What’s the Most Important Quality of a Criminal Defense Lawyer?

What's the Most Important Quality of a Criminal Defense Lawyer

If you are arrested and charged with a crime, you’ll need to hire an attorney for criminal defense. Local criminal attorneys focus their practice specifically on representing people in court. They have the training and experience to help you.   more »

Know What to Do After a Car Crash

Wrongful dismissal cases

Did you know that, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are at least 5.5 million U.S. car crashes per year, and AAA reveals that an injury-only auto accident can cost as much as $126,000? Auto accidents can result in mounds of debt, injury, trauma, or sometimes even death. When are you most likely to get an in an accident, and what should drivers do in the event of a crash?

Identify High-Risk Scenarios

Seven out of 10 Americans talk on the phone while driving at least once per month, and an alarming 33% regularly answer texts and/or e-mails, according to the 2013 Traffic Safety Culture Index. How risky are these behaviors, and what are some similarly troubling scenarios?

  • Texting behind the wheel increases the likelihood of auto accidents by as much as 23%. Distracted driving is, in fact, the third leading cause of all crashes and collisions, behind only drunk driving (the leading cause) and speeding.
  • Frequenting urban areas. Drivers are much more likely to crash in densely populated areas. On average, Americans nation-wide get in an auto accident once every 10 years. By comparison, Washington, D.C. drivers crash once every 4.8 years, according to the NHTSA.

What Should You Do After a Car Accident?

Accidents happen, and it is important to know what to do, and what not to do, in the event of a crash. All drivers should address safety first. If you, or any other party, sustain any injuries during the crash, call 911. Americans should also contact the police to file an accident report, and speak to an insurance agent. Vice president of project management at The General insurance company, Steve Frisina, reminds drivers, “There should be not admission of fault on either side but just an exchange of details — it’s the adjuster’s job to get the information from the individuals.”

To ensure a fair settlement with the insurance company, it is always a good idea to contact an auto injury firm and auto accident injury attorneys. A truck accident law firm may be best if you drive a tractor trailer, truck, or similarly large vehicle.

Given enough time, auto accidents are inevitable. Avoid high-risk situations, but – when an accident occurs – make sure to contact the proper authorities and get fair representation from an auto accident or truck accident law firm.
To see more, read this: gatewaylawyers.com

How to Determine the Statuatory History of a Law

Statuatory history

If you’ve ever read the original text of an American law or statute before, it might seem like it’s written in a completely different language. That’s because it is. Of course, it’s written in English, but it utilizes a special variation of our common tongue called Legal English in order to use the most precise language possible.

Federal statutes and regulations, as well as many state and county laws, are designed to be both as wide-ranging and specific as possible so that they may be used for years to come. These laws must be used in myriad different cases, so the language has to be both universal and particular. It’s up to the litigators in any given court case to translate it and interpret for his or her clients.

However, sometimes a legal statute is simply too vague or unclear about its meaning. This is where the litigators have their work cut out for them — these situations require delving into the statuatory history, first and foremost. This kind of legislative history has, however, sparked a debate among professionals in the legal community.

Some would argue that the statuatory history must be looked at in context of how other legal terms are interpreted. Others posit that the language should be clear enough to be understood on its own. Although, problems have been known to arise when dealing with the unique word choices and stylistic grammar of Legal English.

Scores of words in both the legal and governmental worlds come from the French language, including the term “government” itself. The French influence is also clear in the sentence structure of certain laws and statutes written in Legal English, which are often intentionally atypical in order to place emphasis on certain terms. This makes deciphering older laws, as part of statuatory history, a task in and of itself.

No matter what kind of legal research a team of professionals has to cook up, the fact is that statuatory history remains an important part of determining the intent of a law. Remember, it’s not just the bill that must be examined, but also any amendments made to it after its original passing. Statuatory history is always part of a larger narrative waiting to be uncovered.

About the Author

Welcome to my law blog!  I may not be a lawyer, but I’ve always been fascinated by the law.  Here you can find information on everything from criminal to estate law, and everything in between!

What Goes Into Mobile Device Forensics

E-discovery services

As our culture becomes more and more heavily invested in technology and the Internet, digital forensics companies have become that much more important to securing our personal information, our reputations, and identities.

Recently, the field of digital forensic analysis have begun evolving their tools to investigate mobile devices. Mobile devices are used commonly as evidence because forensic experts can retrieve incriminating evidence such as deleted texts and voicemails using a “flash” or “twister” box.

Digital forensics companies investigate mobile phones in three phases: seizure, acquisition and analysis. First, digital forensics companies seize the phone, so as to preserve the evidence. This keeps the perpetrator from dismantling and destroying the phone, which would severely hinder digital forensics companies’ progress. Secondly, the acquisition phase refers to a retrieval of materials and data from the phone. Thirdly, is the examination and analysis, which finds the specific evidence amongst the mobile device’s data.

The amount of data types that can be found on mobile devices increases as technology’s complexities march forward. Now, digital forensic companies can pull evidence from a number of sources on the device, including handset memory, SIM card, and attached memory cards, like an SD card.

Such evidence that digital forensics companies pull off phones include the recovery of SMS and MMS messaging, call logs, contact lists, web browsing history, Wireless network settings, geolocation information that includes geotags contained within the metadata of an image, e-mail, social networking service posts and contacts, and other information that could be retained on apps.

The extraction of such evidence has been a big help to law enforcement. Digital forensic investigators used such information as the GPS/location tracking via cell site logs to track down Thomas Onofri’s kidnappers in 2006. What’s more, digital forensics companies are of help to other fields apart from law enforcement, such as military intelligence, corporate investigations, private investigations, and criminal and civil defense.

If you have any questions about the processes that computer forensics services use to pull mobile phone evidence, feel free to ask in the comments! Find more on this here.