No one likes to get speeding tickets. They are annoying. They are time consuming. They hurt your wallet when you have to pay the fine and if/when you have to pay increased insurance premiums. And you’ve heard that they can be beaten. And a Google search of how to beat a speeding ticket returns millions of results. So how is it done? Bottom line, most people get a traffic ticket attorney to help them out.

But what do speeding ticket attorneys do that a regular old person can’t do? Aren’t speeding tickets the bottom of the barrel when it comes to lawyering? And isn’t any attorney who works on speeding tickets a bad attorney outright? It seems like if they had any skills at all they’d be doing something a little more high stakes.

The short answer is, traffic attorneys are usually pretty good attorneys, and they take their craft seriously. Just like in any industry there are some good ones and some bad ones, some that work hard and enjoy winning cases, and some who are more concerned with collecting fees. But in the end, having a lawyer on your side to fight your speeding ticket can make a huge difference in the outcome of your case, which usually ends up being a dismissal or a finding that the violation wasn’t committed. So, how do they do it? Short answer: they lawyer up just like the guys who are doing multimillion dollar litigation and murder trials.

Most speeding ticket attorneys that I know work a case from top to bottom examining the following three topics: (1) procedural violations; (2) radar maintenance and requirement violations; and (3) substantive violations. Each presents its own opportunities for dismissal or finding of non-committed. And the reason they are done in this order is that the violations in the first category are easier to find and completely destroy the legitimacy of the ticket. When you get into category three, one starts to get into more of a gray area that may or may not result in a non-committed finding.

Procedural violations, as they sound, deal with cops, the prosecutor, and the courts following the rules they are required to follow in traffic infraction cases. Although these are easy to check for a speeding ticket attorney, for most people (i.e. the untrained eye), these would never be caught. And I could try to list all of these, but it would take too much time and would probably be pretty hard to understand. If you find a procedural violation, though, the result is a dismissal of the ticket outright.

Radar maintenance records and maintenance requirements are the second avenue a traffic ticket attorney usually proceeds down to get a speeding ticket dismissed. Because radar is often the method of catching most speeders, evidence of the radar used must be presented into evidence to get the reading of the radar admitted into evidence. And because the radar is a scientific machine that utilizes scientific information specific things must be presented to the court so it can be satisfied the machine does what it is supposed to to and was doing what it was supposed to do on that particular day. Like procedural violations, a violation here results in dismissal of the case (although here it is because the evidence is excluded from the hearing).

And finally, if avenues one or two don’t work out, the third avenue is to determine if there is enough evidence present to allow the court to make a finding of a committed infraction. What this usually means is checking the officers report for mistakes or omissions that make the ticket unenforceable. Again, this goes back to lawyering – making sure they can make the case against your client stick. And often something can be found here to at least make a convincing argument.

In the end, speeding tickets are something that can be beaten. And though it is possible to do it on your own, the skill and expertise that a lawyer brings to the table greatly increases the likelihood of victory on your part. So, the next time you get a traffic infraction, consider hiring a speeding ticket attorney. It could mean the difference between winning and losing.

By: A M Smith

Becoming an attorney requires extensive education, training, and hard work but rewards those who persevere with a career filled with a sense of purpose, importance and financial security. In order to become an attorney, a person must have a bachelor’s degree and then enroll and complete three years of law school before a Juris Doctorate (law degree) is awarded. But the road to becoming an attorney does not end there, as law school graduates in nearly every state must pass the state’s bar exam before being admitted to the bar and allowed to practice law. Once someone becomes an attorney they have a wide range of career paths they may take. Corporate law, criminal law, and family law are a few of the many specializations that a new attorney may choose from. The amount of earnings that an attorney can make is often dependent on the field of law and the experience of the attorney and can range anywhere from $30,000 to millions of dollars a year.

The road to becoming an attorney begins in college. Admission to law school requires a bachelor’s degree. Unlike many other careers requiring a bachelor’s degree such as medicine, law schools do not require that an applicant have a degree in any particular major. In fact, the American Bar Association (A.B.A.) “does not recommend any undergraduate majors or group of courses to prepare for a legal education.” as “students are admitted to law school from almost every academic discipline.” (http://www.abanet.org/legaled/prelaw/prep.html) The only advice from the A.B.A. is that students are “encouraged to pursue an area of study that interests and challenges you, while taking advantage of opportunities to develop your research and writing skills.”

