• Would You Let Your Client Set Your Fee?
• Leave Your Attorney Fee to Your Clients
• Should Clients Be Allowed to Set Their Own Legal Fees?
• A Minnesota Lawyer’s Experiement with ‘Name Your Own Price’ Fees
• Lawyer’s ‘Name Your Own Price’ Experiment

Current Events

• Should Elizabeth Edwards’ Heirs Sue for Malpractice?
• Gay? They Tax That Too

Innovative Business Models

• Workshifting in Cowboy Boots

The post In The Press Links appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

I may have surprised the business owner when I had an answer as soon as they finished asking the question. The answer is simple. Incorporate.

I cannot stress this answer enough. No matter how big or how small your business; incorporate it. Even if your small business is essentially an expensive hobby; incorporate it.

Incorporating your business serves three important purposes.

It protects your personal life.

The biggest thing incorporating does is it separates you from your business. Regardless of the type of incorporation (around the country there are many different types, but the big three are Limited Liability Companies, S-Corporations, and C-Corporations), the act of incorporating makes your business a separate legal entity. This means that, for all intents and purposes, it is its own person.

What this means is that all liability, whether it is from defaulting on debts, accidents, negligence, or almost anything, ends with your business. Only your business’s property and funds can be taken through legal actions. As long as you are incorporated, you house, your car, even your TV, is safe. If you aren’t, they are fair game.

Incorporating means that your business can declare bankruptcy without it personally affecting you. This means that your credit rating is much safer. Remember, you can always start a new business under a new name. It’s tough to do that with your personal life.

It makes your name unique

One of the nice side effects of incorporating your name with a Secretary of State is that it makes your business name unique. In most states, only one business may incorporate under the same name. This, for all intents and purposes, acts as a trademark on your business. Once you are incorporated, you don’t have to worry about another business in your state stealing your name.

It makes you look more professional

One of the overlooked reasons to incorporate is that it shows that your business is professional. It shows prospective clients, customers, and investors you are serious about your business. It shows you view your business as something grander than yourself. It shows you take pride in what you build and that you want to protect it.

There many things a business should do to build a strong foundation. Most businesses need a good Independent Contractor Agreement, Service Agreement, or End User License Agreement, to name a few. None are nearly as important, or affordable, as incorporating your business. There is no excuse to put it off.

Alex

The post The One Thing Every Business Owner Needs to Do appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

Most people understand that they need to update their plans after a baby is born. What gets lost in the shuffle of all the other stresses of pregnancy is the fact that good planning possible, and even preferable, during the pregnancy.

Regular readers already know that I am going to suggest the basic trinity of legal documents; a will, power of attorney, and healthcare directive. Even if you already have these documents, they should be updated to account for the unique issues found in pregnancy and being a new parent.

Will

Your will should always include terms that specifically address how your children should be treated. A will can easily be written to include children that have not been born yet. It is not unheard of for parents to die before or soon after the birth of their child; and you should have a plan that reflects this possibility. Your will should be updated to include any children that are in gestation at the time of your death. This is particularly important if you are an unmarried father, as it can be difficult to prove a child as an heir in many situations.

Your will should also include guardianship provisions for who should care for your child after they are born. Should the guardian be a beneficiary of the will or a trustee in order to make sure that they have the resources to care for your child? This question must be answered in any estate plan of an expectant parent.

Another issue that must be covered under any will of an expectant parent is how you would wish your child to receive any property. Children can’t receive property until they are 18, so you must designate a custodian for the property that you trust. In many cases, a trust may be appropriate so that your child would receive the money at a later age, such as 21 or 25, because the safe bet is that an 18 year old will not be responsible with property, regardless of where they received it from.

The last major issue that should be covered in the expectant parent’s will is whether they wish to set up a savings account or investment account for the child either under the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act or as a 529 college savings plan.

Health Care Directive

In most cases, pregnancy results in at least one trip to the hospital. Because it does carry the risks of some major medical issues, it is imperative that the mother have a health care directive that outlines her basic medical ideals. At the very least, it should state who her preferred agent is and provide a HIPAA authorization. You can be as specific as you want in a health care directive, meaning that you can outline what procedures and drugs you want or don’t want during labor should you be unable to communicate those wishes to your doctor.

