US News Rankings For Newer Law Schools

Dan Filler

Here are the rankings.

Faculty Peer Reputation (1-5 scale) (first year of provisional accreditation is in parenthesis)

1. Cardozo (1978) (2.7)
1. George Mason (1980) (2.7)
3. Georgia St. (1984) (2.3)
4. UNLV (2000) (2.2)
5. Pace (1978) (2.0)
6. CUNY (1985) (1.9)
7. St. Thomas (MN) (2003) (1.8)
8. Touro (1983) (1.7)
8. Northern Illinois (1978) (1.7)
8. Roger Williams (1995) (1.7)
8. Texas Wesleyan (1994) (1.7)
12. Chapman (1998) (1.6)
13. Campbell (1979) (1.5)
13. Florida International (1.5)
13. Mississippi College (1980) (1.5)
16. Ave Maria (2002) (1.4)
16. Thomas Jefferson (1996) (1.4)
16. Regent (1989) (1.4)
16. St. Thomas (FL) (1988) (1.4)
16. Whittier (1978) (1.4)
21. Appalachian (2001) (1.3)
21. Florida Coastal (1999) (1.3)
23. Barry (1.2) (2002)

Lawyer and Judge Reputation (1-5 scale)

1. George Mason (3.4)
2. Cardozo (2.9)
2. Georgia State (2.9)
4. UNLV (2.4)
5. Campbell (2.3)
5. Pace (2.3)
7. Mississippi College (2.2)
7. St. Thomas (MN) (2.2)
7. Whittier (2.2)
10. Ave Maria (2.1)
10. Northern Illinois (2.1)
10. St. Thomas (FL) (2.1)
13. Touro (2.0)
14. Roger Williams (1.9)
14. Thomas Jefferson (1.9)
16. Regent (1.8)
17. CUNY (1.7)
17. Florida Coastal (1.7)
19. Appalachian (1.6)
19. Chapman (1.6)
19. Florida International (1.6)
19. Texas Wesleyan (1.6)
23. Barry (1.2)

New York Personal Injury Lawyer can handle the intricacies of a case

Are you really looking for a person who can assist you in all the legalities of a personal injury case? Well, it is the personal injury lawyer that can help you in this regard. It is because he or she would be the person having complete and thorough knowledge of all the laws that can help you in winning the case. Such a lawyer has to be updated on all the old and new laws, so that they can prove their point before the judge. No matter you are staying in New York or Manhattan or any other state, personal injury lawyer will definitely manage to take you out of all the worries.

Basically, the main job of the New York personal injury lawyer is to file suit on behalf of the victim and carry out all the legal formalities to help in recovering the compensation from default party. Taking the compensation becomes a mandatory thing in the matter of personal injury. Personal injury is something that can happen to anyone at any point of time. Some of the incidents that lead to such cases are accident, theft or even medical malpractice. Suppose, a person is suffering from some problem even after undergoing a medical procedure, here the person can seek compensation.

Though New York personal injury lawyer can be your best legal assistant, but you have to be a bit careful in hiring the services of such lawyer. After all, it is the matter of importance that cannot be given to just anyone. Personal injury lawyer has to have proper qualification for this and should also be registered to the legal authority of that state. Along with necessary qualifications, personal injury lawyer needs to be experienced so as to handle the intricacies in your case with perfection. All this information will help the lawyer to chalk out certain points that will have the capability of turning the tide in your favor.

Like all other people, you would like to hire the services of personal injury lawyer that can complete all the legal formalities within your allocated budget. Who doesn’t likes to save money? When it comes to the matter of recovering compensation from the default party, then you and your personal injury lawyer has to be a little cautious. The reason for this is that your opponent can come up with many points that will prove their point worthy. After all, the opponent part would not like to part with their money for any reason and they would try their best to save it.

