Bail turns out to provide a fair amount of entertainment value if you look at the movies, TV shows and mystery novels around the subject of setting bail and catching those who skip town. There was even a 2004 TV series, Family Bonds, devoted to a New York family running a bail bond service. The greatest fictional criminal defense lawyer of all time, Perry Mason, was brilliant getting his clients released without bail or with a much reduced bail, to the DA’s perpetual consternation!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Understanding the Bail Process
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Have You Been Charged with a White Collar Crime in Florida?
White-collar crimes are those “committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” That original definition by sociologist Edwin Sutherland still holds. Given that occupation affects opportunity, white collar crimes overlap corporate crime. Among them are fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, identity theft, forgery, and more.
- Deal with law enforcement on your behalf
- Create an effective defense strategy
- Assist you BEFORE white collar crime charges are filed
- Make every effort to resolve your case without a trial
- Find alternatives to serving prison time, where legally possible
- Getting the charge(s) against you dropped
- Arranging a plea agreement in which you plead guilty to a lesser charge and/or agree to cooperate with an ongoing investigation
- A less harsh punishment
- A strong, effective defense in court
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tips on Being Audited
- Don't offer more information than you have to
This is the golden rule for being audited. You don't want to make the auditor suspicious … and even the most well-meaning people will start to sound nervous, and therefore guilty, when there is an auditor going through their intimate financial details! - Only bring what is requested on the original audit notice
That way you can’t be pressured into providing additional information that may not be legally searchable, simply because it is already there. Leave it at home if it isn’t on the audit notice. - Never ignore the notice
Being audited is right royal pain. Never ignore the notice though, as easy as it feels to just stick it in the bottom of your pile and forget about it. - Have your records well-organized
If you need help from an accountant or criminal attorney to do this, get it. Making things as easy as possible for the auditor will definitely endear them to you, and could help them overlook things that are in a gray area. - Only give copies to the auditor
There aren't any cases where the IRS will need original documents from you … and if you lose a necessary original and a case later comes to court, your criminal lawyer will have a hard time proving your case. - Have your explanations ready for red flags
Be aware of what will raise suspicions with auditors, search your memory and remember exactly why you did things that way. This applies if you have low income but a lot of deductions, excessive home office deductions, a substantial increase in income, or big meal and entertainment deductions, for example.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Federal Criminal Defense Attorney
Hiring an experienced criminal defense attorney means the difference between freedom and life changing forever. Facing white collar criminal charges or being wrongly accused of a crime can affect your professional reputation, social status, assets, finances and your family for the rest of your life. There is no sense in taking chances with attorneys who claim to be the best and have nothing but your best interest in mind when you have a top Florida criminal defense attorney who has been protecting individual’s rights for years. Serving a vast part of Florida such as Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach you can be sure that your future and the future of your family will be protected. Representing white collar professionals such as bank officers, CEOs, other attorneys, stockbrokers, physicians and other trade professionals -- you hire experience and reliability when you find this Florida law firm.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Trade Secrets versus Ordinary Patent Law
Trade secrets are a method of protecting highly valuable information, to a much larger degree than a patent. While patent violations are seen as almost a trivial matter by many (although admittedly, not by those whose patent was violated), trade secret violation cases usually get a lot of press and attention. Today we look at trade secret law in depth and criminal lawyers explain the differences between trade secrets and ordinary patents.
- That the information is not common public knowledge, or common knowledge within the business's industry
- That the information has demonstrable financial value
- That the information has been protected and maintained as confidential by its owner.
- Marking any documents that hold the secret as confidential
- Restrict the copying of confidential documents
- Requiring employees with access to sign confidentiality agreements and non-disclosure agreements
Criminal lawyers sometimes do not recommend that very valuable information be protected as a trade secret rather than with a patent. When reverse engineering is a possibility by a competitor, a patent may be a wiser choice.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Business/Corporation Involvement in White Collar Crime
- Monitor - Monitor all appropriate records -- conduct internal audits of any records that have a legal ramification. For example, financial records, occupational health and safety records, etc, should all be checked internally to uncover problems before the law does.
- Implement - Appropriate compliance and regulatory mechanisms in a business. Obviously the specific nature of these will vary vastly, but a criminal lawyer or business consultant can help determine them.
- Listen - for any rumors ore reports of illegal activities by employees and investigate them appropriately. In many cases, managers tend to take a 'not my problem' attitude to reports of criminal wrongdoings by staff. They don't realize the impact it can have on the business itself.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Law and You: Federal Environmental Law