Cyber Space Play

Many of the most influential paralegal professional organizations have roots in the American Bar Association and have played a major role in shaping the paralegal field we know today. One such organization is the AAfPE (the American Association for Paralegal Education) that focuses on serving the needs of the schools and the teachers within those schools that provide paralegal training programs. AAfPE’s stated main purpose is centered on providing high quality paralegal training, ongoing development of high quality education and in maintaining its’ role as the “go to” paralegal academics source.

Vital aspects to remember when breaking down a paralegal school program:

1. Paralegal programs should not only teach legal concepts but they should also provide practical real world job skills. In addition, any reputable paralegal school curriculum would encompass everything from legal contacts and legal writing to ethics and torts. Top notch Paralegal programs should also offer the opportunity for students to gain work experience through practicum or an internship.

2. Who are players behind the scenes? Who put the paralegal curriculum together and who is teaching it? Do the staff and the paralegal schools program director have top notch credentials? The paralegal teaching staff should have field experience in the subject they are teaching be considered an “expert” on that subject. The curriculum director should have an advanced degree in a related field at worst but preferably they have a law degree or a bunch of paralegal work experience and an advanced paralegal degree.

3. Online learning, also called distance learning has become the latest craze in the pursuit of paralegal degree excellence but an important question to ask your-self before taking the online plunge is is it right for me? Pursuing a paralegal degree online is obviously different than campus learning because regardless of how the material is delivered (video or web-based content or tele-courses, etc.) the entire teacher / student relationship is much different and you need to decide if you can learn that way. If yes, go for it because there are many benefits; if not, then you need to find the nearest campus based paralegal school.

If you want a career, not just a job and you have the internal strength and drive to push yourself the paralegal field is ripe for the picking. A paralegal offers status, fair wages and a growing job market for those will the talent and skills to match up with the endless opportunities.

The need for a national occupational health service was greatly felt following the findings of a study conducted by The Work Foundation. This research organisation based in Europe conducted a study in 25 European countries to get a comprehensive idea on the spread of musculoskeletal disease among the populace.

The findings show the enormity of the danger, and serve to give all concerned a wake up call. More than 100 million are affected by this disease in the whole European Union. Out of this staggering number, forty million are young and are an active part of the work force. Nearly 40% of this 40 million are suffering from this disease and are out of work as a result.

Absenteeism, loss of workdays, financial loss to the organisations and burden on the government health services are some of the damaging effects brought about by this disease. Nine and a half million workdays were lost in the UK in one year due to the ailment. About 49% of all workdays lost in the EU are due to this malady, and 60% of these workers are forced to stop working.

The UK spends 7 billion pounds on this disease in one year and this figure for the EU is a staggering 240 billion pounds.

MD Stephen Bevan, while commenting on the findings of the study conducted by The Work Foundation, emphasises on the serious negative impact of this disease on the economy of a country. TUC leader Brendan Barber has stressed upon the fact that proper occupational health services is needed, as the current situation is very grim. Only two percent of the workers are covered by health schemes, and the rest have to rely on GP referrals.

This study throws light on how musculoskeletal diseases are reducing the productivity of workers and that too at a time when the European economy is seriously trying to come out of recession. The remedial measure is to have a system of early detection, which will helps in arresting the rapid progress of the disease. In addition, workers willing to rejoin after treatment must be rehabilitated according to their capacities.

Making your staff aware of how they should safely use their computers will not only help ensure that, as an employer, you have provided the right level of training and information to your staff - click DSE Training, but also that your staff adopt a good ergonomic posture when sitting at their desks and are therefore less at risk of developing musculo-skeletal related conditions.

Ian Pearson, a steel erector who suffered permanent damage to his eye while working on a girder at Wembley football stadium in December 2005, has settled out-of-court for a sum of ₤6,500 as compensation for his injuries. His employer at the time, Fast Track Site Services, which was based in Walsall but now stands dissolved, has accepted full responsibility for the incident.

The accident occurred when Pearson was hammering a steel pin into a hole at the stadium in December 2005. A piece of the galvanizing coating broke off and as he was not wearing the correct eye-gear, pierced his eye. There has been a permanent reduction in his eye-sight since, with persistent symptoms like blurring.

Adrian Axtell, Regional Secretary for East Midlands Unite, commented that no construction worker would ever go on a site without the appropriate safety equipment like hard hat and safety goggles as they realised their importance in saving lives. However, since a number of safety goggles were available in the market, it was the employer’s responsibility to ensure the correct goggles were issued to workers.

For those responsible for health and safety in their organisation, CPP Courses offer accredited health and safety training which will help management to learn about the importance of promoting a positive health and safety culture in their workplace environment.

Laura Hadfield from Thompson Solicitors added that the goggles provided to Pearson did not offer all-round protection as required by the task at hand. Fast Track’s negligence was the reason he suffered permanent damage to his eye-sight.

