#when must the investigator update the irb

[cfiesler]

the tenure-track detective agency

I tweeted about a dream, then realized it should be a television show, so I tweeted the whole first season plot. Featuring an academic who has to solve a murder so she doesn’t have to teach another class, and her librarian sidekick who is very helpful because of the research she’s done while writing Sherlock and Veronica Mars fanfiction. The whole thread is on Twitter, but copied in plain text below the cut for your reading pleasure. #sixseasonsandamovie

The Tenure-Track Detective Agency: Season One

I recently dreamed that one of my colleagues was wrongfully accused of murder, and because of the trial, could not teach their fall class. I feel like an "oh god I have to solve a murder so I don't have to teach an extra class" anxiety dream is like next level #academiclife.

S1 opens in mid-summer when a tenured computer science prof is found in his lab surrounded by simple robots testing conversational agents, busily chatting about top-voted reddit posts while he dies from blunt force trauma. The murder weapon is a dusty teaching award.

Our hero, an overworked assistant prof, is updating the syllabus for her machine learning class that just doubled in size, when she receives news that she has to pick up a section of intro programming b/c the instructor was just arrested for murdering another faculty member.

Our hero has THREE WEEKS to exonerate her colleague so that he can teach the class as planned, instead of her. Her tenure case hangs in the balance. What follows is a montage of frantic syllabus writing and murder investigation.

She visits the scene of the crime. A PhD student is frantically deleting data from a hard drive, and claims the IRB made her do it. Our hero distracts her and pockets one of the prototype conversational robots in the hopes it might have been a witness to the murder.

Our hero has a conference call with the set of brand new PhD students who will be teaching assistants to the intro programming class and informs them that their jobs start now and they need to dig through Lexis Nexis for case law about chain of custody and robots.

She visits the library and finds the librarian who usually answers questions about copyright, because she must know the most about law. Cue enthusiastic quirky sidekick, who actually doe knows a lot about murder investigation because she writes Sherlock fanfiction.

She visits her colleague in prison. She should probably be investigating the murder he is wrongfully accused of, but instead has many questions about the syllabus for his class she is now forced to teach. She tries not to sound bitter as she asks him for his slide decks.

Her colleague, clad in his orange jumpsuit and holding a prison phone, is understandably very upset about having been wrongfully accused of murdering another professor. But as she stands to leave, he calls out, "Wait! Do... do you think this will hurt my tenure case?"

She visits the detective in charge of the case. He says that her colleague's alibi for a 3-hour time period surrounding the time of murder is damning. "Who spends 3 hours answering email?" he demands. "Besides, professors don't work in the summer!" She fears this may be hopeless.

With the help of her librarian sidekick who convincingly impersonates a lawyer, our hero gets her hands on the the transcripts from the police interview of her colleague after his arrest. She assigns a PhD student to conduct a rigorous grounded theory qualitative analysis.

Word has gotten out that she is investigating the murder. Someone pins a note to her office door: "FOLLOW THE GRANT MONEY." She pulls up the dead prof's CV on his website only to find that it was last updated in 2003.

She interviews his PhD students after (out of force of habit) having them sign consent forms that detail data storage practices. None of them had seen their murdered advisor in person in years except when he mysteriously appeared to add his name to their published papers.

The librarian sidekick uses a bobby pin to break into an admin's office to retrieve grant spending records. It appears that the murder victim has been funneling funding earmarked for students and travel into "equipment." Almost $1m of invoices from a mysterious tech company.

(In case you were wondering, the librarian sidekick also writes Veronica Mars fanfiction and ABSOLUTELY knows how to pick a lock because of important research. She also wrote House fanfiction so let's hope she gets to diagnose Lupus by the end of this tale.)

Meanwhile, the PhD student has finished her grounded theory analysis of the arrest interview, and concludes (with an appropriate limitations section) that the interrogation was conducted under duress. The police officer promised to write him a tenure letter if he confessed.

Our hero buys many pizzas and puts the qualitative analyst in a room with the teaching assistants doing legal research and tells them to work on a motion to get the confession thrown out. She has to promise them they can all be co-authors on a major journal publication.

