Author: Randy Reid
What You Should Know About Invisalign Clear Aligners
Invisalign Cost Las Vegas clear aligners can subtly move your teeth if you want a straighter smile. They’re less conspicuous than standard braces and can work just as well, provided you wear the trays consistently. But it’s important to understand this treatment’s benefits and pitfalls before committing to it. When Invisalign first came out, it cost much more than traditional braces. But with time, technology, and better resources, the cost has leveled off to near that of regular orthodontic treatments. And for many patients, 0% interest financing options and auto-draft payment plans make the treatment even more affordable. The biggest factor in the overall cost of Invisalign is how long the treatment takes. The duration of the treatment depends on how severe your misalignment was to begin with, as well as how diligently you wear the aligners (as well as other factors). On average, treatment lasts 12 to 18 months, but it can be shorter or longer than that depending on individual needs and your lifestyle. During your consultation at Swish Dental, our doctors will evaluate your teeth and determine if Invisalign is the right fit for you. If you do decide to move forward with the treatment, our team will take 3D digital impressions of your teeth that are then sent to a lab where precision trays are created for you. After your initial consultation, you will be able to schedule follow-up appointments to receive new trays as needed throughout the course of your treatment. Invisalign is not only a great option for cosmetic dentistry, but it can also help to correct more serious issues like crooked teeth, an overbite or underbite, and other bite conditions. Invisalign is one of the best orthodontic treatments available, and the results can last for years if you continue to take care of
Read MoreCement Siding
When it comes to replacing or remodeling a home’s exterior, many homeowners are looking for a product that is durable, looks good, and requires little maintenance. Vinyl siding fits this bill nicely. With a variety of colors, textures and designs to choose from, this type of cladding gives homeowners an opportunity to tailor their homes’ aesthetics to match their preferences. There is also the fact that the material is relatively inexpensive. This means that homeowners are able to achieve their dream homes at a fraction of the cost they would have spent on a more expensive option, such as natural wood. In addition, vinyl is extremely tough and can withstand a number of environmental conditions, such as rain, sleet, snow, hail and high winds. This is why most manufacturers offer a 50-year warranty on their products. This is a very long guarantee, particularly for any building materials. As with any material, there are a few things that homeowners should be aware of before purchasing vinyl siding. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all option, so it may not be ideal for a particular climate. The reason for this is that the planks aren’t glued to the wall, instead being fastened with a partial nailing system that allows for float created by expansion and contraction due to temperature changes. Another consideration is that the product will not withstand a direct hit from a baseball, golf ball or other object of similar size. This isn’t to say that the vinyl cannot be damaged, but it should not be subjected to abuse that could cause harm. Finally, a homeowner should always work with a professional when installing vinyl siding. Attempting to do this on one’s own can result in gaps that let in water, moisture and pests. This can cost more in the long run than
Read MoreA Web Design Guide For Creating Spectacular Compelling Websites
Do you want to build a website, but don’t know how? Would you like to build a site for your business, yet you feel you cannot afford to do so? The tips and tricks here will help you learn what you need to know. Don’t use OnExit popups on your website. This tactic is mainly used by internet marketers who are trying a last-ditch attempt to get a sale. Word about these kinds of popups get around, and they will kill your reputation as a marketer. Mozilla has even taken steps to suppress the text on these popups, citing security risks. Don’t use splash pages for your site unless required by law, and especially don’t use a Flash intro. Most people just want to get to your content as quickly as possible, and don’t care to look at useless splash pages. If you have some amusing content that you absolutely want visitors to see, integrate it into the homepage instead. Use a descriptive title. Many site owners forget to name their pages, or name them something generic, such as “Welcome Page.” Search engines do use title descriptions in their rankings, so make sure you are as descriptive as possible, without going overboard. Make sure it is usable for your viewers and the search engines. Test your website in the most popular browsers and platforms to make sure that it displays correctly. Sometimes scripts that work in one browser may not produce the same results in another browser. So you may need take extra measures, like adding a function for browser detection, in order to ensure that your website will display properly under most conditions. Use what you learned in this article and create a site that exceeds your goals. Whether you are promoting a product
