Trade

Trade laws are enacted to ensure industry competitiveness in the United States. The U.S. Congress, by virtue of its constitutional prerogative of regulating interstate and foreign commerce, enacted several bills, including the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Trade Act of 1974, to govern trade. The American Constitution ensures that the country is a free market. American trade law do not just govern interstate trade, but also trade between the United States and foreign countries, to ensure the existence of free trade and prohibit the occurrence of anti-competitive business practices. Trade law has evolved through the years, in reaction of the constantly changing face of trade, both internally and internationally.

Trade law is a complicated area of the legal practice as it touches upon numerous other areas of the law, such as business laws, employment laws, tax laws, and antitrust laws. There are numerous issues accompanying trade and commerce, and each issue often require the assistance of attorneys who are expert in specific niche in law. With respect to intrastate commerce, state law applies. Resolving trade disputes arising from intrastate commerce relationship may not be as difficult as resolving trade disputes arising from interstate commerce relationship as only one set of law governs. Nevertheless, it is imperative for traders and business owners to seek the advice of expert trade law attorney as there are still nuances in state trade law that may not seem very obvious to even the most sophisticated of traders. Disputes arising from interstate commerce becomes increasingly more difficult as state trade law varies and may have little commonalities, except in the promotion of free trade.

Workers, being one of the most crucial element in trade and commerce, are protected by numerous trade laws, especially against job loss or reduced wages. Workers' rights are enshrined by different set of laws that interlink with trade laws. In addition, specific trade laws protect consumers from abusive and conspiratorial business practices. It is the Federal Trade Commission's main job to ensure that consumers are protected from fraudulent and deceptive business practices. While trade laws are in place to ensure a free economy, it cannot be helped that some industries form mergers. The FTC ensures that these mergers do not restrict competition, which harm consumers.

Trade law, when applied to international commerce, becomes even more complicated as international law, in general, or specific treatises, govern. The U.S. has trade agreements with almost all nations in the world, but each trade agreement is different depending on the industry. The U.S. also regularly limits the import and export of certain products with a specific country as a matter of foreign policy. Unprecedented events in the international arena also gives rise to amendment of American trade policy in order to protect the business interest of the United States. In the area of trade law, it is imperative to employ the services of an expert trade law attorney who can examine the law of its legislative intent as this is crucial for the interpretation and adjudication of the law.

Areas of Law

Personal Injury Law - Legal Information and Resources

Personal Injury

Personal injury law was enacted to ensure that individuals who suffered misfortune as a result of the negligence of others are adequately compensated for medical expenses, loss of wages, emotional distress or disability. Personal injury suits are commonly referred to as tort cases.

The most important premise in personal injury cases is negligence. Without establishing negligence by the defendant, a personal injury claim may not arise. Negligence is the failure to exercise certain standard of care expected from a reasonably prudent person in certain circumstances. For instance, a driver is required by law to follow traffic rules, such as driving at a certain speed and stopping at certain locations. When the driver is speed driving and causes injury to someone else, the driver is negligent as he was not driving according to what is required of him by the law. In another case, employers are required by law to provide protective gears to employees who are exposed to risky work. If these employees are injured as a result of not being provided protective gear, the employers are negligent and will be liable by law.

Once negligence is proven, the defendant is required to compensate the plaintiff for all injuries. Damages include punitive damages, property damage, medical expenses, and emotional distress. The calculation of damages for some injuries are easy, while the calculation of other damages may be difficult. For instance, the calculation of loss of earning capacity may require expert testimony.

Filing a personal injury suit is not as easy as proving negligence. One of the difficult aspects prior to initiating a personal injury suit would be identifying the proper defendant. It is thus imperative to hire an expert attorney to help the plaintiff identify the negligent defendants and additional defendants who may be liable for the negligence. Additional defendants could mean a landlord, in the case of a slip-and-fall accident, or insurance companies.

While negligence is an important aspect of personal injury cases, personal injury damages can also be claimed as a result of the intentional acts of other people. In these types of cases, which include assault, trespass, false imprisonment, the defendant intentionally inflicted injuries upon the plaintiff. A defendant may also be held liable, despite exhibiting standard of care required by law. This is called strict liability and happens in cases like demolitions or transporting hazardous materials.

Defective products also result to personal injuries. In defective product suits, the plaintiff will prove that the manufacturer's negligence in the design and sale of a product resulted to personal injuries. Manufacturers can also be sued for strict liability. Large class action lawsuits often start out as product liability cases.

Personal injury law does not just give those who suffered injuries remedies from the law, personal injury law also gives those who are accused of negligence defenses to ward off abusive claims. A defendant may argue three things to relieve him of any liability: (1) the plaintiff was partially or wholly responsible for his action; (2) the plaintiff assumed the risk; and (3) the plaintiff allowed the action that caused his personal injury. Many personal injury suits have been successfully thrown out because the defendants presented strong arguments. It is thus crucial to hire an expert personal injury attorney to ensure that personal injuries are compensated for.

Areas of Law

Civil And Commercial Mediation Law - Legal Information and Resources

Civil And Commercial Mediation

Mediation and arbitration are in place to induce parties to settle their disputes prior to or instead of initiating any legal action as litigation is lengthy and costly and only adds to the swelling court docket. Both arbitration and mediation involve a neutral third party to help the disputing parties resolve their issues. In contrast to arbitration, mediation is less formal and the parties focus on negotiation rather on seeking the ruling of the neutral third-party. While the main goal of the ADR is to eliminate the need for litigation, ADR can also be used as a process of resolving a pending litigation, when courts require parties to submit to ADR prior to proceeding to trial.

Mediation is used to resolve both civil and commercial disputes. Mediation is not just limited to solving legal disputes. The process is also increasingly used in resolving administrative and community issues. Mediation law is a growing area of the law as studies show that parties who underwent mediation are more likely to be successful in resolving their disputes compared to parties who immediately went to litigation. Recognizing the usefulness of mediation in both court and non-court settings, the Uniform Mediation Act was enacted to be adopted by all American states to promote uniformity in the use of mediation law.

Not all states, however, adopted the UMA, so the procedures governing mediations still vary from state to state. This means that, despite the aim of mediation to eliminate litigation, there will be legal disputes arising from the process that will need the expertise of mediation law attorneys. For one, if there are no uniform rules on the language of settlement resulting from mediation, one party may choose to go to another state to have a court there interpret such settlement.

A mediator, who is a neutral third-party trained in negotiations, presides over mediations and assists the parties to come up with a settlement that is tailored to each of the parties' needs. Mediation is voluntary so that the parties are in control and in cooperation with each other. There instances though when a court will direct mediation. Civil and commercial mediation still require attorneys as not all mediators are familiar with the law. If the dispute is legal, the parties, including the mediator, may not be able to reach a settlement that will resolve the dispute without the help of expert mediation law attorneys.

The goal of mediation is negotiation to come to a voluntary settlement, but a settlement is not always the outcome of mediations. Parties who undergo mediation are not bound by the settlement reached, so any party can go to court and sue the other party, bringing their dispute back to square one. It is for this reason that civil and commercial mediation law attorneys are needed to help the parties reach a win-win resolution and avoid the costly, lengthy and burdensome litigation process that may not also result to the desired outcome of the parties. Success rates of mediation is high and, if successful, can save both parties huge amounts of money that will be drained when the disputes are taken to court.

Areas of Law