HSE officials took A1 Rewind to court after an employee of the company ended up with severe burns following the company’s failure to keep equipments in good working order.

The equipment in question was an oxy-acetylene welding cylinder and it was reported in court that the equipment had not been maintained for almost three decades. The employee was working under a vehicle when the accident occurred. The hose of the welding equipment was leaking, thus releasing the dangerous gas. At the time of the accident, the leak caused the highly inflammable acetylene to catch fire, causing burns to the employee.

HSE investigating inspector, Pam Folsom said that the hose was unmaintained and was clearly not in a working condition. It had been shortened each time it was split due to bending, which resulted in the gas being let out.

The company had to shell out £2,000 as fine and £1,500 as costs after the case was taken to Birmingham magistrate’s court. A1 rewinds admitted its mistake and agreed that it had breached the health and safety legislation.

The company was prosecuted under Regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Other employers are now being urged to ensure their companies beware of such negligence.

Folsom said that the hose was in such pathetic condition that there was no excuse for the incident. She advised employers to see to it that they properly maintain their equipment and that their employees are not put at risk when they handle any equipment.

Employers need to keep themselves up to date with health and safety developments to avoid potential legal action from employers by taking a health and safety courses such as the iosh managing safely certificate, available from the experts at Workplace Law Training.

It is a frightful feeling any time a doctor tells you that you have any type of chronic disease. At first your mind wants to reject it, and then you gradually give into the shock of realizing that you really do have something up with you. Even if youve been exhibiting symptoms for ages, your problem just isn’t set in stone till the doctor tells you those fateful words: Im sorry to tell you, but the tests came back positive.

When the diagnosis is Tardive Dyskinesia [ TD ], it actually should not come as any surprise. In truth, it may be be a relief, because after you know what the difficulty is, there are thngs you can do to turnaround the condition, and you definitely need to do that. Perhaps you have been afflicted by the embarrassment of your tongue popping out of your mouth every couple of seconds or of making horrible grimaces that are out of your control. You might have had a lot of distressing physical symptoms, like neck cramps or involuntary twisting of joints. believe anyone when they tell you that you will just have to live with the problems, because they wouldnt want to if they were in your place. Instead, heres what you can do.

For starters you can learn everything there is to know about TD class action lawsuit. Sometimes it’s just good to have someone you can talk to about your condition who will understand and offer proposals for what you need to do next. Contacting the Foundation will put you in touch with caring folk who can help. You may also visit their site at www.dystonia-foundation.org.

There are many doctors who have investigated TD and know the right sorts of treatments that may reverse the symptoms of the disorder and bring relief to patients. If your folks surgeon isn’t ready to give you with this kind of help, you can contact a psychiatrist instead who has experience working with the side effects of anti-psychotic drugs. Additionally, you will find a neurologist can properly treat your Tardive Dyskinesia Illness.

Whenever you go in a library you are transfixed by the great bookcases that are home to a fireball of information- record books! Bookcases help in stashing away literature and saving them from wear and tear. Bookcases generally have flat compartments for keeping publications. Out glass doors are a good selection to refer and store publications neatly.

Tell me about a barrister bookcase.

lawyers have to show from various reference manuals for their practice. the legal diaries are costly and lawyers demand to consult them oft. A barrister bookcase is a kind of bookcase specially built for stacking away such bulky volumes utilised by barristers. These lawyers bookcases are usually produced using oak wood, cherry wood in different finishes and tinctures.

How volumes were stored before barrister bookcases came into being?

individuals did not feel the want for a bookcase as books were a rarity. books in old days were hand-penned only.They were located in minute containers by the loaded individuals.This is because books were very costly and only wealthy families could afford to purchase them and carry them while travelling. these rich men utilized these containers to store books.

After a while, these hand-penned books were seen in many well-heeled peoples homes. These books found a place in the cupboard or on a shelf.The bookshelves that we see Today are an offspring of these cupboards in the past, without the doors.

How were the books located in these shelves?

These books were not located with a modern approach. books were stored with their bounds facing us and the covers to the wall. A band of vellum or leather was used for inscription of the title and also closed the book.This band was placed on the front edge and hence the books were placed with their bounds facing out.

publishing was one design that built books affordable. Because the titles could be printed behind the book, the edges were not facing outward any more.

Which materials were mainly employed?

These barrister bookcases employed to consist of oak usually. there were other choices of maple, cherry and pine wood if you liked.Bespoke barrister bookcases can be made in steel too for trimming wood price and enduringness. The oldest bookcases are said to exist in England in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. these bookcases are present here from sixteenth century onwards.

using tiny pills covered in lattice frames, Chippendale and Sheraton designed lovely bookcases.These bookcases indeed added to the elegance of the room.

How are the latest bookcases different?

who could have said that a plain bookshelf will develop into being a rugged barrister bookshelf after?

