A litigation practice, where most income is derived from contingency fees, is not for the faint of heart, particularly for solo and small law firms. While the eventual payout can be substantial, a firm can experience long periods where little or no income is generated. This can doom a small firm or solo practice without adequate reserves.
Counting down, here is the top 10 list of things to remember when creating a structure.
Structured settlements as we know them today came about in 1982 when the U.S. Congress passed The Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-473). The act enables injury victims to obtain customized structured cash payments plans through insurance annuities that assure them guaranteed, tax-free income over time.
Special Needs Trusts (SNTs) are an excellent way to hold the assets of injured parties while preserving their needs-based public benefits such as MediCal (Medicaid) and SSI. Certain rules apply when using any type of SNT, whether individual or pooled.
While I don’t usually ever recommend selling structured settlement annuity payments, there may be very rare cases where there is no other choice. The factoring horror stories mention in the WSJ article took place in Virginia and Florida.
In March 2014--a little over a year ago--a demographic milestone was reached in California. For the first time, Latinos made up California's largest racial/ethnic group--nudging out the white non-Hispanic population 39 percent to 38.8 percent. According to the Pew Research Center, 33 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. say they do not speak English well.
Structured settlements have helped injured individuals and their families obtain financial security even in the face of lifelong medical challenges. According to the National Structured Settlement Association, more than 25,000 such arrangements are drawn up every year.
Questions come up all the time about the eligibility requirements for Social Security and Medicaid benefits. The link below takes you to a Social Security Administration (SSA) webpage that lays out, in surprisingly clear terms, who is and who is not eligible.
I was recently asked to share some of my articles and blog posts on www.Casetext.com, a site that provides access to legal research and analysis from lawyers, academics and other professionals from across the country.
I've just returned from the CAOC seminar in Maui where I was the Program Sponsor and had the honor of speaking on deferred attorney fees. While there, I heard many informative speakers. One session that really stood out was by Brett Schreiber, a partner with Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire LLP. His topic was "Litigating Traumatic Brain Injury Cases."
