Here's a sneak preview of part of the show notes for an upcoming episode of Let's Start a Law Firm, a podcast I'm doing with my buddy Annie O'Connell. 

Oh no you did NOT just give me your fax number!

I tried to write this announcement in a way that might have captured the attention of me-circa-2003... I'm really grateful to UK's career services team for helping me set this up.  

Ben Carter is going to be talking about consumer law and solo practice on Friday at noon in Room 213. 

He will be buying your time and attention with Pizza Hut pizza. 

The lunch is sponsored by the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA). Ben will be talking about the work he does as a consumer attorney: prosecuting auto fraud, defending collections actions, helping homeowners facing foreclosure, consumer class actions, prosecuting insurance bad faith, and on and on and on. 

You might want to go if any of the following things are true: 

• You do not have a job. 
  
• You do not have any prospects of having a job. 
  
• You went to law school to do good. 
  
• You are angry—so angry—at the banks, servicers, and Wall Street bigwigs that ran our economy into the ground. 
  
• You went to law school to help people with heartbeats. 
  
• You cheer for underdogs. 
  
• You want to live your life as a friction to the machine. 
  
• You want to open your own firm someday. 
  
• You like pizza.

Ben is a solo practitioner at Ben Carter Law PLLC. Before starting his own firm, he worked for three very good trial attorneys in Louisville, the Legal Aid Society, the Public Defender's Office in the Republic of Palau, and for Judge Wingate of the Franklin Circuit Court. 

With Annie O'Connell, Ben hosts a podcast called Let's Start a Law Firm. It's about dog breeding. Just kidding. It's about starting a law firm. It's available for download in iTunes and show notes are at http://benarterlaw.com/letsstartalawfirm. 

We're going through a bit of a Queen phase here at Ben Carter Law. And by "we" I mean "me." 

If I know two things about America, it's these two things:

1. There are more young people than old people. 
2. The person with the most votes (usually) wins the election.  

Really starting to wonder when young people are going to begin to organize around the many injustices of student debt. 

Your Friday morning commute just got better. Episode Four of "Let's Start a Law Firm"—the podcast I'm doing with Annie O'Connell—dropped just in time. It's called "Finding and Choosing Clients" and it's a good one. (Let's be honest, they're all good ones.)

Please share with law students and friends dreaming of or actually in the process of starting their own firms.

The Network Center for Community Change's annual Chill 4 Change fundraiser is this Saturday at 7 p.m.

Friends,

Louisville's most righteous nonprofit, The Network Center for Community Change, is having its annual "Chill 4 Change" fundraiser this Saturday night. Read more about NC3 and Chill 4 Change. 

If I were to follow convention, I would exhort you to attend or donate by referencing the awesome work NC3 does in Louisville around educational equity, workforce development, and family financial stability. I would explain that NC3 is a client of mine. They pay me to continue encouraging our elected officials to adopt policies to remedy the fallout from the ongoing foreclosure crisis.

But, I'm not conventional and neither is NC3. In an era defined by the contradiction—enormous wealth going to very few, unemployed college graduates, electronic connectedness supplanting connection IRL—NC3 combines an old-school commitment to bringing diverse communities of people together with a new-school approach to community organizing. I don't know of another organization doing work as interesting as NC3.

Am I biased? You bet. Am I wrong? Come to Chill 4 Change and find out for yourself. 

At Chill 4 Change, you'll meet the people behind Louisville's most daring nonprofit. They're not bad dancers, either, so wear comfortable shoes.

If you're ready to buy tickets, this is the link for you. 

Westlaw is, in my opinion, the best legal research software available. That's why I chose to buy a subscription from them. That's why I agreed to pay them $350 a month for the service. 

A few months ago, I moved offices to a place that offers Lexis to its tenants. That service is included in the price of my rent.  