The most obvious form of disorder after a serious accident is a whiplash or other sickness. A sudden response to the accident is a quick flip in the head; as a result painful swelling appears particularly at the back and in the neck. Painful and swollen points are usually observed in the bones, discs, tendons, ligaments, muscles and nerve centre in the backbone.

If you are afflicted with an injury you may not realize the pain initially. This is because the muscles become constricted and the bones become rigid. Gradually you will start feeling the sufferance of painful inflammations. Latest devices and medical techniques like X-ray, radiology and MRI help to detect the presence of internal damages instantly.

You may get affected with temporary disorders like painful inflammations and swellings in the nerve ends but permanent disorders can also affect you. Injuries affect the brain and you tend to loose your memory and undergo serious changes in your personality. Theses changes enable you to store nervousness and depression, thereby creating other harmful diseases.

A simple procedure can be followed to opt for whiplash injury claims. The legal system allows you to take the benefit of accidental insurance. Fix up an injury solicitor and get an instant claim by another insurance agency or group.

In other words the ADEA permits employers to discriminate based on age considering age is legitimately necessary under the circumstances. Thirty of the 14 salaried employees the company laid off were at least 57 years old. At the trial a jury found Knolls had violated the ADEA because its layoff procedure had a disparate impact based on age. In that case Meacham versus Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory the Supreme Court interpreted a provision of the ADEA that permits an employer to take an adverse employment action against an employee. The Supreme Court then agreed to hear the case and eventually reversed the Second Circuit and reinstated the jurys finding that Knolls policy unlawfully discriminated because of age. In reaching its conclusion that the employer has the burden to prove the reasonable factors other than age defense the Supreme Court looked at another provision of the ADEA the bona fide occupational qualification defense. Knolls totaled those scores and gave the employees additional points based on their years of service. It has the burden to prove that its decision was based on a reasonable factor other than age. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit initially affirmed the jurys findings but after the United States Supreme Court asked it to reconsider the Second Circuit reversed itself and ruled in favor of Knolls. The Supreme Court has previously recognized that the employer has the burden to establish the BFOQ affirmative defense. The BFOQ defense states that it is not unlawful for an employer to take adverse employment actions otherwise prohibited by the ADEA where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business. As long as the adverse action is based on reasonable factors other than age. Twenty-eight of those 25 employees sued under the ADEA claiming Knolls illegally fired them because of their age. The Supreme Court ruled that if an employer seeks to rely on that defense. Even if the employment action is otherwise prohibited by the ADEA. Specifically the jury found that although the plaintiffs did not prove that Knolls intentionally discriminated against them they did prove that Knolls method of deciding who to lay off disproportionately harmed older workers. A lawyer from Oirschot won from a lawfirm in Chattanooga Tennessee In Meacham Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory was planning to lay off a number of employees. It then used those totals to decide who to lay off. The company had its supervisors rate their subordinates based on their performance flexibility and critical skills. For example it would not be illegal to consider criteria for a particular role in a movie that has a disparate impact on age if the part calls for someone of a particular age.

A restrictive interpretation of the Data Protection Act 1998 (”the Act”) will limit subject access requests1. Businesses may welcome the Court of Appeal’s judgment from Durant v FSA [2003], as it might make their obligations under the Act easier to fulfill.

The case of Michael John Durant v Financial Services Authority [2003] EWCA Civ 1746 - Court of Appeal focuses on the right of an individual to access his or her personal data held by an organisation. After a dispute with his bank, which involved the bank successfully applying an exemption which denied him the right of access to his data, Mr Durant complained to the Financial Services Authority (”FSA”).

Although the FSA investigated his complaint, it did not reveal detailed information about its investigation to Mr Durant. The FSA made available documents in computerised format but refused him access to manual files, claiming that the information sought was neither “personal” nor part of a “relevant filing system”. Mr Durant appealed.

The Court of Appeal held that:-

The purpose of the subject access provision is “…to enable [an individual] to check whether the data controller’s processing… unlawfully infringes his privacy and, if so, to take such steps as the Act provides (i.e. blocking or rectification)… It is not an automatic key to any information, readily accessible or not of matters in which he may be named or involved.”

