What is Considered an Unfair Performance Review

While there is no statutory definition of what constitutes an unfair performance review, certain characteristics may cause it to be unfair or to be perceived as such by employees. For example, performance reviews that are blatantly discriminatory, such as an inherent bias against one or more protected categories of employees (i.e. religious discrimination), may not be fairly actionable, although the presence of an identifiable discriminatory intent is, at a minimum, strong evidence of unlawful discrimination. In other words, if the employer’s bias against a protected group influences the employment action and is causally related to any adverse employment decisions, the employee may have a claim for disparate treatment under Title VII if the performance review adversely influenced the employment decision .
Employers should also keep in mind that performance reviews are often inclusive of unhealthy workplace behavior, including bullying, which is not a protected class and does not fall under any federal anti-discrimination or anti-harassment provision, but may still lead to liability. Bullying refers to repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons by one or more perpetrators. Types of bullying include verbal abuse, offensive conduct/behaviors which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, and work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done. Although there are no specific anti-bullying laws, many states have enacted anti-bullying laws, which are often similar to yet different than the state-based anti-discrimination laws. Such state laws can be very effective in protecting employees against retaliation for reporting or complaining about workplace bullying. This is especially valuable when federal or state employment laws do not provide the necessary protection for an employee who claims to experience bullying behavior.

What is a Nominee Shareholder?

Nominee shareholders are common in incorporated companies. In a corporate form, shares are easily divisible, making it easier to manage a number of investors. Usually there is a single public face to an incorporated company; the corporation itself, while sources of capital may come from many individuals and entities.
A nominee shareholder is an individual or an entity who holds a legal title to, but not the beneficial interest in, shares owned by another individual. The nominee is typically listed on the public records of the company as owning shares , but they do not exercise the rights associated with the shares on their own behalf (such as voting at shareholder meetings). For all intents and purposes, a nominee shareholder can be a completely invisible party in the corporate structure, and this is the intent.
The most obvious benefit of using a nominee shareholder is to create a degree of anonymity. No matter how small the shareholding position, if someone holds shares in a corporation, then their full name will be on the corporate register. While it is possible to use a corporation or trust as a shareholder, the nominee shareholder is meant to be listed on the public records.

What is a Legal Intake Specialist?

A legal intake specialist is an individual working for a law firm who is responsible for communicating with prospective clients and qualifying their potential case. A legal intake specialist is sometimes referred to as an intake coordinator, legal intake manager or client intake coordinator. The terms tend to be interchangeable, but they all perform the same objective for a law firm: servicing all of the firm’s potential clients and assessing their cases before they are consulted with a lawyer.
So why is a legal intake specialist so important, and what do they work on?
In a law firm, a legal intake specialist is responsible for answering the firm’s phone calls, logging web inquiries and handling other miscellaneous tasks that directly relate to the prospective client. They gather information about the potential client and their issue, qualifying cases to be accepted by the attorney before becoming the firm’s client.
An inexperienced legal intake specialist can end up turning away potential dollars to the easily distracted agency. If they are not properly educated on the topic of case assessment, the firm risks having cases that could have generated revenue turned away needlessly .
The legal intake specialist is responsible for being the gatekeeper of the firm. According to Amazon best-selling author, intake expert and speaker Amy L. Timms of CaseFuel, any law firm that works on a contingency fee basis could be losing 60-70% of its cases. Many law firms attempt to multitask and perform case intake and even paralegal duties at the same time; this is a huge mistake!
Being a legal intake specialist is a full-time job. An intake specialist is a brand ambassador for the firm. They need to be well trained, learn the ins and outs of the firm’s business and needs, and educate themselves on legal issues so that they are able to take the initiative when it comes to gathering information about the prospective client and their legal needs.
Consider all the skill sets needed for a law firm when selecting a qualified legal intake specialist:
An effective, successful intaker takes the role of heat shield, absorbing the heat from potential clients, before being transferred to the attorney. Additionally, successful intake specialists possess a good attitude and respect for the potential client and their needs.

Legitimate Grounds to Threaten Legal Action

The law requires lawyers who willfully threaten or bring frivolous legal actions against others to risk loss of both their professional reputation and perhaps their law license. So, what are the basic legal "prerequisites" that must be met? Here’s the gist of it:

1. There must be a legitimate basis for believing that the threatened claim has merit. Generally speaking, this requires a factual basis to support each element of a properly stated cause of action in the jurisdiction. In most cases, the attorney must receive sufficient evidence before threatening legal proceedings that the evidentiary support for each essential element of the cause of action exists; otherwise, if the claim is not viable because its factual foundation is lacking, the claim is frivolous.
2. The threatened claim must be based upon a proper legal theory and have a legal basis. This means, effectively, that the threatened claim should have a textually arguable legal foundation in applicable statutes, case law, administrative regulations, or rules of courts.