Sometimes, it may happen that you are in urgent need of New York personal injury lawyer and may not be able to find one. It is this time that internet would come to your rescue. All you need is internet connection to your computer and you will be able to look for the one with just a single click. It is not just that you will find their contact information only; you will also be getting acquainted with their services, rates charged and performance notifications. All this will help you in deciding on the best New York personal injury lawyer for your case.
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Hadiya Robins is a legal expert. She works for Pulversthompson and gives advice to clients who are looking for New york lawyer, New York personal injury lawyer, Attorney Immigration New York. For legal advice and to get services of a Lawyer in New York visit www.pulversthompson.com

Child Support and Private Educational Costs

Copyright (c) 2007 Law Offices of Donald P. Schweitzer

In today's world, parents often begin planning for a child's education far in advance. Most Los Angeles County residents are not satisfied with their neighborhood public school. Instead, they search for designer private schools in order to provide their children with the best possible educational foundation money can buy. If their children are lucky enough to be accepted into these prestigious programs, parents are then faced with the staggering tuition costs associated with these institutions.

This focus on education does not dissipate simply because a marriage ends. The need for a quality education remains a priority. Unfortunately, the costs of divorce and the death of the community income may cause some parents to question the practicality of exorbitant tuition costs.

In families where one party generates the majority of the income, this analysis becomes even more complicated. If you are the high earner, does California law require you to cover some of (or all of) the costs of private school tuition? If you are the low earner or non-earner, does California law allow you to rely on the other party's higher income to support the costs of private school tuition?

And even in situations where each party's income is relatively similar, does California law impose some kind of equal division of such costs?

Private education as a discretionary "add-on"

The California Family Code sets forth a mandatory formula for child support that theoretically takes into account each parent's "circumstances and station in life" and "ability to pay" child support. This formula, however, does not include "special" and unique child-care expenses a particular family may encounter. In order to provide for these additional expenses, the Family Code has created two types of child support "add-ons"--one entitled "mandatory" and one entitled "discretionary."

Educational costs for a child are deemed discretionary rather than mandatory. This means that a particular judge has the discretion, or the freedom of choice, to determine whether or not she considers the proposed cost to be appropriate as an additional expense to a parent. This requires a party's counsel to make a convincing argument that the private school tuition should, or should not, be paid.

A legal argument for or against such an add-on should address several issues, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. Specific Needs of the Child: Does the child have a special physical or mental disability that is most appropriately addressed at a private institution? If a child has documented and undisputed special needs, a court is very likely to order that they be met.
2. Length of Attendance: How long has the child been attending the school? A court is more likely to order that private school tuition continue if the child has been there for several years and is at a critical stage of development in which removal from the school would be against his or her best interests.
3. Alternatives: Where would the child attend school if he or she did not attend the private institution? What is the reputation of the local public school? Is the neighborhood in which the public school is located safe?
4. Ability to Pay: What is the financial situation of the parties? Can each parent, or one high-earning parent, pay the tuition and still continue to pay for mandated child support and other expenses he or she may have? This factor must always be taken into consideration, regardless of how compelling any other factors may seem. This is because, as a practical matter, many families cannot afford to maintain the lifestyle they lived during the marriage. As a result, nonessential expenses, like private education, must be eliminated.

Allocation of private educational costs

If your counsel is successful in persuading the court to order an add-on for private educational expenses, then the court must also determine how that add-on will be allocated between the parents. If no specific allocation is requested in one's moving papers to the court, the tuition will likely be divided "one-half to each parent." If you believe an alternative allocation is merited, documentation should be presented to corroborate such a belief. One common alternative to the equal division of such add-on expenses is an allocation corresponding to each party's respective income. In this calculation, the court looks to the net disposable incomes of each party, after they are adjusted by counsel to include any spousal support and mandated child support that has already been ordered paid. The court then examines these adjusted incomes, and determines what portion of the add-on would be appropriate for the higher earner to provide. One must exercise caution in advocating this alternative allocation to the court, since a judge may order the standard equal allocation of the add-on if the adjusted net disposable incomes of the parties fail to show a true disparity between the two incomes.
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Kayla Boucher
c/o Law Offices of Donald P. Schweitzer
201 South Lake Avenue
Suite 700
Pasadena, California, 91101
626-683-8113
http://www.PasadenaLawOffice.com

Your Online Video May Cost You Thousands

You've just gotten married, and are traveling the world with your new spouse on your honeymoon. A good friend who filmed the wedding and reception has just finished putting together the footage. He has posted it on YouTube so you both can relive your wedding day on your honeymoon.