Cut to a scene where our hero spends hours answering emails from students trying to enroll in THE CLASS SHE SHOULDN'T BE TEACHING b/c they're on the waitlist but they need this class to graduate & also will she be taking attendance. Between emails she studies 18 U.S. Code §3501.

She visits a clinical prof at the law school to ask for help. You remember that this is TV so wonder if he is the obligatory love interest. He suggests they discuss 18 U.S. Code §3501 over drinks. She laughs: DO YOU THINK I HAVE TIME FOR THAT. You write hero/librarian fanfiction.

She interviews more students. Admins. Faculty. They initially were shocked the murder victim got tenure, but he'd seriously stepped up his game in the last couple of years. Not just more productive research, but he spent time on his teaching! And service! And apparently... sleep!

This trend becomes more shocking when she finally visits the victim’s family. They too noticed a change. They’d seen him *more often* in the year leading up to his tenure review. Now our hero doesn’t just want to solve his murder, SHE NEEDS TO KNOW HIS SECRET.

Meanwhile, the librarian has tracked down shipments from Mysterious Tech Company not to the victim's office but to a Mysterious Storage Unit. This is a clue! They brose YouTube videos about breaking into storage units. (YT tries to show them flat earther videos but they resist.)

HOT ON THE TRAIL, our hero makes the mistake of checking her email. She has a nastygram from a journal editor who reminds her that her promised review of a paper is 1 week overdue. The murder investigation halts while she spends hours on labor for which she will not be paid.

Our hero reluctantly suggests "major revisions" even though she knows this means more unpaid labor in a few months, and then regroups with the librarian. They head to the storage unit; we discover that the librarian drives an impala convertible.

They are nearly there when our hero's phone dings with a calendar reminder; she has a committee meeting in fifteen minutes. She can't remember which committee it is, but they turn around anyway. After the meeting, she still isn't sure which committee it was.

Our hero gets a phone call from her colleague who is wasting away in prison while wrongfully accused of murder. He doesn't ask about the progress of her investigation. He's just called to ask her if she can take over some of his committee assignments.

FINALLY our hero & the librarian get to the storage unit, which with the help of YouTube videos they break into & discover... rows of gently humming servers, and also robot parts everywhere! It's very uncanny valley in there, y'all. You're like, woah is this show actually scifi.

Our hero sits down at a computer. Did you know that even CS profs can have terrible password practices? Our hero read @lorrietweet's papers so the first thing she tries is "monkey" and VOILA she is inside a private github repo. (She has an ethics-related twinge, but he IS dead.)

Our hero emails the students enrolled in her machine learning class, sends them the github repository, and offers them extra credit for a forensic analysis. This is the best service learning activity she's ever come up with.

Our hero checks her email again (WHY DOES SHE KEEP DOING THIS) and has a message from her department chair reminding her that murder investigation does not count as a service activity. ('We've already had discussions about tweeting as not a good use of your time' he reminds her.)

We're getting very close to the season finale, and there's another montage: meeting with student investigators, tinkering with robot parts, answering emails about course overloads, talking to the police, revising a journal article that is due soon, formatting a new syllabus...

Over a bottle of wine in her office, our hero and her librarian sidekick put together the final pieces by doing rigorous affinity diagramming on a whiteboard. There is one final thing to verify. They enlist one of the murdered prof's PhD students to help. This is very exciting!

She visits her wrongfully accused colleague one last time in jail to give him the good news about her findings. He doesn't listen, far more concerned with making sure that revisions on his latest journal article get in on time, so she helps him & then leaves to go exonerate him.

Our hero gathers the relevant parties: detectives, faculty, PhD students, a public defender who she forgot existed. They meet in a windowless conference room. She has prepared a powerpoint presentation. It shows a table of contents: Intro, Methods, Findings, Discussion.

She speeds through the beginning (stopping to answer a question from a prof about the sample size for the qualitative analysis) and finally gets to the point: "I have discovered that the murder victim had a dark secret. And in the process uncovered the REAL killer!"