While you’re drafting your estate plan, it doesn’t hurt to make sure that daddy has a health care directive too.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney grants someone else the authority to manage any of your financial and legal decisions. If complications during pregnancy or labor limit the mother’s mobility, a power of attorney makes it exponentially easier for another person to take care of basic errands such as paying bills, running to the bank, and handling any individual accounts. Planning for these situations means that you can always concentrate on your health and the health of the baby first.

At some point during or immediately after a pregnancy, most households go down to one income for a period of time. Any income earner in a household should ensure that another member of the household is authorized to access their accounts should they be unable to do so. This ensures that bills continue to be paid in the event of any unforeseen event. A power of attorney should be drafted for all the parties involved in the pregnancy and early childhood care.

Life Insurance

If you do not have life insurance, you should definitely purchase at least a small policy now that you are expecting a child. Though nothing can replace growing up with a parent, a life insurance policy will make sure that the guardians of your children have the resources to care for your child as you would wish they should be raised and can ensure that you child has the option to go to college or purchase a house in their early adulthood.

Many parents make a plan after their child is born. Smart parents do it beforehand. It is very easy to update your plan once your child is born to include their name and birth date. At my firm, that service is offered for free if you have your estate plan drafted through Alex Bajwa LLC before your child is born. There is no excuse for not having a plan for your child before they are born.

The post What to Plan When You’re Expecting appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

John M. Ford was pretty much the smartest writer I knew. Mostly. He did one thing that was less than smart, though: he knew he wasn’t in the best of health, but he still didn’t leave a proper will, and so didn’t, in death, dispose of his literary estate in the way that he intended to while he was alive, which has caused grief and concern to the people who were closest to him.

He’s not the first writer I know who didn’t think to take care of his or her posthumous intellectual property. For example, I knew a writer — a great writer — separated from and estranged from his wife during the last five years of his life. He died without making a will, and his partner, who understood and respected his writing, was shut out, while his wife got the intellectual property, and has not, I think, treated it as it should have been treated. These things happen, and they happen too often.

There are writers who blithely explain to the world that they didn’t make a will because they don’t mind who gets their jeans and old guitar when they die but who would have conniptions if they realized how much aggravation their books or articles or poems or songs would cause their loved ones (or editors, anthologists or fans) after their death…

Writers put off making wills (well, human beings put off making wills, and most writers are probably human beings). Some of us think it’s self-aggrandising or foolish to pretend that anyone would be interested in their books or creations after they’re dead. Others secretly believe we’re going to live forever and that making a will would mean letting Death in a crack.

Others make wills, but don’t think to take into account what happens to our literary estate as a separate thing from the disposition of our second-best beds, which means unqualified or uninterested relatives can find themselves in control of everything the author’s written. Some of us are just cheap.

All this bothered me, and still bothers me.

Shortly after Mike Ford’s death, I spoke to Les Klinger about it. Les is a lawyer, and a very good one, and also an author. I met him through Michael Dirda, and the Baker Street Irregulars (here’s Les’s Sherlockian webpage).

Les immediately saw my point, understood my crusade and went off and made a document for authors. Especially the lazy sort of authors, or just the ones who haven’t quite got around to seeing a lawyer, or who figure that one day it’ll all sort itself out, or even the ones to whom it has never occurred that they need to think about this stuff.

It’s a PDF file, which you can, and should, if you’re a creative person, download here:

http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/SIMPLEWILL.pdf

As Les says, your options are:

1) Recopy the document ENTIRELY by hand, date it, and sign it at the end. No witnesses required.

2) Type the document, date it, sign it IN FRONT OF at least two witnesses, who are not family or named in the Will, and have each witness sign IN FRONT OF YOU and the other witnesses. Better yet, go to a lawyer with this form and discuss your choices!

Having said that, the first option, a “holographic will” isn’t valid everywhere — according to Wikipedia, In the United States, unwitnessed holographic wills are valid in around 30 out of the 50 states. Jurisdictions that do not themselves recognize such holographic wills may nonetheless accept them under a “foreign wills act” if it was drafted in another jurisdiction in which it would be valid. In the United Kingdom, unwitnessed holographic wills are valid in Scotland, but not in England and Wales.