The video is wonderful. It illuminates several moments you'd missed in the excitement of the day. Your friend has even included your song, Endless Love, as the background music for the video.

After the honeymoon, as you unpack the doorbell rings. Opening the door you find a man asking for your signature for a package. You think, "Which aunt or uncle must be sending money"? When the deliveryman smiles, hands you the package and says, "You've been served." you are surprise and horrified.

Confused, you tear the package open to find a lawsuit for $10,000 for copyright infringement. You wonder to yourself--could this be right? How did I infringe any copyrights? Out of curiosity you scan the pages of the lawsuit for a logical explanation. Then you find it: "the illegal use of Endless Love by Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross in your wedding video posted on YouTube".

With all the attention YouTube has gotten from the Viacom lawsuit for $1 billion for unauthorized distribution and infringe of copyright laws, everyone has overlooked a possible next wave of lawsuits to come. Those are for the vast majority of online videos that are made by small home videographers who have included music in their videos that has not been licensed for use.

Typically music publishers and record labels have turned a blind eye to home and wedding videographers who produce their own work. Shared with an audience of usually less then 10 close personal friends and family, these home videographers have all but been ignored for years. This was before sites like You Tube, Google Video, ChickShack, AsSeenInVT and a handful of others began creating an outlet for anyone with a video camera. Now home videographers need to be warned. You may soon find yourself involved in lawsuits for illegal use of a copyrighted protected musical recording, the fines for which could be in excess of $15,000 per song.

Remember how fiercely the recording industry went after everyone from children to old ladies who downloaded songs from sites like Napster? It may be only a matter of time until they start going after videographers in the same manner.
Most home videographers are unaware of the limitations on using copyright protected music. The vast number of home Videographers wrongly assume that they can synchronize or place any music they want in their video production. In the past, a small home and wedding Videographer would usually get away with this. The problem is these wannabee Quentin Tarantino's have now begun distributing their productions to more then just a few friends and family. A video loaded online has the potential market of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of viewers, and if you've created something popular using YouTube, you may be the next victim.

Local TV stations in America can pay tens of thousands of dollars for licensing music for their stations. This price can go into the millions if they desire to use popular artists songs.

For Videographers who have uploaded productions onto sites like YouTube and are now nervous, let me educate you a bit on how licensing works.

Simply put, copyright laws state that any music under copyright protection may not be used for any kind of video production, media presentation, websites, etc--that is, without approval from the copyright owner. Several types of licenses are usually required. These may include some or all of the following: Synchronization, Performance and Master licenses.

Now before you stress over the fact that no one will see your masterpiece or that big the bad RIAA is coming to get you -- there is a solution. First, you must remove the copyrighted music you have in your videos. Then you have the option to either write your own music for your video (most of us are not musically creative enough to go this route) - or license music from an Online Production Music Library.

Online Production Music Libraries typically lease music from their catalogs on either an individual per use basis, called a drop, or blanket licenses that will cover an entire project. The advantages of online production music libraries are the scope, depth and breadth of the catalogs. Pricing ranges greatly, depending on many variables.

Most production libraries do not create music specifically for amateur videographers, but Recently, an L.A. based production music library called TunEdge Music announced it would give special licensing for web distribution. TunEdge Music is providing access to their online catalog and for a reasonable fee their music can be licensed specifically for online creations.
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This article was coauthored by Mike Bradbury and Joel Thatcher. Joel is a senior employee of Tunedge Production Music. Tunedge provides production music solutions for professionals and amateurs alike through an online interface. Mike is an analyst for Objectware, Inc, an Atlanta web design company.