(Her librarian sidekick cheers from the audience. She is wearing the deerstalker from her Sherlock cosplay, which our hero reluctantly refused, saying that she probably shouldn't cosplay at work until after tenure.)

Our hero continues: "Our analysis of his private github repo revealed the REAL source of increased productivity in the year leading up to his tenure case - particularly striking since he also managed to save a failing marriage. Impossible, you say? That's what I thought! But..."

"It turns out that he solved the problem of not enough hours in the day for assistant professor levels of research, teaching, and service with ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!"  The department chair nods. Artificial intelligence can indeed solve all problems.

Our hero reveals a beautiful powerpoint slide that details their analysis of the code and its conclusion: Prof. Murder Victim had programmed an AI to do all of his service and administrative work, most of his teaching, and a big chunk of his research collaboration.

From answering emails to grading assignments to delegating tasks to student collaborators to reviewing papers (ESPECIALLY reviewing papers), Prof. Murder Victim had managed to streamline his duties into the things that were most important for tenure & avoid everything else.

And he was able to do what can be so rare in some departments - have a lot of time for himself, which repaired his relationship with his family. "But then..." our hero began ominously, "he thought... why can't I create an AI for that too so I can spend more time on my research?"

Our hero gestures at the door, and in walks a PhD student with a humanoid robot in tow. It is a half-finished, uncanny valley nightmare of the murder victim. "He was murdered by his own creation!" our hero shouts, as she reveals her final slide with a list of collaborators.

There is a long, heavy pause in the room. The detective looks stunned. The librarian sidekick pulls out a flask and toasts our hero. Then suddenly, the department chair leaps to his feet and says, "HE WORKED FOR THE UNIVERSITY, WE OWN THE PATENT!"

The room erupts into a flurry of activity. PhD students start updating their CVs. The prof who teaches tech ethics immediately starts writing a paper. The department chair posthumously grants the murder victim full professor status in recognition of his contributions to robotics.

The detective quietly comes over and asks our hero for her evidence. She produces a full paper with 12 figures, 78 citations, and 17 authors. He says that it may take some time to sort this out. She says, the guy you arrested starts teaching in one week, better be sorted by then.

Our hero has approximately thirty seconds to bask in the glow of her triumph when her phone dings informing her she has a committee meeting in 10 minutes. She checks her email and 4 students are asking for copies of the syllabus for the class she's hopefully no longer teaching.

That night she receives an email from the dept chair: (1) Remember this is not part of your tenure case; (2) Our colleague has been released from jail & will resume teaching his class; (3) The ethics instructor just got a grant with a course release so you'll need to teach that.

Before she can start sobbing, she opens an email from one of the students in her machine learning class, telling her that the work they'd done analyzing that code was the most amazing learning experience of his life and can they please do more stuff like that.

After a long moment, she opens up a new document so that she can start creating a syllabus for Computing Ethics & Responsibility. She adds a sentence: "You may be occasionally asked to participate in real-world problem-solving activities as part of your grade."

The season finale ends with the librarian joining our hero in her office and producing a sign to hang on the door: THE TENURE-TRACK DETECTIVE AGENCY. It is a joke, of course.   ... or is it???

If you read to the end, I feel like I should mention how difficult it is to write a story linearly while not knowing the plot and without the ability to edit at all, and also that it would make my life to see hero/librarian fanfiction on AO3. :D

And if you’re a TV exec or literary agent:

(And if you’re someone who is going to write tenure letters for me: don’t worry, I also did a lot of research, teaching, and service today. ;) )

#academia #murder #fanfiction #mystery #sherlock #veronica mars #faculty life #archive of our own #twitter #fiction

[sabrinajulie]

How to Screw Up Your Bankruptcy Discharge

In the vast majority of cases, the bankruptcy discharge is the primary reason debtors enter the Bankruptcy Court. After all, people file bankruptcy to get rid of debt, and a federal court order is certainly an effective way of making this happen. However, receiving a bankruptcy discharge is not guaranteed, debtors are required to follow the rules and act in good faith if they expect to have their case go smoothly.