So the second option is by far the wisest.

Pass it on. Spread it around. And then, if you’re an author, or even a weekend author with just a few short stories published, or one thin book you don’t think anyone read or would want to republish, fill it out. Sign it and date it in front of witnesses. Put it somewhere safe. And rest easily in the knowledge that you may have made some anthologist, or some loved one, in the future, a bit happier and made their lives a little easier.

(Or better still, print it out and take it to your own lawyer/ solicitor or equivalent legal person when you get a formal will drawn up. As Les says, take it to a lawyer and discuss your choices.)

Feel very free to repost it on your own webpages, or to link to it above, or link to this blog entry — it’s http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html — which contains all this information.

(And the same goes for you artists, photographers and songwriters, although a few words may have to be changed or added.)

I could not agree with Mr. Gaiman more. However, Minnesota is a little stricter on what makes a will valid. Here is my updated version of the simple will that is written with Minnesota in mind. The most important difference is Minnesota wills should also be notarized with what is called a “self-proving affidavit”. This makes sure that your will is valid even if the witnesses are unavailable. It’s not that much harder to do. Just bring your unsigned will to your bank, and ask them for a notary. The witnesses sign on the spot that says “witnesses”, you sign the two spots that say “testator”, and the bank notary signs the spot that says “notary public”.

It is true, to get everything written right for you, you should at least get some

guidance from an attorney. To all the starving artists in the Twin Cities area, I am always willing to meet for a cup of coffee to discuss your options.

The post Neil Gaiman on Preserving Your Creative Work appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

The following is a guest post by Woodbury real estate agent Aundrea Paskett. You can get more home maintenance and home buying advice by visiting her blog.

To successfully appeal your property tax bill, you first need to do a bit of sleuthing into your real estate assessment.

Owning a home is an expensive proposition. There’s maintenance, landscaping, utilities, renovations, and, of course, taxes. It’s your civic duty to pay the latter, but it’s also your right not to yield a penny more than your fair share.

It’s possible to trim your property tax bill by appealing the assessed value of your home. But making a case against your real estate assessment, the basis for your property tax bill, requires doing a bit of homework. Initial research can be done online or by phone over two or three days, but the process can stretch out for months if you’re forced to file a formal appeal.

Read your assessment letter

A real estate assessment is conducted periodically by the local government to assign a value to your home for taxation purposes. An assessment isn’t the same as a private appraisal, and the assessed value of your home isn’t necessarily how much you could sell it for today. Real estate assessment letters are mailed to homeowners annually, or perhaps every two to three years, depending where you live.

The letter will include some information about your property, such as lot size or a legal description, as well as the assessed value of your house and land. Additional details—number of bedrooms, for example, or date of construction—can often be found in the property listing on your local government’s website. Your property tax bill will usually be calculated by multiplying your home’s assessed value by the local tax rate, which can vary from town to town.

If you think your home’s assessment is higher than it should be, challenge it immediately. The clock starts ticking as soon as the letter goes out. You generally have less than 30 days to respond, though the time frame varies not just between states, but within each state. Procedures are often outlined on the back of the letter.

Gather evidence

Start by making sure the assessment letter doesn’t contain any mistakes. Is the number of bathrooms accurate? Number of fireplaces? How about the size of the lot? There’s a big difference between “0.3 acres” and “3.0 acres.” If any facts are wrong, then you may have a quick and easy challenge on your hands.

Next, research your home’s value. Ask a real estate agent to find three to five comparable properties—“comps” in real estate jargon—that have sold recently. Alternatively, check a website like Zillow.com to find approximate values of comparable properties. The key is identifying properties that are very similar to your own in terms of size, style, condition, and location. If you’re willing to shell out between $350 and $600, you can hire a private appraiser to do the heavy lifting.

Once you identify comps, check the assessments on those properties. Most local governments maintain public databases. If yours doesn’t, seek help from an agent or ask neighbors to share tax information. If the assessments on your comps are lower, you can argue yours is too high. Even if the assessments are similar, if you can show that the “comparable” properties aren’t truly comparable, you may have a case for relief based on equity. Maybe your neighbor added an addition while you were still struggling to clean up storm damage. In that case, the properties are no longer equitable.

