Volume
59 - October 2011 This month:
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Editor Author of The Law is an Ass...Make Sure it Doesn't Bite Yours! 101 reasons to kill all the lawyers blog
Mutual Wills
When two loving people make wills leaving everything to each other they do so in the certain knowledge that one wrong word from their beloved (maybe on a Saturday night when there is nothing good on the TV) can result in one or both wills being torn up. Once a will is revoked all bets are off as far as that will is concerned. This is maybe the reason that lawyers tend to keep the original wills to prevent a Monday morning rush.
But sometimes people do not want their beloved to change the will especially after they die and their beloved:
Mutual Wills solve this problem as on the death of one of them the terms of the Mutual Wills become fixed so that the surviving partner has to go through with the wishes of them both as expressed in the Mutual Wills. In theory, this sounds good and would be in practice if clients died in a car accident on their way home from their lawyer’s office. But clients tend to hang on, rearranging their assets and when finally one dies, fixing the terms of both Wills it can leave the surviving party with no access to money despite the value of the assets. For a father with money who marries again to a woman with no money Mutual Wills can stop the rich kids with the inheritance becoming the poor kids, when their father dies and their step mother changes her will leaving all the money that she inherited from their father to her own children of a previous marriage. By fixing an outcome which may not happen for many years, Mutual Wills can lead to daft results. This is not to say that a daft result, against the wishes of the deceased, which leaves all the money to you cannot be viewed as an exceptionally good, but unexpected, result. (c) Paul Brennan 2011. All rights reserved. For more information about and to buy Paul's eBook the Legal Guide to dying...Baby Boomers Edition click https://www.lawanddisorder.com.au/dyingbook.html. Outsourcing Legal Services The main benefit of overseas outsourcing is that legal work can be processed at a much lower hourly billable rate. For what clients would normally pay for 5 billable minutes will give them at least 3 hours or more of telephone advice. The client no longer has to chase their lawyer, they receive regular calls from the overseas outsource legal resource (“OOLR”) who is always ready to call back at a less busy time say, in the evening and, even at weekends. The OOLR may not be that certain of local law, or law in general, however with a full three hours to address a 5 minute legal issue they and the client can usually work it out. In fact, at these rates a client can afford more than one lawyer and often have conference calls with several OOLRs to address a legal issue. Some clients have had to add a further person to their staff or in a few cases a department to deal with this cascade of generous legal advice. Legal outsourcing will change the entire legal industry and there have already been instances of clients telling the OOLR that they are too busy and even putting the phone down. Obviously, taking advice from an overseas resource can have risk but provided that the client does not follow the advice then he should be in no worse position than usual. (c) Paul Brennan 2011. All rights reserved. Extract from "How to Make a Funny Legal Presentation ....... and other things that they did not teach you at law school" a book by Paul Brennan to be released shortly. Click here for books, eBooks and CDs by Paul Brennan.
The Diarrhoea Defence
If we lawyers do seem occasionally wistful it may be because our moment of fame has eluded us. In my case, a client had been charged with failing to supply a sample of breath. His car had been stopped by the police, he had tried to run away and during a struggle with a police officer had had an attack of diarrhoea. Suspected drunken drivers often fail to provide sufficient breath and are routinely convicted unless they have a reasonable excuse. An attack of diarrhoea seemed a good reason for not doing any strenuous blowing, or at least it was in my book. We entered a plea of not guilty. The cross examination of the police officer began tastefully enough, given the circumstances “Did you smell anything, officer?”. But soon descended into unnecessary detail. The failure to control bowel movements seemed further evidence of my client’s bad character and the officer did not want to leave anything to the imagination. The magistrate remained throughout the evidence with a pained, constipated expression. She seemed unable to step over the diarrhoea part of my submission onto the firmer ground of the legal principles behind the defence. She convicted my client with what seemed to me indecent haste. My footnote in legal history was snatched from under my nose.
(c) Paul Brennan is a business and property lawyer 'deals and disputes" on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Both "Deals and disputes". Short of staff - Recruit a migrant If you are an employer experiencing difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified staff you may wish to consider a 457 Visa. This allows you to employ staff from overseas to work on a temporary basis for up to 4 years. Many employers are finding the 457 Visa to be the answer to their recruitment problems. If you would like to discuss this matter further please call Diane Brennan of Brennans solicitors and migration agents on 07 5438 8199 or email her at diane.brennan@brennanlaw.com.au. Sunshine Coast Events coming up 7.30am 5 October 2011 the Sunshine Coast Business Networking Group presents Terry Dwyer on "The Importance of Living The Law of Attraction and Goal Setting". 7.00am 13 October 2011 Business Referrals Club presents Mike O'Hagan of Minimovers "Working in the Business Not In It - the real story". 7.30am 19 October 2011 the Sunshine Coast Business Networking Group presents Paul Brennan on "Are we there yet?". 9.30am 28 October 2011 Entreprenet present Geoff Moller and Paul Brennan Brand Protection.
The 26 new Law & Disorder on-line Stores It may have been easy up to now to ignore the Law & Disorder on-line Stores. But now, with Christmas just around the corner, it is time to think of the legal person in your life. We are launching 26 on-line legal gift shops where you can buy gifts for litigators, judges, commercial lawyers, property lawyers and many more types of lawyers and people who work in the legal industry. The gifts include mugs, ladies thongs, men's underwear, aprons, greeting cards, clocks, golf shirts, gym bags, iphone cases, mouse pads, journals, Christmas stockings, water bottles, food jars, pint and shot glasses, badges, pyjamas, tee shirts, greeting cards, key rings, laptop skins, bearing Paul Brennan's Law & Disorder legal cartoons. We are always ready to respond to subscribers’ requests and create a product using the other cartoons on our blog. There are cartoons for almost every type of lawyer. Click here to go to the links for our various legal gift stores
Disclaimer: The content of the Law & Disorder eZine is to give you legal basics and in some instances included unashamedly to try and make you laugh. In law it is sometimes difficult to work out what is serious and what is just for fun. Therefore, if you plan to do anything legal, rely on your own lawyer’s advice or instruct me to look at the particular facts of your case. Not only will I deny responsibility for the legal content but also for some of the jokes.
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