Once a future attorney finishes their undergraduate schooling, they must apply to and complete law school. Before applying to law school, a student must take the Law School Admissions Test. Once that is done, the application process can begin. Once a student is admitted, they must complete three years of law school before receiving a Juris Doctorate or a law degree. However, there is still one more step a future attorney must take before becoming a practicing lawyer. The bar exam, according to Lan Pham, a recent law school graduate and bar examinee, “is a hellish three-day ordeal the likes of which I have never faced.” In California, the exam involves six one-hour essays, two three-hour essays, and 100 multiple choice questions. A grade of roughly 70% is required to pass. Unfortunately, all law school graduates must pass their state’s bar exam before becoming a licensed attorney.

Once someone completes four years of college, three years of law school, and passes the bar exam, they may now practice law as an attorney. However, there are still choices to be made. A law degree and license allows a person to choose from a wide range of different career paths. One can choose to be a corporate lawyer, whose duties include negotiating deals between large corporations, setting up new corporations, or ensuring that large corporations obey the law. Family lawyers handle matters such as child adoptions and divorces. There are lawyers who handle wills, prosecute criminals, defend criminals, sue people, defend people being sued as well as many other specialties. There are private lawyers, military lawyers, and government lawyers. An attorney has almost infinite possibilities when it comes to a career path.

The career path that an attorney chooses often determines how long they work and how much they get paid. Even among lawyers in the same field, the ranges of work hours and pay vary greatly. According to Mr. Pham, corporate lawyers are among the well-paid lawyers but also work some of the longest hours. It is not unheard of for an associate at a large law firm to regularly put in 80 hour work weeks. Although sole practitioners have more control over their work hours, many of them work long hours since most of them are working on several cases at the same time. Government lawyers, including prosecutors and city attorneys, usually have shorter hours but also generally get paid less than those in private practice. Public interest lawyers, including those who represent the poor or disadvantaged groups including minorities, children, and the elderly are among the lowest paid attorneys. However, they have among the highest job satisfaction rates among all attorneys. According to America’s Career InfoNet the median salary for an attorney in 2003 was $92,700 nationwide.

Becoming an attorney is a long and difficult process requiring a large amount of intense education and training. Being an attorney often requires long hours and a lot of hard work. However, attorneys are rewarded with a career that offers a large measure of prestige and income as well as the freedom to choose a wide range of fields in which to work in.

By: Mathew Simond

The dream of starting fresh in a new country can sometimes be hampered by economy and racial separation. The effect of such issues have a double negative effect as it also affects the expectations an person gets from society as well as how they perceive themselves as a citizen of their new country.

Hopeful immigrants may thus find themselves stuck somewhere between fulfilling their dreams and “living up to” the role they feel society has assigned them.

The problem outlined above does not automatically mean that very successful immigration by any means would be impossible. When it comes to making the process as elegant as possible, a good attorney may play a big part.

The Immigration Attorney Free Consultation

Indeed, immigrants today are facing many challenges. This is why an immigration attorney free consultation is now admitted to those who are in need of great assistance to be able to acclimatize to a new country that they want to live in. It is certain that these proceedings shall give the hopeful immigrants an opportunity to have an overview of the arrangements of the society that they want to reside in.

Trough the said immigration attorney free consultation service, an immigrant too would have a better chance of having the essential meet with an immigration and naturalization attorney. This stage is needed in order to becoming a legally owned resident. It is also a very important step in truly becoming a part of the new society.

In many western countries there is already a kind of “we and them” kind of thinking in place often, rightly or not, based on the level of education and income. Probably, the situation is governed by the fact that the human society today is so diverse that people have already applied the differences that they have from each other as a basis of the status that each person is expected to belong to.

It goes without saying that the challenges of immigrating are hard, but with the help of immigration attorney free consultation services, a person or group of people wanting to transfer nationality and residence would get the absolutely chance to be successful in the said process of social adjustment.

By: Bob H Clarke