3 . The client must be advised of the potential consequences of pursuing the claim (becoming liable for malicious prosecution and/or abuse of process, among others). A failure to adequately inform the client of these potential consequences can hurt the attorney in the event of a later malicious prosecution/legal action brought against the client.

4. The attorney must have a good-faith factual basis for concluding that the client has a rational belief that the merits of the threatened claim outweigh its potential risks, and the factual basis for a conclusion to that effect is enough for the attorney to convey the information above to his/her client.
5. The attorney’s purpose for threatening the legal action must be innocent and cannot be for an ulterior purpose. So, if the motivation for threatening legal action is to force the recipient to abandon legitimate claims, the attorney may be liable. This is not to say that legitimate claims can’t be pursued, just that the purpose for bringing the suit or threatening suit cannot simply be to harass the other party or benefit the attorney’s client at the other party’s risk.

Introduction to Latin Legal Terms

The use of Latin in legal terminology has been long-standing, with roots tracing back as far as ancient Rome. However, even today, Latin remains firmly entrenched in the field of law. In fact, despite living in a time of international legal parlance, the use of Latin legal terms is strong. Latin terms are frequently used in legal documents and proceedings, serving as time-honored standards that streamline communication across various areas of law.
Latin legal terms are not only formalities, but they also promote precise understanding amongst practitioners and judges. They are regularly utilized in judicial opinions, scholarly publications, and other legal documents in a variety of jurisdictions, and are of paramount importance in the fields of criminal , civil, tax, and other subset of law.
Latin legal terms are often used to condense complex thoughts, allowing for succinct expression of a specific concept or common idea. This conciseness can be especially useful for legal terms of art; otherwise, lengthy parameters would be needed to fully described the concept expressed by the term. Importantly, Latin terms can assist in understanding law. The use of Latin legal terminology perpetuates a system of legal interpretation where these words are routinely thought of together with specific statutes or ideas. While the Latin term may not always be found in the statute themselves, the provision, statute or concept is often intimately associated with the term, illuminating its meaning and application.

Basics of MetLife Legal Plans

MetLife Legal Plans are legal plans that were created to provide individuals with the peace of mind and knowledge they would need to make better decisions. These legal plans and services are available through the workplace as well as individually. These plans are currently offered to over 18 million employees and their families through benefits provided by over 26,000 employers across the nation. MetLife Legal Plans are one of the largest pre-paid legal benefits companies in the world . They allow people to easily understand how and when they can use the services that are being offered to them.
The services provided by these plans include access to a full range of legal services, representation in civil court for covered matters, and document review and preparation. The number of attorneys or firms that are used with these services are over 5,000 across the nation. Individuals who are able to use MetLife Legal Plans typically have the legal plan as a benefit provided to them through their employer.

Knife Laws in Florida

The general law in Florida regarding knives flows from Florida’s statute that prohibits carrying concealed weapons (Fla. Stat. § 790.01.), as well as the statute that provides a definition of what constitutes a "weapon." This definition of weapon also serve as the statutory basis for understanding what is as an "ordinary pocket knife" (Fla. Stat. § 790.001.) as that term is used in the statute that regulates the carrying of certain types of knives (Fla. Stat. § 790.03). The prohibition against carrying a concealed weapon is subject to certain exceptions, including the license to carry a concealed weapon under Fla. Stat. § 790.06. How knives could be carried in public without violating the prohibition on carrying concealed weapons depends on whether the knife was appropriately categorized as an "ordinary pocket knife." A knife categorized as an "ordinary pocket knife" could, accordingly, be carried in public without violating Fla. Stat. § 790.01(2). If the knife was instead categorized as a "weapon," Fla. Stat. § 790.01(1) would apply. And the legal prohibition against carrying a "weapon" in public is that if the weapon is "concealed," then the prohibition could only be avoided if the person carrying the knife complies with the licensing provisions set forth in Fla . Stat. § 790.06. One difficulty in analyzing the legal regulation of knives in Florida is the distinction between the prohibition against carrying concealed weapons (which applies to the category of weapons, such as knives, that can be concealed) and the exception that exists (in Fla. Stat. § 790.001(3)(a)) for "ordinary pocket knives." If an ordinary pocket knife is not a weapon, then should someone carrying an ordinary pocket knife in public be required to carry that knife in plain view? Consider the following: If the knife is categorized as an "ordinary pocket knife," then there will not be any statutory provision that imposes any requirements on how the knife must be carried in Florida. Even a knife categorized as a "knife" may not subject its carrier to prosecution under Florida’s anti-concealed weapon statute, depending on whether the knife is being concealed or not. Quite simply, if the "knife" is in plain view, it may be carried in public in Florida without violating Fla. Stat. § 790.01, even though precisely why it does not violate Fla. Stat. § 790.01 is probably something better suited for the subject matter of an advanced constitutional law seminar.