I no longer needed Westlaw and would be content to use Lexis, which is a slightly less great product and save $350 a month. I asked Westlaw how much it would cost me to buy out the rest of my contract and they quoted me a figure that was more than $9,000. In other words, I could stop using Westlaw if I just paid for the rest of my three year contract up front. Instead of charging customers a reasonable early termination fee, they think that "every agreement made with West should be honored by both parties".

You know what I think? I think things change. And, I think companies ought to account for the fact that things change.  

I understand that the contract says what it says. I'm not disputing my obligation to pay under the contract. But, I also understand that I will only do business in the future with companies that understand that circumstances change and customers should be allowed to end contracts early for a reasonable early termination fee. So, I won't be renewing with Westlaw even though they offer the best legal research software because the terms under which they offer that software are unreasonable. And, because the tone of this letter is intolerably self-righteous.

So, attorneys who listen to my podcast or who read this blog, remember: just because a service may be the best, when it's combined with onerous or unreasonable terms and conditions, it can quickly become a poor option. It is an expensive lesson for me to learn. West could allow me to pay a reasonable early termination fee, but instead has insisted on continuing to provide me with a service I don't need. This short-sighted and greedy position will make them $9,000 over the next three years but won't make them a dime more.

Fortunately for me, in 2016 I expect the market for legal research options to be extremely competitive with Lexis, Fastcase, and CaseMaker all improving quickly. In my opinion, West should be concentrating not only on continuing to create a great service, but improve their product by pairing that product with humane terms and conditions that would foster customer loyalty. With the market of legal research options only getting more competitive, customer loyalty is going to matter a lot more than West currently appreciates.

Perhaps West's willingness to forgo customer satisfaction in favor of short-term profits reveals just how competitive the market has become for a company that used to enjoy a monopoly on the legal research world...

In a new law journal article, foreclosure expert Elizabeth Renuart surveys recent court decisions from across the nation that address bank's and servicer's rights to foreclose on homeowners and the intersection of foreclosure and the Uniform Commercial Code. 

Important reading for anyone defending homeowners facing foreclosure.  

Great infographic from ChangeLab Solutions about the trajectory of transportation policy in America and the effort to reclaim the bicycles' rightful place on our roadways. Plus, great quote from Susan B. Anthony:   

“I think [bicycling] has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat.”

— Susan B. Anthony

Still reading the Order granting the Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment myself.  

Definitely in awe of Bill Sharp, Dale Ho, and Laughlin McDonald. 

“For the reasons set forth below, this three-judge district court shall GRANT Plaintiffs’ Joint Motion for Summary Judgment, DECLARE that the 2002 state legislative electoral districts are presently unconstitutional, and permanently ENJOIN any future election from being conducted pursuant to these districts. Importantly, this Order does nothing to prevent the Kentucky General Assembly from crafting redistricting legislation during the August 19, 2013 special legislative session. What it does do is prevent the General Assembly
from falling back on lines that will be over a decade old if they fail.”

My client comes into my office after having been served by the Sheriff with a Complaint. Or, I file a Complaint for a client and then get an Answer back from the Defendant's attorney. The first thing I do in either situation is try to learn a little bit about the attorney representing the other side. I go to Google. I type in the attorney's name and the city and state in which they practice.  

Many times (and all-too-often), I get a page of results from sites like yellowpages.com, manta.com, topix.com, merchantcircle.com, and switchboard.com. That is to say, I get a bunch of garbage. 

I am consistently shocked at how little Kentucky attorneys seem to care about how they look online. I understand some established attorneys don't need  a website to get clients. But, even if you're not looking to find clients online, people (other attorneys) are still searching for you online. And, we're judging you. We're sizing you up.

I use the care you put into your website as a rough analog for how much care you're going to put into your client's case. If you don't care enough to have at least a homepage to present to the world, how hard are you going to research that response to my Motion for Summary Judgment? How hard are you going to think about the discovery requests you send? 

Is it a perfect test to use for sizing up my opposition? Nope. There are certainly some attorneys who have whipped me pretty hard who have abysmal or nonexistent websites. But, it works more often than not.  

