NEWNAN PRATLAW|| 14th amendment essay

The Supreme Court is reviewing a Chicago gun ban statute this term. The case is McDonald v. Chicago. Mr. McDonald, an elderly man, was upset that on 3 different occasions "Utes" came to his home to "visit", would not leave when he asked, demanded that they vacate his property and then stole everything he owned that was valuable. Mr. McDonald decided to purchase a gun to help him persuade the "Utes" the next time they came to visit that they should leave his home without looting it. Mr. McDonald's acts were apparently illegal according to Chicago's handgun ban. Legally, the case poses the prospect of the Supreme Court finally issuing a decision as to the extent of the scope of the 14th amendment and if they take on that topic the case could be one of the most important cases in our lifetime. It is more likely that the Court will just strike down the handgun ban and limit its decision to the specific statute. I posted the link on my blog at HOT LEGAL TOPICS [Click it to go there]. Hope you find the topic relevant enough to follow and keep up with the Court's decision.

MAKES COPIES OF DOCUMENTS THAT WILL BE EVIDENCE...

...when it comes to documents.

Over the past 23 years I have come to appreciate the fact that Judges as a whole do not like being given documents with highlighted passages or handwritten notes beside the part of the document you think is important. Doing that is really close to a demand that the Court become a participant in the blind men and the elephant philosophical exercise about the scope of perception: The Blind Men And The Elephant Fable and they do not like the Socratic Method to the extreme of banality, i.e., rain is rain you cannot assert you do not understand it until someone explains it to you and you "feel" it. What all this means in plain English is: (a) The Judge controls his or her court room and no one else has any right to control it. So make a copy of any document you feel the urge to write on, so your lawyer can present the 'clean' one to the Judge and draw the Judge's attention to the passage you have highlighted in your 'dirty' copy by asking the Court's permission to draw its attention to that passage; (b) A testifier's inability to grasp easy questions and evasive answers soon turns a Judge off [and a Jury Too]. Do not engage in Tabula Rasa Socratic Responses [inane question answers to straightforward questions], and; always remember: Neither Judge nor Jury need to be hit over the head with information they can clearly see or hear. They really can be trusted to figure it out.

2010 BIG CHANGES FOR THE GOOD

R. KEITH PRATER, P.C. will change its name over the course of 2010 to PRATER & ASSOCIATES as Attorney John D. Duncan has associated with the Firm. Keith Prater is excited about the prospect of mentoring John in the beginning of his practice. John has worked hard to gain his law license and has since associating with the Firm proven himself more than capable, winning outright his first trial, a difficult modification of child support and medical payments case, and obtaining a Not Guilty verdict in his second trial in a misdemeanor case. John's association will allow the firm to handle all the calls coming in from prospective clients many of which were not being returned as the firm's practice grew so large over the past two years that on multiple occasions new prospective client calls were not returned because workload and returning existing client calls consumed the entire workday. We have since John cam on board in October been promptly returning calls more than 95% of the time.

CONTACT R K PRATER TODAY

CONTACT ME FOR AN APPOINTMENT BY CALLING 770-253-7778 OR BY GOING TO MY WEBSITE AND EMAILING ME VIA THE EMAIL FORM FOUND THERE.

IF YOU CALL ME AND WE DON'T HIT IT OFF I WILL ...

REFER YOU TO ANOTHER GREAT LOCAL LAWYER OR TWO OR THREE TO CHOOSE FROM. THERE IS NO ONE GREAT WIZARD OF OZ LAWYER HERE OR ANYWHERE BUT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REALLY GREAT ONES AROUND HERE ||||

WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY, here is a repost with solid logic for you to consider:

First: always consult face to face with an attorney regarding any matter that is serious to you.

Second: The ancient mathmatical logic mandate is alive and well today: "All things being equal the simplest answer is the correct answer". This is the anglicization of the latin maxim attributed to the mathematician Ockham, called "Ockham or Occam's Razor": Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem or "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily."

Third: The 'Devil Is In The Details', always was, and always will be. || The hard decision is deciding when all things are in fact equal and what the things are that are equal. That is where experienced legal counsel comes in ~

Fourth: Experience is not just a linear time continuim but also requires/mandates actual real involvement in significant disputes and litigation; a lawyer could, after all, get his/her license, go to sleep like Rumpelstiltskin, wake up 50 years later and parade around proclaiming "Come see me!! I am a Lawyer with 50 years experience" ~ of course the experience would be that he or she had been asleep at the wheel for the past 50 years! Unfortunately some lawyers proclaim just about that.

Fifth: Experience is a great teacher - being asleep at the wheel not so much. Hire a great lawyer with real life experience and a lot of it.

A FEW THOUGHTS FOR CHRISTMAS TIME

Rambling thoughts at Christmas Time: Children are egocentric and get more so the older they age. Do not transpose your beliefs in how you think they should see divorce. Remember they get 2 Christmases. They will wonder if the divorce was their fault and need to be told it was not ~ once. Like horses and pets, Children not only learn from our words, but our tone, cues, gestures, etcetera. The phrase 'grown children' is an oxymoron: after age 18 human beings in the United States are as a matter of law no longer children but citizens, sons and daughters ~ and childhood is but memory. Make your memories fond. Don't qualify to go on the Jerry Springer Show. Here's Wishing You Nothing but The Best! Godspeed you in your life's journey, may you Live Well, Love Truly and Prosper From Your Endeavors!

A GREAT NEWNAN LAWYER

If you are about to go through a divorce, custody dispute, or support modification you want to make sure that you are represented by a great lawyer. How can you make sure that you get everything you want and that the divorce is clean and final if you don’t have good and real legal representation? A divorce lawyer can smooth out the process for you and help you understand the ‘fine print’ of divorce proceedings. You are going to want to work with one of the top divorce lawyers you can find in your area and this article will give you the edge in your search for the divorce lawyer you need to hire. Now don’t take the attitude that you don’t have the money to hire and work with a top divorce lawyer in your area. Though your apprehension is normal, especially since the top divorce lawyers in any area can charge top dollar–way beyond the budget of any ordinary person about to go through a divorce, you need to know that getting on the short list of top divorce lawyers in your area requires a lot of success and that comes from doing a lot of cases not just the million dollar ones. So what makes a top divorce lawyer? Is it the law school he or she attended; the number of high-profile divorces under his or her belt; the cost of legal fees being charged? While these are usual considerations in making that determination, there are others. Top divorce lawyers don’t soar to the top just because they are hired by famous people or because they charge a lot to represent you; they get to the top by hard work hard and by building a good reputation with the Courts as lawyers that are fair and negotiate cases well and when in front of the Court are there for serious business and not for minor details or ridiculous assertions. You will know that you are working with one of the top divorce lawyers when you witness for yourself the lawyer’s level of professionalism. He or she will know the ins and outs of divorce and family law, and the lawyer will take a keen interest in every detail of your case and offer you some words of wisdom based on his or her experience from years before the Court your case is in. He or she will also stay on top of developments in divorce law, and will be constantly adding to his or her knowledge by attending divorce and family law seminars. You also know that you’re dealing with a good lawyer if he or she really takes time to talk to you and learn about your case and discuss strategic ways to present the case in the best light for successfully reaching your goals. Keep in mind that the top divorce lawyers are usually in high demand, and secure them immediately. And be forewarned that a top divorce lawyer is not one that requires a huge up front fee but is one that has a large hourly rate. Don't fear that large hourly rate as a top divorce lawyer will bill fairly and frequently won't charge for short calls and short office visits. Call PRATER & ASSOCIATES today to talk to a top lawyer: 770-253-7778