Records that make reference to an individual are not necessarily “personal data”;

The records must be relevant or proximate to the individual (i.e. significantly biographical or of which the individual was the focus of attention). In deciding on a case-by-case basis whether information falls within the Act, two factors are relevant:

“…Whether the information is biographical in a significant sense, that is, going beyond the recording of the putative data subject’s involvement in a matter or event that has no personal connotations…
…information should have the the putative data subject as its focus rather than some other person with whom he may have been involved or some transaction event…In short, it is information that affects his privacy, whether in his personal or family life, business of professional capacity”;

It is not sufficient that the records just relate to something in which the individual was involved;

The records must contain “information that affects [the individual’s] privacy, whether in his personal or family life, business or professional capacity” - “It is likely in most cases that only information that names or directly refers to [a data subject] will qualify and “not all information retrieved from a computer search against an individual’s name or unique identifier is personal data within the Act”;

The definition of “relevant filing system” in relation to manual filing systems (i.e. paper-based) are those which are clearly structured, in a manner akin to computerised records, and within which the data must be readily accessible for reasons of practicality, easily identifying the fact that it contains personal data relating to the individual;

There must be clear warning to litigants that the Act: “…is not an automatic key to any information, readily accessible or not, of matters of matters in which he may be named or involved. Nor is to assist him…to obtain discovery of documents that may assist him in litigation or complaints against third parties.”

The Court ruled that Mr Durant should not be given the documents requested as, “mere mention of the data subject in a document held by a data controller does not necessarily amount to his personal data”.

Mr Durant is awaiting permission to challenge the Court of Appeal’s ruling in the House of Lords.

Request by data subjects or individuals for the data that a company holds in relation to the individuals

If you require further information contact us.

Email: enquiries@rtcoopers.com

© RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

Dr Rosanna Cooper is a partner in RT Coopers Solicitors a law firm based in the City of London. The firm specialises in commercial and corporate law and has an outstanding reputation in areas such as intellectual property, data protection, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Contact us at enquiries@rtcoopers.com. visit our website at http://www.rtcoopers.com

With bankruptcy showing continued growth - up 51% in quarter 1 2006 compared to quarter 2 2005 - according to the latest DTI insolvency statistics it can be a real issue for people facing a marriage split and trying to sort out the finances.

When a marriage breaks down, the assets of each party form the pot of matrimonial assets that are divided between them, as part of the financial settlement. But what if one party is bankrupt?

The effect of bankruptcy
In bankruptcy, almost all of the assets of the bankrupt person are no longer his - they are owned instead by the Trustee in Bankruptcy. This is likely to have serious implications for the bankrupt’s spouse, as the pot of matrimonial assets is potentially made much smaller by the bankruptcy.

For instance, if the matrimonial home were jointly owned by the bankrupt and his spouse, the house cannot be transferred into the spouse’s sole name without the Trustee in Bankruptcy’s consent. This is likely only to be given if the spouse can buy out the bankrupt’s share at a reasonable market value - something that may not always be possible.

Similarly the bankrupt is unlikely to be able to pay any lump sum or maintenance to the spouse, as the bankrupt’s savings and much of his income will be the Trustee’s instead, to be used to discharge his debts.

The effects of bankruptcy can be so serious that some people choose to make themselves bankrupt in order to frustrate or delay their spouse’s claims in relation to the financial settlement. So what can be done?

Act quickly - apply to the Courts
The best thing is to sort out as much as possible before the bankruptcy starts. Bankruptcy is often threatened before any action is taken. A prompt application to the family court may allow appropriate orders for financial settlement to be made before a bankruptcy takes effect. There remains a chance that the Trustee in Bankruptcy could try to have parts of the financial settlement set aside, but nonetheless having the financial settlement finalised before any bankruptcy will minimise the effects the bankruptcy has.

Even if the bankruptcy is already in effect, the bankrupt’s spouse may be able to apply to the Court to annul the bankruptcy if the bankrupt is not in fact insolvent. Or in some circumstances the family court may still order the bankrupt to pay a lump sum or maintenance, if for example the bankrupt has a significant income despite being insolvent.

Claim against pension rights
The bankrupt’s pensions do not vest in the Trustee in Bankruptcy, so a financial settlement may minimise the effects of bankruptcy by focusing on sharing or splitting the pensions. The power of the family court to make pension sharing orders in relation to a bankrupt’s pensions is unlikely to be affected by bankruptcy.

In some cases, bankruptcy can even work in the other spouse’s favour. Until recently, a person owed money as part of a divorce settlement could apply to make their former spouse bankrupt, but could not have that debt proved in that bankruptcy. But in 2005, the law changed to allow such a debt, plus an award of costs in family proceedings, to be paid by the bankrupt as part of his bankruptcy; and the bankrupt is not released from these debts once he is discharged from bankruptcy, meaning that he still owes them even after his period of bankruptcy has ended.

In conclusion, as the law relating to bankruptcy has evolved, bankruptcy has become less and less onerous to the bankrupt person, and it is likely to be viewed more favourably as an option by more and more people experiencing financial difficulties, including those involved in the breakdown of their marriage. But bankruptcy can still have serious implications for the financial settlement on divorce, and legal advice should always be sought in circumstances where the bankruptcy of one of the parties is a real or possible risk.

Article written by John Barklam, divorce and family specialist with Woolley & Co solicitors. Tel: 01905 421564. Email john.barklam@divorce-lawfirm.co.uk.

May 2006