Grounds for Objecting to the Bankruptcy Discharge

Bankruptcy offers protection to those who are honest and punishes those who try to game the system. Section 727 of the Bankruptcy Code sets out a number of reasons a creditor or trustee can object to a debtor’s discharge and most center around lack of transparency.

If you’re planning on filing for bankruptcy, be prepared to lay all your cards on the table. Section 727 allows for the challenge of a discharge under the following circumstances:

Trying to defraud a creditor, the debtor concealed or transferred property within one year before filing (this includes transferring property that is part of the bankruptcy estate once your case has been filed);

The debtor has destroyed records or failed to keep adequate records;

The debtor has lied under oath;

The debtor can’t explain a loss of assets, in other words they can’t give a good reason why property they previously owned is missing or unaccounted for.

Be Honest with the Bankruptcy Court

When you walk into your first bankruptcy consultation, the focus is mainly on debt. You have debt, don’t see a way out, and are looking to a professional for guidance. The bankruptcy attorney sitting on the other side of the desk is certainly going to give you guidance on how best to deal with that underwater mortgage or high credit card balances, but they’ll be equally concerned with what’s in your garage, on your wife’s finger, and whether you’ve transferred assets to family members recently.

In other words, bankruptcy is about assets as much as it is about debts. When you file bankruptcy, you swear under oath that you have told the Bankruptcy Court about everything you own. Similarly, your attorney represents that, to the best of his or her knowledge, your filed papers are accurate. These promises have meaning and there are consequences if they are broken.

Tough financial times cause stress and people aren’t always at their best when they’re stressed out. No matter how bad of shape you might be in, don’t try to game the system — make sure you tell your bankruptcy attorney everything. Failing to disclose an asset can result in a creditor or bankruptcy trustee objecting to your discharge and they have their ways of finding property. Similarly, giving away or concealing property before filing puts your discharge in jeopardy.

Bankruptcy Trustees Will Investigate

Remember, bankruptcy trustees essentially work for your creditors and make money by keeping 25% of all the property they’re able to sell. If the trustee suspects that you might have left assets out of your bankruptcy papers, they will schedule a 2004 exam and ask you questions under oath. It’s not a pleasant experience.

If evidence confirms that you might have concealed or intentionally transferred property before your bankruptcy case, you’ll be sued. If your discharge is denied for fraud your case will still be administered, meaning you’ll lose all non-exempt assets without any debt relief. The property you tried to hide will be sold and you’ll leave Bankruptcy Court owing all your old creditors.

In severe cases, omissions on bankruptcy schedules can rise to the level of criminal activity and result in prosecution. People do go to jail for bankruptcy fraud.

If you’re thinking of filing for bankruptcy, be sure to obtain the services of a qualified bankruptcy attorney in your state. It could mean the difference of having your bankruptcy denied or getting a discharge.

Free Consultation with a Bankruptcy Lawyer

If you have a bankruptcy question, or need to file a bankruptcy case, call Ascent Law now at [phone]. Attorneys in our office have filed over a thousand cases. We can help you now. Come in or call in for your free initial consultation.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: [phone]

Ascent Law LLC

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/how-to-screw-up-your-bankruptcy-discharge/

from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/04/17/how-to-screw-up-your-bankruptcy-discharge/

[sabrinajulie]

Can I Be Denied a Job Because of Bankruptcy?

If you have a job, need to file bankruptcy, and are worried about getting fired because of it, you probably shouldn’t be. The U.S. Bankruptcy Code prevents employers from firing you just because you have filed for bankruptcy. However, if you are a job seeker, need to file bankruptcy, and are worried about being denied a job, you might have cause for concern.

It May Depend on Your Employer

Under the current state of the law, a private employer can deny you a job if you are currently in or have filed for bankruptcy, whereas a public employer cannot. Section 525(a) of the Bankruptcy Code provides:

a governmental unit may not . . . deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against, a person that is or has been a debtor under this title [Title 11] or a bankrupt or a debtor under the Bankruptcy Act.

