General nature of claim?

products liability/defective design of a bottle which led to spillage of a flammable liquid which led to serious burns.

There are multiple defendants but one of the companies never filed an answer. I served them, called them and asked them if they were planning on answering, and followed it up with a letter. They told me they had "given it to an attorney". No answer ever filed. Took the default judgment.

Where I am, when you take a default with multiple defendants, it is interlocutory and can be reversed at anytime. So I severed them out (makes the judgment final, but only as to liability...have to prove damages in Court).

So we did that, and got the crazy big judgment. Hard part about collecting it:
1. It seems like a pretty small company, but they did have over a million dollars of revenue last year, so who knows.
2. Insurance is likely only a million or maybe 2
3. Even if they have good insurance, if they failed to notify the insurance company about the lawsuit, the insurance company can deny coverage

The best outcome for me is that they really did give it to a lawyer, and that lawyer was in house with one of the insurance companies and they failed to answer. Then they have to pay up. But I'm sure they will appeal a lot before that. Also, this is partly strategic to get the other defendants to pay up after seeing how my people did in court and see what kind of verdict they might get hit with down the road.

Got bar results on Tuesday..Passed.
Had 3rd interview at an in-house job yesterday. It's down to 2 of us. Hope to hear some positive news today.

Are you concerned they might file CH 11?

it's certainly a thought, but don't know what you can do about it really, other than lift the stay to proceed against the insurance (if it's being covered)

Congrats and good luck man!

What state if you don't mind?

Ontario

Thoughts on thank you notes?

CSO says they are a must after CBs but not needed for OCI interviews.

Big Law in NYC, FYI

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/31/cryer.pdf

I guess this means don't ever get married in California?

My NYC big law experience.

I never sent any when I interviewed and did fine.

On the hiring side, I can only speak for my firm, but the decision is made the day of CBs, so thank you notes don't have any effect.

That Jon Cryer opinion is lolzy for sure.

The hilarious thing is that I think they ruled completely correctly in view of the law and the fact pattern and I would have no idea how to challenge their findings, although I am also not a family law practitioner.

So basically:

Mom has kid. Child Protective Services gets called. Dad gets temp custody. Dad asks for less child support. Court says yes, but only a little less because custody situation is only temporary. Court says get a job to wife. Wife doesn't try to get a job. Court makes Jon Cryer pay her legal fees.

Honestly I don't really see a problem. Am I missing something? I mean unless he gets full custody she could get the kid back later and need her normal child support. I mean I guess I don't see why they wouldn't just modify it, and then modify it again later when she gets custody but whatever. Jon Cryer having to pay legal expenses in this situation is standard I think.

The dad gets custody and he still has to pay child support to the mom. It isn't that complicated...

I dunno, I guess I don't think it's that lolsy because it's totally standard and happens all the time I'm sure. He only had temporary custody pending review. You can't just cut off child support because she might be paying/have paid for long term stuff ahead of time and it would be too big of a shock.

Also, he's only paying her like 2% of his income. Standard is supposed to be around 30%. Pretty good deal imo.

The dependency action was still in the prejurisdictional and disposition phase. The trial court still did not know what important rulings would be made at the jurisdictional and
disposition hearings, and there had been no other substantive change in circumstances.

I took on my coworker's husband's case, where his crazy ex wife filed a motion for modification pro se. The judge considered her making $15.60/hr (and occasional overtime) vs $18/hr to be a material change (the rule here used to be 25% difference, but now it's up to the judge) and would barely listen to my voluntary impoverishment argument when the plaintiff couldn't provide any evidence of looking for jobs while unemployed for 6 months after I sent her 4 letters asking for it.

More ridiculous IMO.

Moving into my apartment today and starting as a 1L on Monday, send me some rungood please!

Family law seems absolutely awful, even when you are representing sympathetic clients it seems like the outcome is a total crapshoot and there are some super dumb laws in various states.

Girlfriend took on a law school friend as a divorce client. Husband who stayed in her original state with the kids found the firm I work for and hired us. Any practical advice other than just don't talk about this one around the home.

Are you personally going to work on this case? If so, it seems like an incredibly bad idea.

I'd make sure all the clients involved know about the relationship you two share from the start, and that everyone is okay with it. Also I'd make sure you personally stay as far away from the case as possible.

Drafting stuff, maybe. Court stuff, no, even if I have a license by then. Do figure I will have to go against my girl at some point. Ethically I don't think it even has to be disclosed because it is viewed as a personal conflict only (dating/married people repping opposing parties) and I'm just an employee of his attorney, or at least that is what my research indicates. It has been disclosed, but if general consensus is that it is practically a bad idea I'm willing to just not participate at all as I have already kind of discussed with my boss/future partner.

Alright guys... need some advice here. Should I try, Should I not. It's TLDR and I'm sorry in advance.

I'm 26 years old. Currently a paralegal that has worked in various law firms since I was 14 years old. I am content with my salary and current standard of living but it's probably not getting much higher than it is right now. My father is an attorney and has his own firm. I've worked for 3 different law firms over the past 12 years and all of them have were through connections my father has and the experience I gained working in his firm the first 7 years of my working life.

I think I want to make the jump into law school but there are a few things against me. First, I still have 30k in undergraduate student loans. The thought of adding another 90k in student loans is literally terrifying.

Second, I was immature in college. I graduated Stony Brook University with a bullsh*t Sociology Degree and a 2.4 GPA. However, when I turned 24 I went back to school to receive an AAS degree (2 years) in paralegal studies and finished that program with a 3.91

Obviously due to my past transgressions I'm not getting into any top school, however I think I can get into most bottom tier schools like Touro. I'd be ecstatic if I got into Hofstra, but not sure if they would they would overlook the 2.4 GPA. I am a legacy there.

The biggest thing I have going for me is that I am guaranteed a job should I be admitted, and my father has the ability to get me into an "apprenticeship" if you will with the biggest criminal defense attorney on Long Island. Criminal defense is what I'd want to do.

LSAT, I'd literally have no idea how I would do. I was always "smarter" than my brother and he just took the June exam and scored 154 and he did relatively little studying or preparation for the exam.

I'm not sure if this is a pro or a con or if I should not even consider this in my decision making but my girlfriend is starting Med School next week. We are serious and I have considered proposing to her. That being said, if she becomes a doctor, I'm not sure our relationship could remain stable with me just being a paralegal.

Thoughts on my plan? I'm taking the June LSAT regardless just to see what I would score. I also plan on dedicating at least 20 hours per week to prep for the exam starting in March.

Your GPA isn't necessarily a huge issue, everything will be dependent on your LSAT score. Why aren't you studying for it now?