Friday December 12, 3:04 pm ET
Successful pilot program shows Web-based platform is rapidly changing the way small law firms operate
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Total Attorneys, the premier provider of managed services for small law firms, today announced that the launch of its legal process outsourcing (LPO) solution has been accelerated to January 2009 due to the success of this year’s pilot program and rising demand for quality legal services.
“Economic factors are certainly increasing the need for professional legal work, especially in the area of bankruptcy, and lawyers see legal process outsourcing as an efficient way to handle the increasing workload without sacrificing the needs of their clients,” said Kevin Chern, Total Attorneys President.
The time-consuming administrative work of a small law office, such as hunting down and reviewing lengthy and complex documents to verify facts and other legal information, can overwhelm small law firms and distract them from other critical aspects of the practice, such as client consultations and courtroom appearances, Chern said. Attorneys can comfortably delegate this work and monitor progress on the Internet on behalf of their clients using Total Attorneys’ Web-based platform with LPO tools.
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Friday December 19, 10:54 pm ET
CHICAGO, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire
After the mother's live-in boyfriend's alleged sexual abuse of her ten year old daughter, Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Thomas Carr awarded possession of the girl and her twelve year old brother to the father of the children today.
The father's attorneys, Jeffery M. Leving and Art Kallow, successfully obtained an Order removing the children from the mother, after a Chicago man, Columbo Galindo, age 29, was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of the daughter.
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By Lucinda Hahn | For Chicago magazine December 4, 2008
Chicago was stewing that Friday, overtaken by humid weather and a heat index in the 90s. But nothing was steamier on July 6, 2007, than the gossip burning up the phone lines of the city's TV journalists. The juicy chatter involved a hot tub or a pool party, perhaps sex, possibly an affair-it all depended on who was talking. One theme ran through the variations, though: "There's this in-credible video," one newsman recalls hearing, "of Craig Stebic and Amy Jacobson in his backyard." Even for a rumor, it was shocking-not least of all to Jacobson, the striking and successful NBC-5 reporter. Stebic, after all, was the estranged husband of a missing woman-a hot news story Jacobson had chased in recent weeks. Like everyone else, she heard the dirt that afternoon, too-when her phone rang as she drove home from Stebic's house. Her friend Juan Carlos Fanjul, then a Channel 9 reporter, was on the line. "Jacobson," she remembers him saying, "what were you doing today?"
Divorces Drop in Economic Downturn Say Nation's Top Divorce Lawyers
An increased risk of going through the emotional and financial pain of a divorce is apparently one less thing people have to worry about as the economy takes a turn for the worse. By an almost two-to-one margin, respondents to a recent survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) report that they typically see a decline in the number of divorces during national economic downturns rather than an increase.
"For many spouses, the divorce process involves a great deal of long-term planning and waiting for better economic times is often just another element of the overall process," said Gary Nickelson, president of the AAML. "Many individuals tend to employ a wait-and-see strategy during a troubled marriage and are very well prepared when it comes time to file for divorce. A sudden drop in net worth can effectively postpone this final decision from being made."
Overall, 37% of AAML members responded that they typically see a decrease in the number of divorce cases during national economic downturns, while only 19% cited an increase during these challenging times.
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November 18, 2008 Sun-Times News Group
His fourth wife vanished more than a year ago -- and now ex-Bolingbrook policeman Drew Peterson is considering making the separation official.
Peterson last week consulted with a high-profile Chicago attorney about possibly divorcing his missing 23-year-old wife Stacy.
At the meeting with family law attorney Jeffery Leving, Peterson discussed his legal options following Stacy's Oct. 28, 2007, disappearance, said Peterson's criminal defense attorney, Joel Brodsky.
"All he's done is consult with him," Brodsky said. "Nothing has been finalized. No decisions have been made."
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CULTURE DIGEST: Bad economy saves some marriages; Coca-cola pro-family advertiser
Posted on Dec 5, 2008 | by Erin Roach NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Some say there is a silver lining in every cloud, and during the nation's economic downturn, one positive effect is that some couples are deciding to work through their marital difficulties rather than opting for an expensive divorce.
"Marriage counselors and divorce lawyers nationwide say more distressed couples are putting off divorce because the cost of splitting up is prohibitive in a time of stagnant salaries, plummeting home values and rising unemployment," MSNBC reporter Alex Johnson wrote in an article Nov. 23.
Johnson noted that a contested divorce that goes to court can cost a couple with at least one child from $53,000 to $188,000 in attorneys' fees, financial advice, counseling and real estate costs for buying or renting separate homes. Ten sessions of marriage counseling, meanwhile, cost about $1,000, and that's the route many people are taking these days, he said.
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