With police interaction being in the spotlight nowadays, it is important to remember to keep a cool head and not get all up-in-arms when an officer approaches you. You may feel he’s singling you out because of your race. You may feel he’s singling you out because of your tattoos. Maybe it’s your car. Get this – IT DOESN’T MATTER! The point is that you are in that situation and you have to keep a cool head because, quite frankly, some cops (certainly not all or even most) are assholes and come out of the gate with an over-the-top attitude, just waiting for you to screw up. Case in point is a case I got dismissed today.

My client left her 12 year old and 8 year old at home alone for 30 minutes and her landlord didn’t like that one bit so she called the police. An officer showed up and, upon my client’s arrival, told her she was breaking the law. She said she did not, leaving kids of that age at home alone for a limited time is legal. The officer disagreed and called DFACS. They told him the same, no crime had been committed. The officer barked that he would never leave his kids alone at that age and that’s where the shit hit the fan. My client told the officer, in so many words, that she didn’t care what he would do as a parent, as a police officer his job is to enforce the law. Then, bam! She’s in handcuffs and charged with Reckless Conduct.

Folks, don’t mouth off. It’s tempting, I know. But is it worth potentially going to jail and missing several days of work? Is it worth the stress of thinking it is possible you could be jailed for a year? Short answer: no.

Stay safe and stay quiet!

If you own a business and have a contract with another business to provide goods or services (B2B) and they default or breach, you may wonder whether you should hire an attorney or a collections agency. The answer is a question: what is the amount due?

You see collection agencies typically deal in 50/50 splits of what they recover. For example,  if the breaching party owes your company $50,000.00 and the collection agency recovers all of it, you would receive $25,000.00 back. Not a bad paycheck for a couple of hours of work, right? Another note – if they can’t settle it and make the decision to file suit, they use lawyers who are typically right out of school and pay them very little so there is extremely high turnover.

If you hire a lawyer to pursue the breaching party, many (including me) will charge by the hour. So, in my case, our initial consultation is free, then I would look at the contract and send a demand letter demanding the breaching party pay or face a lawsuit. Using the example above, if they settle prior to filing suit or very early on in litigation and pay the full amount, you may see a bill for lawyer services in the amount $1,000.00 or even less, meaning you would keep $49,000. Big difference, right?

On smaller cases or high volume, a collections agency may be the way to go. But ask yourself the question above first and foremost.

Ultimately, the sentence is always up to the Judge. Defense counsel will always ask for a lighter sentence while the State will ask for a higher one assuming the lawyers have not already negotiated a deal. Here’s what not to say when the Judge asks you if you have anything to say:

• Then when I saw the murdered body, I ran outta the room like this (then run out of the courthouse).
• You talk pretty tough for someone who wears a dress.
• I don’t know why everyone else is mad with me. It was my dynamite that got blown up! Now all I have left is this one stick right here.
• If I am found innocent, can I keep the money I stole?
• You asked me who some of my heroes are? Well, there’s O.J. Simpson…
• Can we hurry this up? I have a shipment coming in in 30 minutes.
• I need a new lawyer. This one sucks.

Partially adapted from Clarence Darrow’s list with modifications.

Business law attorneys and Pokemon Go! players walk a common path. They carefully follow a map while looking for the tiniest thing, a thing that could win the game if found or a thing that could cause you to fall off a cliff and you lose. In business law, reviewing a contract may seem like a pretty mundane task and it can be just like seeing your 100th zumbat pokemon in a week. But catching ONE word can save my client from falling off a cliff. Yes, one little word is like one little step and it can destroy you. Take the following real-life example:

Employee J.B. hereby agrees to be bound by this covenant not to compete in that he will not engage in a similar business as his employer, to wit, engaging in the manufacture and/or sale of widgets for the period of two (2) years from the date of the signing of this Agreement. Said covenant not to compete shall only include the State of Georgia where Employer does business.

Employee J.B. hereby agrees to be bound by this covenant not to compete in that he will engage in a similar business as his employer, to wit, engaging in the manufacture and/or sale of widgets for the period of two (2) years from the date of the signing of this Agreement. Said covenant not to compete shall only include the State of Georgia where Employer does business.

Catch it? Like I said, this is a real world example and it was buried in a 10 page contract. See it yet? The other lawyer took the word “not” out of the second line. Changes the whole thing, doesn’t it? That’s why you get an attorney for your business needs! You don’t want to miss Gastly Pokemon and ruin your chances of winning the game!