Present your case

Once you’re armed with your research, call your local assessor’s office. Most assessors are willing to discuss your assessment informally by phone. If not, or if you aren’t satisfied with the explanation, request a formal review. Pay attention to deadlines and procedures. There’s probably a form to fill out and specific instructions for supporting evidence. A typical review, which usually doesn’t require you to appear in person, can take anywhere from one to three months. Expect to receive a decision in writing.

If the review is unsuccessful, you can usually appeal the decision to an independent board, with or without the help of a lawyer. You may have to pay a modest filing fee, perhaps $10 to $25. If you end up before an appeals board, your challenge could stretch as long as a year, especially in large jurisdictions that have a high number of appeals. But homeowners do triumph. According to Guy Griscom, Assistant Chief Appraiser of the Harris County (Texas) Central Appraisal District, of the 288,800 protests filed in his Houston-area district in 2008, about 58% received reduced assessments.

How much effort you decide to put into a challenge depends on the stakes. The annual U.S. median property tax paid in 2008 was $1,897, or 0.96% of the median home value of $197,600. Lowering that assessed value by 15% would net savings of about $285. In some parts of New York and Texas, for example, where tax rates can approach 3% of a home’s value, potential savings are greater. Ditto for communities with home prices well above the U.S. median.

There are a few things to keep in mind as you weigh an appeal. The board can only lower your real estate assessment, not the rate at which you’re taxed. There’s also a chance, albeit slight, that your assessment could be raised, thus increasing your property taxes. A reduction in your assessment right before you put your house on the market could hurt the sale price. An easier route to savings might lie in determining if you qualify for property tax exemptions based on age, disability, military service, or other factors.

The post Appeal Your Property Tax Bill appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

One of the biggest things people forget to do is to update their account holder information. If you have changed your name, make sure that you have notified your bank. More importantly, make sure that either you are the only owner or authorized signer on the account, or that you still know and trust anyone who is jointly on the account. I have worked with plenty of clients who have forgotten to remove deceased relatives, ex-spouses, and hostile ex-boyfriends and girlfriends. Except in very rare and specific cases, most people should not be given easy and legal access to your money.

By far, the most common joint account holder for someone to have is one of their parents. If your checking or savings account was opened before you turned eighteen, or if you had some financial assistance from your parents early in your college years, it is likely that one of your parents is a joint account holder and you probably forgot about it. Now that you’re officially an independent adult, it’s a good idea to review whether it would be better to be the sole account holder or to update your joint account holder to your fiancé, partner, or spouse.

There are a couple of advantages to having a joint bank account with a person you trust. Even if you are the primary person depositing money or withdrawing money from the account, your joint account holder can do the same without any problems or hassle from the bank. This means that if you were to suddenly be in a position where you are not able to manage your finances, your joint account holder is able to access for finances for you without any court order or a signed power or attorney. This is why many couples manage their mortgage and major bills through a joint account and why many seniors add one of their children to the bank accounts.

With the convenience of joint accounts come some dangers. The most glaring danger would be a break down in the relationship between you and your joint account holder. This can be dangerous because, as was pointed out earlier, your joint account holder has the same right to withdraw from the account as you do. Any assets that are comingled in the account are considered to be both of your property. If you two become hostile, whoever withdraws the money first is the one who gets sole control over the assets in the account. Unless a court order says differently, this joint access to the account even survives a divorce.

The other major concern is that the assets in the account become the property of the joint account holder if you die. This happens regardless of what has been directed in your will and estate plan. This can have some unforeseen results. I have seen several cases where a person left everything to their spouse in the will. Unfortunately, in these cases, most of the money the person had was deposited in accounts where they had forgotten to remove their parent as a joint account holder. In one of these cases, the parents were not willing to give any of the money to their child’s spouse or children.

Joints accounts have some great advantages and some serious problems. It all depends on your current situation whether or not the advantages outweigh some of the risks. Your situation will change throughout your life, so make sure to consult with your attorney and your banker to make sure your account reflects your current one.