Look, if your litigation strategy is inspired by Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope, well congratulations: it's working. When you don't have a website, I'm totally underestimating your devotion to your craft and the care you bring to it. 

I'm guessing that judging attorneys by their websites didn't used to be as useful or accurate as it is today. But, that's because it used to be hard to have a website. Now, it couldn't be easier (or less expensive). The fact that it's 2013 and you still don't have a website is inexcusable. My site is hosted on Squarespace.com. I pay Squarespace $8 a month for this site.

EIGHT DOLLARS. 

If you want help getting set up on Squarespace, let me know. I have helped other attorneys and can help you individually. Or, if enough people express interest, would consider doing like a half-day workshop to help lawyers launch their websites in a single morning. Individual help costs $1,500. The workshop would, I expect, cost around $400 and would happen on a Saturday morning.

I heard a harrowing story last night of a young man who lost 38 weeks of photos and video from a cross-country road trip because his car was broken into in Fargo, North Dakota. All his data was on his computer, backed up to thumb drives that were also in his car (and also stolen).  

Can you feel that pain? He was making a film . 

Gone.  

I think there are two lessons here. First, don't go to Fargo. Second, while you are busy backing that azz up, include your data in that backup.  

When I get the dough, I'm going to use File Transporter. For now, I backup on external drives that I store off-site and Dropbox.  

Sidebar: I really love this excerpt from the Wikipedia article about "Back that Thang Up", the non-explicit version of "Back that Azz Up": 

"The song, an explicit exploration of the same themes as Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back..."

And, for your Thursday pleasure (and because this is how my brain works): an extremely white version of "Baby Got Back":

With three years left in office, I really only want the Obama Administration to do two things: 1) Fill judicial vacancies and 2) solve the student loan crisis.  

I know, I know. There are lots of other important things the country needs (immigration reform, arbitration reform, election reform, etc., etc.) 

I know, I know. The Obama Administration can't do these things alone, but it can  use its bully pulpit more effectively in these areas. 

If this chart (more charts on student debt available at Mother Jones)  doesn't make you soil your red, white, and blue undies, then you're not wearing red, white, and blue undies. 

This is appalling. 

If you need an attorney in Kentucky to help you resolve a financial crisis involving student debt, give me a call.  

What are your priorities for the Obama Administration for the next three years?

If you suspect you or your client is a victim of automobile fraud, one of the first things you will need to do is figure out who owns the dealership. This can be difficult because many dealerships are simply "doing business as" [name of dealership]. They are doing business under an assumed name while being owned by another company, partnership, or individual.  

The first place to look for ownership interests is the Kentucky Secretary of State's website. There, you can enter the name of the car dealership and, hopefully, find an active company, partnership, or certificate to do business under an assumed name.  

Consumer laws exist to protect Kentuckians from some car dealers' abusive sales tactics. 

Unfortunately, sometimes that doesn't work. The next step is to file a Request to Inspect Public Records from the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Commission. I did this yesterday in a case I'm researching against a dealership that, I believe, wrongfully repossessed my client's car (and did so in a fraudulent, abusive, inhumane way). When I called the Motor Vehicle Commission, I asked how I would request the dealership's most recent application for a license to sell cars in Kentucky and was told that they could fax or mail me the Request to Inspect Public Records. 

"I's not available on your website?" I asked. 

"No. I can fax it or mail it to you."  

Here is a .pdf of the Request to Inspect Public Records from Kentucky's Motor Vehicle Commission. Use it to request the most recent application for a car dealer's license. Here is a copy of the blank application to become a car dealer in Kentucky. It will give you a sense of the information you will get by requesting the dealer's license application. 

Of course, if you are a consumer and you suspect you have been victimized by a car dealer through fraudulent or scammy tactics, you should consult a lawyer to determine what, if any, legal recourse you might have to fix the fraud, unwind the deal, or pursue the dealer for money damages. This is not the post to explain the many, many ways that car dealers can take advantage of consumers through odometer rollbacks, fraudulent omissions of material facts, scammy financing, yo-yo sales, and wrongful repossessions. This is just to say that you should contact a lawyer because laws exist to protect consumers from the predatory tactics some car dealers use to make a quick (and highly profitable) sale. 