Notice that section 525(a) applies only to public employers. The behavior of private employers is governed by section 525(b), which prohibits discrimination based on bankruptcy, but does not contain the language of 525(a), which addresses denying employment to a debtor based on a bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy code has this to say about discrimination by private employers:

No private employer may terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against, an individual who is or has been a debtor under this title, a debtor or bankrupt under the Bankruptcy Act, or an individual associated with such debtor or bankrupt

Private Employers Denying a Job Based on Bankruptcy

Although a plain reading of 525(b) would seem to prevent denial of employment by private employers based on bankruptcy, the case law actually trends in the opposite direction. The great majority of cases have held that private employers are not subject to liability under Section 525(b) for a denial of employment. See Rea v. Federated Investors, 627 F.3d 937 (3d Cir. 2010)

In Re Uplinger

In a recent case out of Virginia, In Re Uplinger, a Chapter 7 debtor alleged that the U.S. Department of Immigration discriminated against her in job interviews because of her bankruptcy filing. In dismissing the case, the court noted that the debtor, Ms. Uplinger, had not applied for employment with the U.S. Department of Immigration, but rather with a government contractor known as U.S. Investigation Services. The court found that U.S. Investigation Services did not qualify as a public employer and therefore section 525(a)of the bankruptcy code did not apply.

The Court can find no support for the application of Section 525(a) to a governmental unit where the applicant applied for a job with a government contractor.

Instead, the court found that section 525(b) applied and that U.S. Investigation Services was a private employer permitted to deny Ms. Uplinger employment based on her bankruptcy filing. While it wasn’t clear from the record that Ms. Uplinger was denied a job solely because of her bankruptcy filing, representatives from U.S. Investigation Services did download a copy of her credit report prior to interviewing her.

Practical Considerations on Bankruptcy and Jobs

While this article places a spotlight on bankruptcy, as a practical matter, an employer’s hiring or firing decision will be based on numerous factors. Although employers may review a candidate’s credit score or financial history during a screening process, it is important to remember that other factors such as experience, education and personal demeanor will also play a large part in getting a job.

Just because an employer has the right to deny you a job because of a bankruptcy does not mean that an employer will deny you a job because of bankruptcy. While the bankruptcy code’s uniform prohibition on termination due to bankruptcy provides greater protection to those who are already employed, it can be difficult to prove that a firing was motivated by bankruptcy if there are other documented issues, such as a poor attendance record.

The bottom line is that the importance of bankruptcy to a potential employer will hinge on the type of job you’re seeking as well as the substance of your resume. A bankruptcy may be more important to an employer who is hiring you in a fiduciary role than it is to someone who is hiring you into a retail or service industry position.

Free Consultation with a Utah Bankruptcy Lawyer

If you have a bankruptcy question, or need to file a bankruptcy case, call Ascent Law now at [phone]. Attorneys in our office have a lot of experience and want to help you with your case. We can help you now. Come in or call in for your free initial consultation.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: [phone]

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4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/can-i-be-denied-a-job-because-of-bankruptcy/

from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/can-i-be-denied-a-job-because-of-bankruptcy/

[sabrinajulie]

Misdemeanor DUI

The act of operating a motor vehicle after having consumed alcohol (ethanol) or other drugs (including over the counter medications), to the degree that mental and motor skills are impaired is called a DUI or driving under the influence. Whether your case is a felony or a misdemeanor will depend on several factors. You need to speak with a DUI lawyer about your case as soon as possible. Don’t wait.

Know Your Rights: • There must be legally sufficient facts to constitute “probable cause” to stop, detain and arrest you.

You should be advised that submission to field sobriety testing and portable field breath testing is not required by law.

Once arrested, you must be advised of your constitutional rights (the “Miranda Warning”) before any further questioning takes place.

You must be given a choice of breath or blood testing; if you refuse, you must be advised of the legal consequences (the “implied consent” advisement).

If a breath test is administered at the police station, since the breath sample is not saved, you must be given a chance to obtain a blood sample for later independent testing by your defense attorney.

Is a DUI a Misdemeanor or a Felony?

If you are driving under the influence with a child in the car you can be charged with “child endangerment” which is a felony.

It is illegal to have an open container of alcohol in your vehicle, or to drink while in a vehicle – even if the car is parked.