The post Make Sure Your Bank Account Grows Up When You Grow Up appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

Almost everyone has a bank account once they reach adulthood. Most of us have a couple. Even if you have a simple checking account or a simple savings account, after a few years, it is easy to lose track of some important details of your account. When you are entering a long engagement or have just been married, make sure that all of your bank accounts still have terms and policies which are advantageous to your current stage in life. Your no minimum balance, low interest checking account may have been great when you lived on $32 a month in college, but there is probably a better account at your bank for you now that you’ve matured a little bit.

One of the biggest things people forget to do is to update their account holder information. If you have changed your name, make sure that you have notified your bank. More importantly, make sure that either you are the only owner or authorized signer on the account, or that you still know and trust anyone who is jointly on the account. I have worked with plenty of clients who have forgotten to remove deceased relatives, ex-spouses, and hostile ex-boyfriends and girlfriends. Except in very rare and specific cases, most people should not be given easy and legal access to your money.

By far, the most common joint account holder for someone to have is one of their parents. If your checking or savings account was opened before you turned eighteen, or if you had some financial assistance from your parents early in your college years, it is likely that one of your parents is a joint account holder and you probably forgot about it. Now that you’re officially an independent adult, it’s a good idea to review whether it would be better to be the sole account holder or to update your joint account holder to your fiancé, partner, or spouse.

There are a couple of advantages to having a joint bank account with a person you trust. Even if you are the primary person depositing money or withdrawing money from the account, your joint account holder can do the same without any problems or hassle from the bank. This means that if you were to suddenly be in a position where you are not able to manage your finances, your joint account holder is able to access for finances for you without any court order or a signed power or attorney. This is why many couples manage their mortgage and major bills through a joint account and why many seniors add one of their children to the bank accounts.

With the convenience of joint accounts come some dangers. The most glaring danger would be a break down in the relationship between you and your joint account holder. This can be dangerous because, as was pointed out earlier, your joint account holder has the same right to withdraw from the account as you do. Any assets that are comingled in the account are considered to be both of your property. If you two become hostile, whoever withdraws the money first is the one who gets sole control over the assets in the account. Unless a court order says differently, this joint access to the account even survives a divorce.

The other major concern is that the assets in the account become the property of the joint account holder if you die. This happens regardless of what has been directed in your will and estate plan. This can have some unforeseen results. I have seen several cases where a person left everything to their spouse in the will. Unfortunately, in these cases, most of the money the person had was deposited in accounts where they had forgotten to remove their parent as a joint account holder. In one of these cases, the parents were not willing to give any of the money to their child’s spouse or children.

Joints accounts have some great advantages and some serious problems. It all depends on your current situation whether or not the advantages outweigh some of the risks. Your situation will change throughout your life, so make sure to consult with your attorney and your banker to make sure your account reflects your current one.

The post Make Sure Your Bank Account Grows Up When You Grow Up appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

When you die without a will, the only people eligible to receive you property, in this case your pet, are your spouse, followed by your biological relatives. Your pet is at the mercy of whoever becomes your personal representative, as they will be the final arbiter on who is now taking care of your cat, dog, bird, reptile, or any other animal.

Obviously, pets are different than any other property. They need food, water, shelter, and love. This creates an urgency that you do not have with any other property. I have seen some truly nightmarish situations happen to a pet when someone has died unexpectedly. Without a will, it will be several months before anyone knows who is actually allowed to determine who owns your pet. During this several month gap of ownership, I have seen pets get neglected as no one steps up to the plate to take care of the pet. In the best cases, this results in the animal being rescued and brought to a shelter and hopefully adopted. In the worst cases, I have heard of dogs and cats dying or disappearing while family members fought over who gets the pet. I have even seen a case where a dog starved to death because it was completely neglected when nobody was willing to take care of it.

There are several good ways to fix this problem and make sure that your pet is taken care of when you are unable to care for them. Though it is a good idea to have an a discussion and informal arrangement with your friends and family, the only surefire ways to make sure your pets are taken care of require the assistance of an attorney to draft a comprehensive estate plan.

In Minnesota, there are two good ways to ensure your pet is taken care of when you die. The first, and easiest way, is to provide a clause in your will that states who you wish to take care of your pet (as well as an alternative person should the first person be unwilling or unable to provide that service). In this clause, it is generally a good idea to provide some money to any person that takes ownership of your pet. You can provide some instruction as to how the money should be used, however the money is paid directly to the new owner of your pet, so, legally, the directions are merely suggestions.

