Jim Cassidy, a paralegal at Jack Parsons' litigation firm, finished preparing an important letter that made an offer of settlement to opposing counsel in a lawsuit. The letter contained the offer, as well as a lengthy discussion of the facts of the case that provided the basis for the offer. The letter was revised several times, with three different attorneys making various edits, modifications,
and corrections before it reached its final form. The Track Changes feature was used to highlight the various changes made by each person, and the final draft of the letter was in the form of a Word file. After proofreading the document, and "accepting" all changes to the document, Jim sent the letter to opposing counsel as an attachment to an e-mail. What precautions should Jim have taken before sending the letter? What safeguards are available to protect the sensitive content?
What will be an ideal response?
In some cases, this information can show that a person had certain knowledge at a particular time. This can be critical evidence in a case where knowledge of a fact or condition is critical. Word files contain additional information called "metadata" attached to the file. System metadata contains data about the document, such as the file name, size, and location. Content metadata has information about the content of the file itself, such as changes made. If this information isn't removed from the letter, opposing counsel may be able to see the changes that were made, such as other dollar amounts that were proposed, or information that the attorneys originally wanted to disclose, but decided to delete later. This information could compromise their settlement position. The metadata could be removed by saving it in a version without the metadata using the "Save without metadata" option. An even safer method might be to convert the document to a TIFF, so the opposing attorneys see only a graphic image of the file without any metadata.
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How is forum non conveniens used??
What will be an ideal response?
What is legal advice?
a informing a client of a trial date b. informing a client of the status of a case c. applying knowledge of the law to facts of a case and giving an opinion d. all of the above e. none of the above
List and describe the non-freehold estates
What will be an ideal response?
Darla and her husband, Craig, are engaged in a bitter divorce. They have been married for twelve years. Although they have no children, Craig has bought a lot of "toys" over the years including a motorcycle, speedboat, and an RV all in Craig's name but none listed on his financial statement. They both want the divorce but they also both want more than half of the marital assets because each
believes the other is responsible for the divorce. Craig says he has no money to pay spousal support. Darla has never worked during their marriage (per their agreement that she would take care of their home) and she presently has no marketable skills. He claims that he has a shoulder injury that prevents him from working. However Darla believes he has been working "under the table" doing substantial odd jobs and that he is adding a deck and pool at the home of a woman she thinks he has been having an affair with for more than a year. He has managed all of their finances throughout the marriage and has kept her in the dark. His initial financial statement reveals no retirement fund although he has worked for the local fire department account for twenty years. He also claims that he has no stocks or bonds and yet she says she has seen things on his computer indicating that he does have a stock portfolio. She also saw a mortgage application on which he listed the holdings as assets. She believes he has been communicating with the girlfriend by phone, texting, and email and that he met her through an online dating service. First briefly define formal discovery, informal discovery, and electronic discovery and then indicate how each might be used to Darla's benefit in this case. What potential roles would her attorney, the attorney's paralegal, and Darla herself play?