Legally Change Your Name

You would think that it would be easy to legally change your name. After all, with all of the people out there getting married, a legal name change must be an almost everyday occurrence. Well, yes and no is the answer. It is easy for you to legally change your name if you are getting married or divorced. They have streamlined the process, so the legal name change forms are included as part of the marriage or divorce process. They want to make it easy for couples, because they want more people to get married. More marriages means more babies and more relatively well off households. Also more social stability, some would believe. You get the idea.
But if you want to legally change your name for your own reasons, you had best make sure that you are really determined before you go about it. They are not going to make it easy for you to legally change your name. I do not know why. It seems like it should be a right of every American to go through a legal name change with a minimum of hassle. Just because you are not a woman getting married, that does not mean that you should have to jump through hoops just to legally change your name, but there it is. Lots of hoops. A whole circus, in fact.
You are required to fill out multiple forms to legally change your name. You might even have to go before a judge before the legal name change is complete, and at the very least, the judge has to approve of the new name. You will have to take out an ad in a public newspaper, saying that you are going to legally change your name, and notify all of the relevant authorities. The whole process can take weeks, or even months, and some of the steps do often involve having to pay a fee. I guess that there is some logic to making it involved to legally change your name, as it prevents certain abuses of the system. You can not, for example, legally change your name to avoid getting caught by the authorities. On the contrary, you will find yourself quickly delivered into criminal custody once you start to legally change your name, if you are already wanted. But still, there has to be a way for them to make it easier to catch a few crooks without making it harder for you to legally change your name if you want to.

Legal Research

If you want legal research and writing, there are a variety of services which you can contract out for. Although one would think that in a democracy like we have, the laws would be open to public scrutiny and readily accessible to the perusal of any ordinary citizen, the reality of the situation is much different than that. It is possible to do some limited legal research on your own. For example, if you want to look up a specific law and you know its number, you can probably find it. But that is about it. Try wading through thousands of pages of that law to find the exact meaning as it applies to whatever your area of concern is. It is just simply not possible for you to do, and that is the truth!
Of course, where outside legal research really comes in handy is if you are trying to research a whole area of law. Unless you are already familiar with the way that law is organized, you can forget it. Our laws are extremely burdensome, arcane, and complex for one and one reason only: it give power to lawyers, legislators, and other legal professionals. It keeps them in business when in reality we could do better without them. So if there is an area of the law which you need to understand for your business or personal needs, you had best get someone to do your advanced legal research, or else you are out of luck.
Of course, you are not completely out of luck without legal researchers. Sometimes, you can figure out how to do legal research on a particular issue, and be pretty successful at it too. For example, I have been part of a campaign to save some of the last local wetlands in the San Francisco bay area. We do not have the money to hire legal researchers. We have to do our own legal research ourselves. But on this particular issue, there has already been so much pioneering environmental work done, that we have been quite successful at doing fairly advanced legal research and finding out how to petition the government using existing endangered species laws. It is easy to get scared off by the complexity of legal research, and at first we were scared away too. But soon we found out that, with enough determined work, an ordinary citizen really can participate in the democratic process.

Meaning Of Names

An Article On The Meaning Of Names
I know I have but have you ever wondered about the meaning of names? Having a child is a wondrous and beautiful thing. New parents across the United States will welcome in new members of their families on every single day of the year in 2006. With these celebrated additions, Parents will have many choices to make in regards to how they raise their child; Protestant, or Catholic? Store bought foods, or homemade? Public or private school?
Full Article On The Meaning Of Names

Legal Aid Service

A legal aid service can really rescue you when you are in the most dire of needs, destitute with no where else to turn to. I have been working for legal aid services of Oregon for seven years now, So of all people I should really know the best what I'm talking about here. It is no joke. In this country, if you do not have money, you do not have rights. It is as simple as that, no matter what the free market apologists might say. Without legal aid services, the poor would have no where to turn to when they get in to legal trouble. There is free criminal representation provided, of course, but it is often third rate at best. And what about civil legal representation? If the bank is foreclosing on your house, the state is not going to provide you with anyone to go and speak your case in court. Without legal aid services, a disaster like that can break someone, and that is no joke.
Before I started working for legal aid services of Oregon, I was a corporate lawyer, so I have seen both sides of things. I actually worked for a large rental agency, and often helped them evict clients so that they could redevelop their properties to charge even higher rates of rent. I am not proud of those days, or what I did working for the devil, as it were, but my life changed when I joined legal aid services of Oregon. I could look in the mirror again, doing what all of us secretly believe is the best thing of all: fighting for the little guy.
I'm not saying that there should be no legal representation for the rich. Far from it. Everyone deserves representation, but it does seem unfair the way that it is set up currently. The poor, if they can not find a legal aid service, are completely out of luck. Even when they can come by legal aid services, they are stuck with a group of lawyers with limited resources when compared with the big legal bully boys out there. They definitely do have a chance, but it is far from an even playing field. Until all people are guaranteed equal legal representation this country will continue to be a place of rank injustice. But until that day comes, I will continue to work in legal aid