A more advanced way to provide for the care of your pet is to provide instructions for the creation of a pet trust, or to have a living trust with specific instructions as to the care of your pet. This option lets you spell out exactly how you wish your pet to be taken care of, set money aside for the specific care of your pet, and provides better guidelines for finding a caretaker if your primary caretaker is unavailable or unable to care for your pet.

Regardless of which option you choose, I am a big fan of also using your estate to become a member of the Animal Humane Society’sLegacy Circle. In order to become a member of the Legacy Circle, all you need to do is leave a charitable gift to the Animal Humane Society in your estate plan. Aside from having all sorts of nifty tax benefits, being a member of the Legacy Circle also provides a good fallback option should none of your friends or family be willing or able to care for your pets. When members of the Legacy Circle die, the Animal Humane Society has a program in place to ensure priority adoption of the pets of deceased members to good and loving homes.

Aside from our children, there are very few things we care about more than our pets. Every responsible pet owner should ensure that they have a good, legally enforceable plan in place to make sure that the animals that we love and care for are still taken care of when we are unable to do so. It will make you feel better, and your pet will definitely be happier for it as well.

The post What happens to Fido when I die? appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

Believe it or not, this is actually how PayPal suggests resolving a dispute. I recently ran across this little gem on Regretsy:

Dear Helen Killer,

I love your site and was thrilled to hear of your “win” against PayPal. I recently had a heartbreaking experience of my own with them.

I sold an old French violin to a buyer in Canada, and the buyer disputed the label.

This is not uncommon. In the violin market, labels often mean little and there is often disagreement over them. Some of the most expensive violins in the world have disputed labels, but they are works of art nonetheless.

Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back. They somehow deemed the violin as “counterfeit” even though there is no such thing in the violin world.

The buyer was proud of himself, so he sent me a photo of the destroyed violin. [Editor’s note: photo up top]

I am now out a violin that made it through WWII as well as $2500. This is of course, upsetting. But my main goal in writing to you is to prevent PayPal from ordering the destruction of violins and other antiquities that they know nothing about. It is beyond me why PayPal simply didn’t have the violin returned to me.

I spoke on the phone to numerous reps from PayPal who 100% defended their action and gave me the party line.

Erica

It’s true. PayPal does suggest that items be destroyed under certain circumstances. Specifically, when they unilaterally declare an item counterfeit. Here it is in their Buyer Protection Policies):

Comply with PayPal’s shipping requests in a timely manner.

For SNAD Claims, PayPal may require you to ship the item back to the seller – or to PayPal – or to a third party at your expense, and to provide proof of delivery. Please take reasonable precautions in re-packing the item to reduce the risk of damage to the item during transit. PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and to provide evidence of its destruction (emphasis added).

How is the Claim resolved?

Once a Dispute has been escalated to a Claim, PayPal will make a final decision in favor of the buyer or the seller. You may be asked to provide receipts, third party evaluations, police reports, or any other information or documents reasonably required by PayPal to investigate the Claim. PayPal retains full discretion to make a final decision in favor of the buyer or the seller based on any criteria PayPal deems appropriate. In the event that PayPal makes a final decision in favor of the buyer or seller, each party must comply with PayPal’s decision. PayPal will generally require the buyer to ship an item that the buyer claims is Significantly Not as Described back to the seller (at the buyer’s expense), and PayPal will generally require a seller to accept the item back and refund the buyer the full purchase price plus original shipping costs. If a seller refuses to accept the item, PayPal may award the Claim in favour of the buyer, provided the buyer has provided satisfactory evidence to PayPal that the item was sent to the seller. In the event a seller loses a Claim, the seller will not receive a refund on his or her PayPal or eBay fees associated with the transaction. If you lose a Significantly Not as Described Claim because the item you sold is counterfeit, you will be required to provide a full refund to the buyer and you will not receive the item back (it may be destroyed)(emphasis added).