If you weren't at Bonnie "Prince" Billy's show last night to benefit the Network Center for Community Change, well, lo siento. 

But, if you don't want to miss great live music in Louisville (or anywhere), here is a radio station I made on my buddy Howie Cockrill's smoking-good website, Deli Radio, of all the bands coming to Louisville in the next two weeks.  Happy Monday. 

DeliRadio allows you to create custom playlists based on location and genre(s) to find live music where you live (or—and I use this a lot—where you're traveling to). WELCOME TO THE FUTURE.  

Riding my dad's old Raleigh ten-speed to my law office this morning, I started thinking about all the things that could go wrong for a bicycler, all the things that have  gone wrong for me. Being a bicycler is a lot like being a lawyer: it feels like the right thing to do, but seems fraught with more peril than is necessary. So, bicyclers, what do you fear when you hop in the saddle? (Because some of these events pose the risk of serious injury or death, when gauging your fears, weigh your perceived likelihood of the event occurring multiplied by the consequences of that event's occurrence.)

I'll tally these answers up and report back next week.  

When I proposed this idea to city officials in Louisville last month they literally laughed at me.  

 "Possibility City". 

Today was my first day of cycling to work. New house + new office = new commuting opportunities.

I'm a bicycling lawyer and I sue reckless or negligent drivers. 

I rode my bike every day to law school down Nicholasville Road in Lexington, so I'm accustomed to riding in traffic. But, I have found Louisville to be uniquely unfriendly to cyclists. On-street parking makes the possibility of getting doored everpresent and there are no protected bicycle lanes. If Louisville is going to grow into the Possibility City it aspires to be, we have to do a better job accommodating cyclists. 

The tragedy here is that Louisville would make a GREAT cycling city if it invested in bicycling infrastructure. The river, the views, the neighborhoods, the usually-gentle weather, and the relatively flat terrain all make Louisville perfect for cyclists. 

It took me 20 minutes and 45 seconds door-to-door (my route). I could have ridden faster, but cycling to work is a delicate balance of a number of factors: a) reducing your time in the seat while b) regulating body temperature so your officemates don't vote you and your B.O. off the office island and c) being safe.  

Speaking of being safe, I want to take a moment to rant about cyclists and motorists. Riding into work, I thought, "Maybe I should get a big patch made for my bag that says,

I'm a lawyer and I sue reckless drivers.

bencarterlaw.com

I wondered if that might give me a modicum of added protection against abuse by motorists. At the same time, I have seen some dumb, dumb, dumb cyclists in Louisville recently. Last Saturday, one woman was just riding at her leisure down the center of Frankfort Avenue heading north. In my car, I pulled up beside her and said, "'Share the road' goes both ways, you know." I'm not normally a dick, but that was a real dick move on her part. Obnoxious cyclists alienate drivers and make them more likely in the future to not respect cyclists. In a way, I felt like saying that to her was an act of self-protection. Listen: whether you're a cyclist or a driver, just don't be a dick. 

Having stated that rather obvious truth, if you are a cyclist that has been injured by the negligence or recklessness of a driver in Kentucky, contact me. Unfortunately, Kentucky is not a very bicycle-friendly state and you do not have the same rights and protections here as in other places. You still have the right to file a lawsuit and make the driver pay for his or her negligence or recklessness. Let me help you do just that. 

I've moved Ben Carter Law to a little corner (not literally) of Bahe Cook Cantley & Nefzger. Practicing law is hard and stressful and it helps to have friends to work alongside. 

My new office is one block north of where my old office was. New address: Ben Carter Law PLLC, Marion E. Taylor Building, 6th Floor, 312 South Fourth Street, Louisville, KY 40202. 

Come say hey. 

 

I get a lot of questions about how to report identity theft. Here is the step-by-step instructions from the Federal Trade Commission.