Read MoreLaw Firm Marketing Regulation: What’s Hot and What’s Not — a Tribute
Bob Denney was a kind, generous and insightful man who had his finger on the pulse of the legal profession like no one else. For nearly 30 years, Bob published a newsletter under the banner of “What’s Hot and What’s Not” in the legal profession. When the reports went digital, several of them were featured on Attorney at Work. In a few lines, he would use the breadth of his insights to clue us in on recent developments and upcoming trends. Bob passed away in October. In his honor, I would like to borrow his format as I look back over the recent past and a bit into the coming year. I lack both the breadth and depth of his knowledge and tend to more narrowly focus here on law firm marketing and its regulation. As every Elvis performer says, it’s not an imitation; it’s a tribute, one I hope he would have liked. Red Hot Law Firm Marketing Trends Marketing staff compensation. The first wave of law firm marketers were often high-performing administrative staff. They lacked respect, authority and the compensation they deserved — still true in many firms today. However, a talent war has pushed salaries for in-house marketers up 20% since pre-Covid times, recently cracking the $1 million mark.DEI. Years ago, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) encouraged in-house counsel to include a law firm’s pro bono commitment when considering engagements. Today, perhaps more organically, corporate clients are starting to look at a firm’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion as a criterion for engagements. Hot Changes to state advertising rules. The past year has seen several states amend their ad rules, most of which bend toward more permissibility. Some states have adopted minor changes, e.g., New Jersey now permits TV ads to include music and animation.
Read MoreNo Smoke and Mirrors: Smokeball Is an Impressive Toolbox for Law Firm Management
Smokeball is a law practice management software with document assembly capabilities. Smokeball has an unusual name, to be sure; but, it actually comes from a famous legal case, which just about every substantive law-loving attorney can appreciate. (I love the smell of precedent in the morning.) Smokeball was founded in 2010 and has been adding useful features for law firms ever since. But, amidst the explosion of interest in legal tech software that has generated since the coronavirus pandemic, Smokeball has made some serious moves, including taking on $30 million in investment in early October to promote its further development and growth. And, with that cash infusion in its back pocket, Smokeball is building on an already impressive foundation, which will be addressed below. Frankly, with all the features already in place, it’s going to be pretty exciting to see what Smokeball will be able to add, moving forward, with new investment funds. Passive Aggressive: Smokeball’s Passive Timekeeping Application Is Smokin’ If law firm attorneys and staff hate manual time tracking – and, honestly, how could they not? – Smokeball includes a native passive timekeeping program that captures user time automatically as tasks are completed. If you’ve not heard of a “passive” timekeeping tool, it is a program that logs time automatically for specific timekeepers within the system by tracking their web-based activities. This solves the problem of contemporaneous timekeeping and allows lawyers to avoid the always-problematic situation that results when attorneys (and other law office timekeepers) have to reconstruct large swaths of time after the fact — which often results in write-offs, and missed billables. The passive timekeeper feature available in Smokeball works for internal Smokeball operations, as well as with integrated software, like Microsoft 365. All such captured time is pending until the user manually finalizes it. Eliminating
Read MoreAttorney at Work’s Top 20 Articles of the Year