I’m not going to get into how unfair this can be to a seller, that’s been done a couple of times on the internets. What scares me is how much PayPal’s advice could hurt the buyer. It may break PayPal’s heart, but they aren’t the final arbiter’s of the dispute.

If PayPal is right and Erica is a dirty, dirty, violin counterfeiter, Mr. Smugbuyer (probably not buyer’s real name) is in the clear. But what if Erica isn’t running a moderately-priced violin counterfeit conspiracy, but instead sent Mr. Smugbuyer the wrong violin?

As much as he may want a refund, Mr. Smugbuyer is now stuck with $2500 worth of antique shims. It isn’t rocket science. If you order something and then chop it into tiny pieces, you can’t demand a refund.

Mr. Smugbuyer is perfectly within his rights to chop his own violin into tiny little pieces. Doing this implies he accepted the goods, and thus Erica should be paid. If he did not accept the goods because he expected to receive a different violin, the violin did not become his property; it stayed as Erica’s. It is illegal to chop someone’s antique violin into pieces and ask to be paid for the service. Even in Canada.

I asked PayPal if they would compensate Mr. Smugbuyer if he is forced to pay for the violin because he chopped it into pieces. They haven’t answered, but I doubt they would come to the rescue.

So remember, next time PayPal tells you to destroy something you want to return, don’t. They give really s#$*%y advice.

The post PayPal Gives S#%*$y Legal Advice appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.

1. Alex Bajwa LLC would be a law firm that I enjoy working for; and
2. Alex Bajwa LLC would be the law firm that I, personally, would hire.

These two pledges guide everything I have done to develop my firm. I began working in the legal industry when I was in high school, and continued to work in it through college and law school. In those eight years, I found many things I loved about being an (almost) lawyer. I loved the feeling I got when I helped people. On the best days, I would have worked for free. Unlike a doctor, I’ve never saved anyone’s life; but I know I’ve been a part of keeping people’s lives intact. Very few things make me feel better than that.

Unfortunately, there were many things that frustrated me every day. The greatest being that the traditional law firm business model is broken. The traditional model is centered on billable hours or contingency fees. While there are some situations where these fee structures make sense, for the most part, they can create a perverse system of incentives that pollute the attorney-client relationship. Under these systems, attorneys are rewarded for needlessly grinding hours, being more adversarial, and overcomplicating issues. These incentives, along with an outdated level of overhead, are the reason good legal care is far too expensive for most people who need it.

The reaction to this from many lawyers, including myself, has been to transition to fixed-fee based systems. This is a step in the right direction, but it presents odd incentives of its own. Fixed fee systems run the risk of forcing a lawyer from an hourly grind mentality over to a sales mentality. It still incentivizes conflict and over-complication over problem solving and simplicity.

The great problem of the legal profession is the same as the great problem of the medical profession. The emphasis is on crisis management rather than planning, maintenance, and preventive care. People seek out lawyers as a last resort. It’s the same reason people are brought to the emergency room when they collapse rather than going to a clinic when they are frequently out of breath. My firm is striving to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

For the past four months, Alex Bajwa LLC has been working with a small group of clients to develop what we call the Partner Program. The Partner Program is a monthly subscription, $27 per month for households, $57 per month for businesses, and $67 for both, which aims to create a more cost-effective and happier way of working with your lawyer. The system is simple, as a Partner, you are entitled to:

1. Unlimited consultations and advice with the same attorney you have been working with from day one;
2. Contract and document review with access to form documents from that same attorney; and
3. 40% off my publicly available rates if you do need full legal representation.

This program completely has changed my relationship with my clients. We talk more. We all have fewer costs. All of us are happier and have less stress.

I am happiest when I get to be a coach, an advisor, and a mentor. The days that I love my job are the days where I get to be a partner in helping my clients achieve their goals. Life can’t always be rainbows and flowers, but I enjoy working in a system where major problems and costs are fewer and more far between. The Partner Program is a step in that direction.

For all these reasons, the Partner Program is now open to everyone and will be the primary service of my firm. My other services are still available, when they are necessary. To get the ball rolling, for the month of January, I am offering the Partner Program at a $10 discount every month for the first year. So give me a call, and let’s begin a new way of doing business.

The post A New Way of Doing Business appeared first on Alex Bajwa Lawyer.