College Costs

Have you graduated yet? I'm talking about high school, here. If not, what are your future plans? Have you picked out a few colleges to consider for further education? If you're thinking that college just sounds like a load of bogus extra work and hassle, then you may want to rethink that. In this day and age college is practically a must. A four year BA or BS is just the beginning of it all. So many people recently are going back for their masters just to get that extra edge. Believe me; you need it to vie in this competitive world. The population says it all. We've got like 6 billion others to compete with. You may want to consider that before ruling out higher education. It all comes down to; why would anyone want to hire you? Now that I've slightly annoyed you, and captured your attention, we should talk college costs. These can get a little hairy, if you know what I mean.
Are your folks discussing your future? If so, I bet they brought up college costs. It's inevitable. The price of tuition always comes up amongst parents. If they were smart and stayed ahead of the game, then they probably set up some kind of college fund for you. However, maybe they want you to grapple with college costs on your own. You know, kind of a growing-up experience. Either way you slice it, college costs can be rather stressful. I should know; I struggled with mine on my own. Fortunately there are options out there. Have you checked out FAFSA on the web? This is a great source to financial aid. You should always apply for any and all grants you can get your broke little hands on. This is money you don't have to pay back. We all need more of that. Then there are of course student loans to help you deal with college costs. Many of us take advantage of these at some point in our college careers. You want to find the ones with low interest rates, or no interest rates for that matter.
It's certainly true that college can cost you some bucks. This is why it's imperative to tackle college costs before the time literally arrives. It's all about being prepared. Maybe you are eligible for a great scholarship. Hey, everyone wants a free ride. If this isn't an option, you should definitely turn to the Internet for financing options. The World-Wide-Web makes it that much easier to find those ideal forms of financial aid.

Law School Essay

If you’re applying to law school, your law school essay, along with your LSAT score and your undergraduate GPA, is going to be the most important factor in both what schools will accept you and how much scholarship money they’re going to offer you. Though most schools weight the numbers a little more; your LSAT score and GPA have a big impact, law school essays are definitely taken into account. Moreover, your law school essay will make or break your application if you’re a borderline applicant, and it can even make up for a weak showing in the numbers department. Even if you’re a huge long shot for a particular school the admissions staff will read at least the first paragraph of your law school essay, just to see what you have to offer. On the flipside, if you’re a strong applicant to a particular school a bad law school essay can knock you out of the running if you’re too flippant or stuck-up.
Though some law schools will give a required topic for your law school essay, most will offer up a few suggestions but allow you write on anything your heart desires. When writing your law school essay, avoid repeating any information that can be found on other parts of your application. The admissions staff can read; they know what your GPA is and what activities you’ve taken part in. Instead, fill them in on what isn’t on your application. Write on something that both defines who you are and why you stand out from the crowd. Avoid over-used topics; writing about the most inspirational person you know or what difficulties you’ve overcome are tired topics and won’t get you much attention unless it’s something truly fresh or earth-shattering. If the most inspirational person you know is the Unabomber or you were born without legs and can run a ten second fifty yard dash the admissions staff has probably heard it before.
The admissions staff has gone through thousands of applications, so tell them something about yourself that makes you stand out in their minds. Have you hiked the entire Appalachian Trail? Gone skydiving in a kayak? Raised your baby brother for a summer? Helped a poor family get a house? Your activities don’t necessarily have to be related to the law (though sometimes it helps), the topic you write about just needs to have been important to you. You should also have something to say about the topic, whatever it may be. Say it, and think of the law school essay as a way for the admissions staff to get to know you better.

Fishing again

Anyone into fishing my mates just opened a fishing blog and would love some links back to him , Can link to him text being A Fisherman and url being afisherman.com Thanks for your suport Cheers Kiwi Law