The most-read articles on Attorney at Work this year focused on personal technology how-tos, along with law firm management, productivity and profits. Another popular theme: lawyer wellbeing. Or, in 2021 parlance, “me-ssential” advice on why and how to prioritize self-care activities (like sleep) and protect your time. Counting Down the Top 20 of 2021 When 2020 finally ended, we searched for a word to encapsulate the year. “Unprecedented” and “Pandemic” topped the list at dictionary sites, beating out personal favorite “hellscape,” and those themes dominated Attorney at Work’s content. For 2021, “vax” and “vaccine” have achieved word-of-the-year status at The Guardian and Mirriam-Webster, respectively. As Mirriam-Webster says, “For many, the word symbolized a possible return to the lives we led before the pandemic.” Emphasis on the word “possible,” as we spent the year in a strange, slightly unfocused limbo, doing our best to improve our personal workspaces and daily efficiency habits while waiting for definitive announcements on hybrid work and WFH policies — and vaccination requirements. “Vaccine” was also selected word of the year because it has been at the center of debates about personal choice, political affiliation, professional regulations … and so much more. For the business word of the year, Grammarly put forward the following somewhat cringy but apt contenders: “Rethrival,” “communigreat,” “stratiskilled,” “flexpert,” “fur bomb,” “greenhousing,” “jammagabbing,” “blursday (what day is it?)” “spark-tacular,” and “me-ssential,” a word that encapsulates the movement to prioritize self-care and wellness in the workplace. Here, then, are the most popular, spark-tacular posts published by Attorney at Work in 2021, based solely on page views. Thanks to all of our contributors for sharing their expertise (flex and otherwise), creative thinking and support this year. Here’s to your rethrival in the new year. The Top 20 Articles of 2021 Countdown 20. “These are a
Read MoreVth Surana & Surana and Shaastra IIT Madras IP Law Moot Competition 2022
bout the Competition The Surana & Surana & Shaastra IIT Madras, Intellectual Property Law Moot Court Competition shall be held on 13th, 15th & 16th January 2022 virtually (online). Any clarification sought in respect of the case should be addressed by email to [email protected] before 2nd January 2022. IP Moot PosterThe competition is open only for students who are enrolled in an LLB three year or five-year course during the current academic year. 16 teams will be selected on the basis of their memorials for participation. Online registrations are open from 6th December 2021. The teams must register online by 31st December 2021. Teams will have to register online at www.moot.in. Teams will receive an automated system generated acknowledgement on successful submission of registration. Important Dates Start of Online Registration: 6th December 2021 Last date for Online Registration: 31st December 2021 Last date of issue of clarifications: 2nd January 2022 Last Date for Submission of Memorials –Soft copy by email (both applicant and respondent)for selection of participating teams: 7th January 2022 (5.00 pm) Confirmation of teams after evaluation of memorials: 11th January 2022 (11.00 am) Orientation: 13th January 2022 Prelims/Quarters/Semi-final: 15th January 2022 Finals, Valediction & Prize Announcement: 16th January 2022 Moot Problem Surana-Surana-and-Shaastra-IIT-Madras-IP-Law-Moot-Court-Competition-2022-Moot-Proposition Contact details for Clarification Regarding Case Head, IPR Surana & Surana International Attorneys Email: [email protected] Ph: 91 – 044 – 2812 0000, Fax: 91 – 44 – 2812 0001 Regarding Online Registration Preetam Surana (National Administrator) Surana & Surana International Attorneys Advocate & Head, AcademicInitiatives Head ( Admin) Litigation & Arbitration Practice Email: [email protected] Ph: 91 – 044 – 2812 0000, Fax: 91 – 44 – 2812 0001 Student Heads Arvind Car +91 8939031073 Nithin +91 9361334004 Coordinators Asritha +91 9346651649 Abhiram +91 6305872015 For Registration / Memorial Submission Asritha +91 9346651649 Abhiram +91 6305872015 Rules
Read More5 Ways to Gift Yourself More Time This Holiday Season
Most lawyers I know have at least one thing in common. No matter their practice areas, or the size of their firm, or their work setting, they all wish they had more time. More time to live, to work, to spend with family, to exercise and on and on. Think of all the things you’d like to do if you just had more time. So, give yourself the gift of more time this holiday season. With these five ideas, you can create more time in your life to do some of those things you’d do with more time. Perhaps you will even have time to achieve your New Year’s resolutions for 2022! 1. Detox Your Contacts Assess whether the people in your life make it more difficult to have the life and practice you want. Do they take more than their share of your resources — late-night calls, impossible to please, extreme lateness, repeated last-minute cancellations, or constant “fire drills”? Think about what your practice would be like without those clients. How could you use those same resources to improve your life, your time, your services to other clients? It might be worth it to end a personal or client relationship to better use your resources for yourself and other clients who do not monopolize your time and energy or compromise your sanity. 2. Hire Someone to Take on Tasks Are you trying to do it all yourself? Or maybe you are handling too many aspects of your business life or personal life? Assess the tasks that are never completed on time. See if there are any items that remain on your to-do list for months. These could be work-related or personal tasks. Maybe you need to hire a bookkeeper or a paralegal so you can focus on building your