It is illegal to operate a boat while under the influence of alcohol (or any other drug)

Your car may be impounded for up to 90 days at your own expense, or even sold with the proceeds going to the city or county.

These penalties can seen over the top, but from the perspective of protecting the public, the Utah State Congress has enacted these lawyer. At Ascent Law, our job as a DUI Lawyer Salt Lake City is to protect you and your rights.

Utah man accused of DUI-related death will stand trial

After an alleged domestic confrontation, a Utah man drove away from the situation. Allegedly, he sped up to nearly 60 mph as he approached an intersection. Police say that when he sped through the intersection against a red light, he hit another vehicle, which began a chain reaction accident that ultimately involved nine vehicles. That alleged DUI accident led the death of a 43-year-old mother and the critical injury of her 16-year-old daughter. Seven others in the other vehicles suffered minor injuries.

When police interviewed the man at the hospital, they smelled what was believed to be alcohol on his person and noted he had bloodshot eyes. At the scene, officers reportedly observed that he was slurring his speech. No further information regarding his claimed intoxication was provided.

The allegedly drunk driver faces a litany of charges relating to the accident. In an unusual move, Utah prosecutors decided to charge the man with felony murder in the first-degree. Ordinarily, an individual in his situation would be charged with vehicular homicide in either the third or second-degree. Additional charges include one felony count of DUI, seven misdemeanor counts of DUI and two counts of aggravated assault. One of two domestic violence charges was dropped.

The potential penalties associated with these DUI-related charges are significant. Under our system of law, however, he is presumed innocent until and unless proved guilty in a court of law. His criminal defense team will review all of the evidence the prosecution intends to present to the court. From this information, an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the day’s events can be conducted, which should reveal the best course of action in moving forward with his defense.

Free Consultation with a DUI Lawyer

When you need help with a felony or misdemeanor DUI in Utah, call Ascent Law for your free consultation [phone]. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: [phone]

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/misdemeanor-dui/

from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/03/24/misdemeanor-dui/

[sabrinajulie]

Dirty Utah Custody Case Tricks to Watch Out For

DIRTY TRICK NO. 1: AVOIDING SERVICE.  People will go to great lengths to delay the inevitable, and step number one is avoiding service.  This can be especially devastating if you are trying to serve a restraining order on the party to prevent them from moving your child out of the state.  An experienced Utah Custody Lawyer will know the “tricks of the trade”, so to speak, and will be able to help you serve those papers on the opposing party and get your case rolling. When it comes to child custody, be aware that sometimes it may be hard to get service effectuated.

DIRTY TRICK NO. 2: SHOWING UP AT THE FIRST HEARING AND ASKING FOR A CONTINUANCE TO GET AN ATTORNEY, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE ALREADY HAD WEEKS OR MONTHS TO DO SO.  The person who currently has the most legal rights over the child is not anxious for that to change, and is motivated to delay the proceedings.  This is one of the most common ways that they accomplish this. An experienced Child Custody Lawyer can help you keep the opposing party from abusing this trick, although they may receive one continuance to obtain an attorney.

DIRTY TRICK NO. 3: FAILING TO PAY THE GUARDIAN AD LITEM, IN ORDER TO KEEP THE GAL FROM DOING THEIR JOB.  When a GAL begins their investigation, this represents the possibility of change.  For the party who does not want anything to change, this is a threat.  The GAL does not start work until they have been paid the fee, which is usually split in some fashion between the parties pursuant to the court’s order.  The party who sees the GAL as a threat sometimes delays or refuses to pay the GAL’s fee, with the result being the GAL does not begin work, and the process is delayed.  An experienced Utah Custody Lawyer can advise you regarding how to deal with this problem and make sure the GAL starts work despite the other party’s resistance.

DIRTY TRICK NO. 4: THREATENING THE CHILDREN.   This dirty trick is especially loathsome.  Most people do not threaten the children physically (although some do, unfortunately).  This is usually more of a psychological threat to the children, such as “if the court gives Daddy what he wants you won’t ever see Mommy again (or your dog, or your sister, etc.).  It is a terrible thing to do, for any reason, but unfortunately it happens all too often.  The threat is designed to sway what the children will say to the Guardian ad Litem or the Commissioner.  If this happens to you, your Utah Custody Lawyer will know what to do, and you should tell them immediately.