Ever tell someone to eat shit and die? Well, as it turns out that’s true. Kind of. You see, police are trained to identify synthetic marijuana by smelling someone’s breath and if it smells like feces, there is a very good chance they smoked the stuff. Naturally, my first thought was, “how in the hell do you train for that and do you have to take continuing education?” Or is just doing your daily doo enough? Seriously though, a nurse friend of mine who works in an ER agreed that the shit stinks…like shit. And worse, it does kill. So the next time you light up a fake joint, remember this — you just ate shit and died.

Stay safe everyone!

Bad people do bad things. Period. Swarming the streets of ATL does nothing at all. Writing a FB post that supports every single cop does nothing at all. Sniping cops from a parking garage does nothing at all. There are bad cops. There are bad black folks. There are people who hug you and smile at you who will stab you in the back in a split second and there are people who feel uncomfortable by those hugs and yet they be there when you fall. The battle isn’t race; the race is the battle. And the finish line is a society that says, “you should not have shot that person, that human.” Not, “you should not have shot that black guy” or “you should shoot cops.” Those people, those individuals, that promulgate violence aren’t on society’s track. They have a different finish line — one that is based upon personal hatred, greed, or other retardation. We don’t need to talk about it more. We need to talk about it less. Black cops are not all Uncle Toms; white cops are not all KKK members. The more we make them so in our minds, the more division we will have. Stop the madness and believe this, “bad people do bad things.” Period. And they need to be removed from society.

Finding a divorce lawyer is like finding a friend, someone who understands you and where you are coming from. Someone who, unfortunately, has been there and done that. Look, it’s an emotional time, perhaps the most emotional time in your life. We do our best to strip that stress and give you a second to take a deep breath and relax. It’s not easy, but sometimes it’s necessary. That’s why we do what we do.

I’m excited to to see the new changes on our website! It is much more mobile device friendly and we went with basic over complex. Over time, we plan to add video and cites to aid potential clients in their search for the law and particularly for procedure in Cherokee County. We will also be adding a family law practice soon!! Many changes are on the horizon and we want to thank each and every one of our clients for their valuable input!

Don’t listen to the internet on corporate tax structures because, quite frankly, every website I see details the different theories behind each business form and doesn’t provide any real guidance.  There are very few reasons (very few) to not go with what I call an S Corp LLC.  Wait?  Is that even possible, you ask.  I’ve never heard of it!  Well, you have now and this is probably the only place on the internet that will offer this advice for free.

A business form is exactly what it sounds like.  Do you want to be a partnership, LLC, corporation (an S Corp is just a corporation, it is NOT a business form), P.C., etc.?  There are only a handful of reasons not to go with an LLC.  A partnership doesn’t provide excellent protection like a corporation and LLC do, but an LLC is governed by contract, not really by statute like a corporation.  In short, minimum technical aspects, maximum flexibility and protection.  That’s an LLC.

Now it’s time to file for how the government is going to ping you.  Subchapter S of the IRS Code allows you to have “pass through” taxation like a partnership (so no double taxation like a corporation).  An “S Corp” is merely a corporation that has elected pass through tax. BUT, here’s the secret, you don’t have to have a corporation for that tax.  You simply fill out your tax election form and check the box that says, in essence, “treat my LLC like a corporation for tax purposes,” then elect Subchapter S treatment.  BOOM! You now have flexibility by having your contracts govern your business instead of statutes.  You now have the protection or minimum liability of an LLC and Corporation.  And you have maximum tax benefits so you can keep more of what you earn!

Ok, so you have a plea offer of probation.  Sounds good; keeps you outta jail so it has to be good, right?  Beware!  There are many types of probation and some are relatively straight forward – report once a month, don’t get arrested, take a class, pay a fine.  Simple enough.  But for alleged crimes involving drugs and/or alcohol, add in random screens, more time off work, more fines and fees, and more of a chance of violating probation, thus increasing your odds of getting locked up anyway.  Can’t pee?  Fail.  Piss too watery?  Fail.  Can’t you take blood or hair?  Nope.  A fail usually ends up in getting locked up and invariably the probationer asks himself, why in the hell didn’t I just take straight time?  Keep these things in mind when your attorney recommends probation.