Chuck Newton

Beware: Your Tax Preparer May Start Selling Others Your Tax Return Information!

According to a new CNNMoney.Com article tax preparers may start selling your personal tax information to 3rd parties.  Tax returns and your personal financial information has always been sacrosanct.  However, now due to a proposed change to the IRS privacy regulation of tax payers, tax preparers from H&R Block to the big accounting firms, may be discovering a new source of revenues from the sale of your personal information.  The rule change could require the tax preparer to obtain your permission, but realistically who would agree to such a thing.  With this in mind, one can just imagine that the objective would be to get you to unknowingly sign off on sale of this information when you are being presented with the mounds of paperwork and endless mathmatically figures, which usually takes place moments before these returns have to be filed or mailed.  No matter who the tax preparer obtains your signature, when you give consent, "you're basically signing a blank check," said Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. This is because the proposed regulations do not restrict how the third parties may use your information.

Oh Yeah, Telecommuting Humor!

Do You VoIP?

No Third Wave law firm should be without VoIP as its chief source of communication.  If you are trying to compete without this service you are likely operating without many valuable services and you are paying too much for your phone and faxing services.  So I would like to introduce you to the service.

Internet Voice, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line. Some services using VoIP may only allow you to call other people using the same service, but others may allow you to call anyone who has a telephone number - including local, long distance, mobile, and international numbers. Also, while some services only work over your computer or a special VoIP phone, other services allow you to use a traditional phone through an adaptor.

VoIP converts the voice signal from your telephone into a digital signal that travels over the internet then converts it back at the other end so you can speak to anyone with a regular phone number. When placing a VoIP call using a phone with an adapter, you'll hear a dial tone and dial just as you always have. VoIP may also allow you to make a call directly from a computer using a conventional telephone or a microphone.

Depending on the service, one way to place a VoIP call is to pick up your phone and dial the number, using an adaptor that connects to your existing high-speed Internet connection. The call goes through your local telephone company to a VoIP provider. The phone call goes over the Internet to the called party's local telephone company for the completion of the call. Another way is to utilize a microphone headset plugged into your computer. The number is placed using the keyboard and is routed through your cable modem.

A broadband (high speed Internet) connection is required but most in-home or solo practitioners already have broadband. This can be through a cable modem, or high speed services such as DSL or a local area network. You can hook up an inexpensive microphone to your computer and send your voice through a cable modem or connect a phone directly to a telephone adaptor.

Some VoIP providers offer their services for free, normally only for calls to other subscribers to the service. Your VoIP provider may permit you to select an area code different from the area in which you live. This means you may not incur long distance charges if you call a number in your area code regardless of geography. It also means that people who call you may incur long distance charges depending on their area code and service. Some VoIP providers charge for a long distance call to a number outside your calling area, similar to existing, traditional wireline telephone service. Other VoIP providers permit you to call anywhere at a flat rate for a fixed number of minutes.

Where VoIP may represent modest savings to some large law firms due to the technical issues such as special VoIP telephone units and integration into the firms’ in-house network, the savings tend to be pretty substantial to Third Wave lawyers and solo practitioners who do not need this type of integration or specialized equipment.

Depending upon your service, you might be limited only to other subscribers to the service, or you may be able to call any phone number, anywhere in the world. The call can be made to a local number, a mobile phone, to a long distance number, or an international number. You may even utilize the service to speak with more than one person at a time. The person you are calling does not need any special equipment, just a phone.

Because VoIP is digital, it may offer features and services that are not available with a traditional phone. If you have a broadband internet connection, you need not maintain and pay the additional cost for a line just to make telephone calls.

With many VoIP plans you can talk for as long as you want with any person in the world (the requirement is that the other person has an Internet connection). You can also talk with many people at the same time without any additional cost.

One of the big advantages for the home office of solo practitioner is that you may be able to use your VoIP service wherever you travel as long as you have a high speed Internet connection available. In that case it would work the same as from your home or business.

There is a misconception among some that you cannot use your computer while you are making or receiving telephone calls. This is not true with broadband.

There are disadvantages as well. For example, some VoIP services don't work during power outages and the service provider may not offer backup power. Not all VoIP services connect directly to emergency services through 911. VoIP providers may or may not offer directory assistance/white page listings.  However, these disadvantages tend to be overstated or easily corrected. For example, most VoIP providers now provide access to local 911 service. You merely have to go online and identify the address identified with the VoIP call. Further, most white page listings are available using free internet databases.

Beware Of Party Lines

O-O-o-o-o-h SNAP!!!

Tell me the man did not say that!

A funny thing happened to me on the way to Court the other day.  The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas conducts its case management hearing by telephone conference call.  You are given a number and told to call in a few minutes before the hearing.  I did this only to find, once I was patched through, that opposing counsel and his local counsel were already connected.  I was about to tell them hi and exchange some pleasantries, but opposing counsel started talking to his local counsel about me.  It obviously did not dawn on him that I might be connected and could hear everything he was saying.  Needless to say his comments were not only not amusing, but they were personal and insulting.  His tone was condescending. When the judge came on the line I made my announcement.  I am not sure opposing counsel opened his mouth and insert his foot at this point, but he should have.  Too me it would have been kind of like asking a lady how far along she was with her pregnancy only to be told by her she was not pregnant.

I probably should, but will not, share the name and location of this tactless person, but that might be embarrassing to him.  I am certainly embarrassed for him.

The moral of the story might be to be careful what you say in public or on the phone because you really do not know who is listening.  But, the truth of the matter, to be effective legal counsel you need to be more taciturn and mind your thoughts and your speech at all times least you stick your foot in your mouth as this attorney did.

Litigating automatic stay and discharge injunction violations can be interesting.  Financial institutions, especially small community banks and credit unions, often cannot conceive how they can be sued or found liable for simply making a mistake.  This, of course, is a discussion for another post.  I understand the sentiment and try to deal with it in our adversary proceedings and negotiations.

The problem, however, involves attorneys who somehow find themselves morally offended by these lawsuits.  Now, I have to admit, I have never understood this.  I can certainly understand attorneys advocating for their client's position, but personal moral outrage on the part of the attorney, I have often found, is (1) nothing more than an excuse to bilk his own client for fees and costs when to do so is not otherwise justified given the financial and legal consequences of the situation; and, (2) usually a substitute for not having a proper defense available in the first place.  These two usually go hand-in-hand.  All of us attorneys could probably trend this way if we are not careful, and I do not consider myself a saint.  We all just need to be on guard.  I have always taken the position that we are all sinners and I have tried to conduct myself and views (and mouth) accordingly.  Needless to say, there are those defense attorneys who take the position that their client is more infallible than the Pope, and they, as attorneys, are so much better than everyone else that it is beneath them to do even deal with you as a mere attorney for a consumer debtor.  Their words and actions are contemptuous of the law, the debtor and the court, and they take it out on you, the debtor's attorney.  It is truly unfortunate, it happens with too much frequency, and it makes the practice of law uncomfortable.

Ziggy Expresses My Secret Emotions On The Subject Again. Heck, He Even Looks A Little Bit Like Me.

The Great News Continues!!!

It was previously announced here that Mary Newton had been accepted to The University of Houston law school once she completes here degree in Japanese at The University of Texas in Austin in May, after only three years.  Now Mary has been accepted to Texas Tech University law school in Lubbock, Texas and Texas Southern University law school in Houston.  Way to go girl!!  We are all proud of you.  Your hard work and dedication is beginning to pay off.