DIRTY TRICK NO. 5: HOPSCOTCH COUNSELLING.  Sometimes people put their child in counseling right around the time of litigation, in order to (hopefully) solicit some information from the child during counseling that will help their case.  This tactic is suspect if the need for counseling arose right around the time the litigation was initiated.  Then once the child has made a statement which the parent believes is detrimental to the other parent, the other parent is invited to attend counseling.  After that, with very little contact with parent B, and getting most of their information from Parent A, the parent who initiated counseling and has a litigation agenda, the counselor makes statements to the guardian ad litem, which the guardian ad litem almost always follows because the counselor is an “expert”.  Although counselors are not supposed to make recommendations regarding custody, as a treater, all to many of them do not know this, and will produce a letter supporting the agenda of the parent who sought them out and gave them most of their information (and is also pressuring the child).  Even more suspect is when the counselor is someone that the lawyer recommended.  Even more suspect than that is when Parent A did not get the desired result from the first counselor, so they move on to counselor B.

In this situation, it may be toxic for Parent B to become involved with the counselor at all. Before having any contact with the counselor, Parent B should speak to his or her experienced Utah Custody Lawyer and carefully plan his or her response to the situation.

Free Consultation with a Child Custody Lawyer

If you have a question about child custody question or when you need a family law attorney, please call Ascent Law at [phone]. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: [phone]

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/dirty-utah-custody-case-tricks-to-watch-out-for/

from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/dirty-utah-custody-case-tricks-to-watch-out-for/

[sabrinajulie]

Divorce News

Finding a good attorney for your family law needs can be a challenge.  Just as every attorney is unique, so is every client and every case. Almost every case has one or more weaknesses. Even if you are fortunate enough to have the rare situation where all of the law and all of the facts line up, that does not mean that you will be happy with the process, and the pace that things move through the courts.  Even if you have all the time in the world, you probably don’t have all the money in the world.

So what’s the point we’re getting at?  Here it is, plain and simple –  almost every family law case has some bad news.  The only exception is a case where the parties all agree regarding what should happen, and they simply need an attorney to represent one of the parties, (it would be a conflict of interest for one attorney to represent all of the parties) draft the paperwork and get the court order or child support enforcement agency (CSEA) order they need.   When you meet with an attorney, if you aren’t hearing any bad news, and your case is contested, then maybe you need to discuss the matter a little more.  Your case is the sum of the good news and the bad news.  You should talk about both before you begin, and make a decision with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your case.  You cannot help your attorney with your case if you don’t understand the strengths and weaknesses.

You may have a situation where your children’s life has become intolerable, but the financial cost and legal risk of going back to court seems unbearable too.  In that case, you need to sit down with an attorney that will answer your questions, in plain English, and give you the information you need to choose between a rock and a hard place.  A good attorney will give you that information, and then it’s up to you to take that information regarding the law, the discretion the court has in your situation, and work with your attorney to make the best decision.  At the end of the day, it’s your life, and you are going to have to live with it.

Beyond just getting the straight skinny on the good and bad news, you need to pick an attorney that you can talk to, and one that talks to you.  Clients have a right to know what is going on in their case and be involved in the decisions.  If you feel like your attorney is not treating you with respect, you either need to discuss it with your attorney and solve the problem, or find another attorney.  If your family law attorney cannot treat other attorneys with some respect as well, then you are more likely to pay higher legal fees and less likely to achieve what you want without an expensive trial and the risk of letting a judge decide your case without your participation.  If your attorney’s approach is keeping you from settling your case, it might be time for you to deliver some bad news of your own.  If you’re concerned, talk to your attorney about it.

Is every all or nothing with your lawyer?  Is that attitude coming from you as well?  That can be a risky and expensive approach.  Sometimes, with the help of your attorneys, you and the other party can agree on a few small issues, but the larger issues remain contested.  Guess what?  You can put on an Agreed Entry regarding the one or two things, and save both parties a bunch of money.  Guess what else?  Agreeing on little decisions often leads to agreeing on bigger decisions.  Maybe you do have some legitimate deal breakers, some issues that you cannot meet in the middle on.  You can still narrow down the issues.