Read MoreUNWRITTEN CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES – THE UNSUNG HEROES
>John Vithayathi John Vithayathi, who is currently pursuing his LLM degree from NUALS, Kochi, analyses the role of unwritten Constitutional principles in Indian Jurisprudence, vis-à-vis the Canadian Position. Introduction The Canadian Supreme Court passed a historic yet highly controversial judgement [Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2021 S.C.C. 34 (Can)] recently. ‘Unwritten Constitutional Principles cannot be used as a device for invalidating legislation, that does not otherwise infringe the written constitutional provisions’. Supreme Court of Canada in Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General) Paradoxical as it may seem, this very same judgement that negates the value of unwritten constitutional principles also opens up an avenue for contemplating the nature and, more importantly, the function performed by such principles in the modern constitutional setup. This blog seeks to evaluate the status of unwritten constitutional principles in the Indian constitutional jurisprudence and explains how they might, quite ironically, be more deeply entrenched in the Constitution than a few written ones. Dichotomy of Opinions A constitution bench of the Canadian Supreme Court was considering the validity of a provincial legislation that redrew ward boundaries and reduced the number of wards while campaigns were underway for municipal elections in the city of Toronto. The question before the court was whether the legislation could be struck down if found contravening an unwritten constitutional principle such as democracy. The majority bench answered the question in the negative, thereby effectively relegating unwritten constitutional principles to merely interpretative tools ‘that may aid in the purposive interpretation of the expressly mentioned provisions.’ The majority gave a very interesting justification for its decision by opining that a legislation that does not infringe the express provisions of the Constitution cannot be considered as being repugnant to the basic constitutional structure. In an equally vociferous albeit minority opinion, Justice R.S. Abella endorsed
Read MoreIs It OK to Pay Referral Fees?
In most practice areas, a lawyer’s marketing efforts should focus on generating a strong referral pipeline — from both business colleagues and other lawyers alike. If those efforts are successful, you’ll probably need some guidance on attorney referral fees. Here it is. There are Clear Guidelines—Mostly No referral fees permitted for non-lawyers Can lawyers pay referral fees to non-lawyers? Most attorneys know they cannot share fees with non-lawyers. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, adopted by most states, are quite clear. Rule 5.4 (a) states that “a lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a non-lawyer.” Rule 7.2 (b) states that “a lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer’s services.” A referral fee is certainly something of value. (See Michael Downey’s article in the ABA Litigation Journal, here, explaining the nuances of Rule 7.2(b) and the “nominal” gifts of gratitude allowed.) Referral fees permitted for lawyers Attorneys can share referral fees with other attorneys, as long as they comply with the governing ethics rules. Under Rule 1.1 of the Model Rules, for example, “lawyers” can only refer to competent lawyers. Rule 1.5 (e) specifically governs referral fees between attorneys, and spells out certain requirements, including these three: The division is in proportion to the services performed by each lawyer or each lawyer assumes joint responsibility for the representation;The client agrees to the arrangement, including the share each lawyer will receive, and the agreement is confirmed in writing; andThe total fee is reasonable. While the last two clauses are self-explanatory, many lawyers have questions about the meaning of the first clause. Some mistakenly believe that all fee division arrangements must be proportional. The rule is clear that this is not the only option. Non-proportional arrangements are allowed if “each lawyer assumes joint responsibility.”
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