't die of pain.....".. lesson learned.
By the way... are you one of the Lawyers that puts "self-employed" when listing occupation so that nobody knows your a lawyer when you visit the doc? ;-)
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