For example, perhaps you cannot agree who should pay child support or how much it should be.  That does not mean that you cannot stipulate regarding each party’s income, cost of health insurance or any other issues that you have investigated and have no legitimate dispute about.   Why not turn a five day trial into a one day trial and save both parties a ton of money?  Unfortunately, some attorneys cannot accept this approach.  If this is something that makes sense to you, but not to your family law or Utah custody attorney, you may have a problem.  Perhaps you should have this discussion at your first meeting with your attorney to make sure that you see eye to eye on this issue.  It’s important, really important.

Divorce News Update February 2018

There is a new story that has developed about the Utah State Legislature lowering the waiting period from 90 days in Utah, down to 30 days. Click here to read the article. As a divorce lawyer, I would really would like to see this happen because it would speed up divorces and we could give our clients better and faster results.

Free Consultation with Divorce Lawyer in Utah

If you have a question about divorce law or if you need to start or defend against a divorce case in Utah call Ascent Law at [phone]. We will help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: [phone]

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/divorce-news/

from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/03/12/divorce-news/

[sabrinajulie]

Wrongful Incarceration

The criminal justice system is complex. On one hand, it aims to hold those who have committed criminal acts accountable for their behavior. On the other hand, it aims to hold ill-behaved law enforcement agencies and prosecutors accountable for their behavior. By ensuring that the rights of accused persons are respected, the system strives to achieve justice through fair and predictable means.

Unfortunately, even a skillful criminal defense does not always lead to the acquittal of wrongfully accused and wrongfully convicted persons. Sometimes law enforcement agencies and prosecutors are not held accountable for illegal practices on their part and individuals who should otherwise be released are incarcerated.

In fact, data compiled by the highly esteemed advocacy group the Innocence Project indicates that as many as 110,000 individuals are currently wrongfully incarcerated. That translates practically to nearly 5 percent of the current prison population. Some of these individuals are completely innocent of wrongdoing and even more should have had their charges dropped due to having certain rights infringed upon during the investigation and prosecution of their cases.

It is critical that the justice system operates in a fair and predictable way. Otherwise, similarly situated individuals will have no idea whether or not they will be prosecuted or granted their rightful release at any given time. Judges, lawmakers and concerned advocacy groups should give the problem of wrongful incarceration in America the urgent attention it deserves. Such attention will benefit both those directly affected by the trend and the health of the system as a whole.

Woman Accused Of DUI Forms Criminal Defense Against More Charges

A woman who was initially pursued by Enoch police on suspicion of DUI has been arrested relating to additional charges. Upon her arrest, Utah police discovered that she had a warrant from another state relating to theft charges. The woman must now begin forming her criminal defense against the various charges that she faces.

According to the report, at around 6:15 p.m., Utah police responded to a call about a potentially impaired driver on Midvalley Road. The caller claimed that a Ford Ranger was driving on the wrong side of the road, and the vehicle’s headlights were not on. When police attempted to pull the vehicle over, the driver supposedly initiated a brief chase before running into a light pole and coming to a halt.

During her arrest, officers learned that the woman was missing from California, and she was noted as suicidal. When the officers contacted California to report that the woman had been found and is in police custody, they learned that she also had a warrant out for her arrest on theft allegations. Utah police claim that they searched the car and found approximately $60,000, which they believe to have been stolen.

The woman was arrested on charges of DUI, attempting to evade police and failing to stop at a stop sign. She was also accused of failure to maintain the proper lane and driving on revocation. Utah police are working with law officials in California investigating her theft charges. Since the woman is from another state, it would be advisable for her to learn about our policies and procedures to strengthen her criminal defense as her proceedings move forward.

Free Consultation with a Criminal Lawyer

When you need a criminal defense attorney, please give our office a call for your free consultation [phone]. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: [phone]

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

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from Michael Anderson http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/wrongful-incarceration/

from Top Rated Utah Lawyer https://topratedlawyer.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/wrongful-incarceration/