How To Get The Most Out of Your Upcoming Event

There are so many little details to consider when planning an event. You have to brainstorm about decorations, timing, guest list, food, entertainment, and ambiance. A successful event requires planning ahead of time so that you don’t have to rush in choosing a venue property. The space you choose will play an influential role in the outcome of your event, how many people can be hosted, activities you can do, and more. Picking a venue will enable you and your guests to have the best time possible. Here are ways you can make the most out of your upcoming event:

Write a Guest List First

How will you know what venue to choose, if you aren’t sure how many people may be attending? You’ll need to make sure to have plenty of room for a large number of guests. Then by comparison, if you are hosting a smaller, intimate group, a space that is too big may affect the perspective of the event’s success. 

Consider the Ambience 

Different venues offer different aesthetics. For instance, a conference room will be a good choice for working professionals and team training events. As another example, a nearby park with a pool and playground may be better for a child’s birthday party. Choose a venue that emphasizes the theme or ambiance you wish to create. 

Stay Within Budget

Before booking a venue, take time to sit down and review your budget. How much money do you want to spend on entertainment, food, alcohol, activities, and music? Leave some buffer room for expenses that are unexpected! 

Inquire About Amenities

The total rental cost of a venue is not the only cost you will have to consider. Ensure that you inquire about amenities and extra fees associated with renting the venue. Some venues factor in the setup cost, tables, and chairs into the rental cost.

It is always important to be able to ask for help when you need it, especially when you have your own company. If you have any kind of disputes or questions about things that are involved with your business, you need to contact a business litigation lawyer, like a lawyer from Eric Siegel Law, right away. It cannot hurt to have someone on your side for the long run so that he or she can be the person you turn to if you need the assistance of a lawyer. This way, your lawyer knows the ins and outs of your company’s history and what is going on with it. 

You Need Assistance with a Business Contract

Whether a contract was breached by another party or you are being accused of failing to meet a contract, you need a lawyer on your side to make sure everything is fixed. Your lawyer can go over your paperwork in great detail to determine whether agreements should be legal and valid, and what kind of compensation you may want to seek from the other party. Your business litigation lawyer can also try to protect you from others and keep your business safe from lawsuits. It is always best if you are able to have a lawyer on your team when creating contracts so that you can make sure they are created properly, but if you did not do that, you can still get someone on your team to help you move forward. 

Your Business Was Harmed By Another in Some Way

If another company or individual did something to hurt your business financially, you may be eligible to collect compensation. A business litigation lawyer should be able to evaluate everything that happened and determine how badly the other party hurt your business and whether you are entitled to collecting damages from them. This can sometimes be difficult to prove, but if you have enough evidence of the harm done, you may be able to get at least some of the damages back. A lawyer will be your best bet at protecting your livelihood and trying to remedy the situation. 

Contact a Lawyer Today

If you or someone you know has their own business and is wondering if they need a business litigation lawyer, contact one today to set up a consultation. It is always better safe than sorry when you are dealing with something as big as your finances. You should speak with a lawyer if you feel that something unjust has happened or that you are being treated unfairly. Your lawyer will be honest with you every step of the way and always have your best interest at heart. Reach out to a business litigation law firm today to set up a consultation with an experienced lawyer. 

Employment Lawyers & How They Can Help

How an Employment Lawyer Can Help You With Employee Issues

As a business owner, you wear many hats, and it can be challenging to know and understand all of your legal obligations to your employees. Therefore, an employment lawyer is an essential member of your team who will perform the following services to help you navigate various issues, reduce your liability, and comply with the law. 

Draft Employment Contracts

When staffing your business, you want to ensure that you select the best candidates for every job and clearly define what you expect from them and what they can expect. An employment lawyer can draft and review all of your employment contracts to ensure they include:

• A detailed job description
• Compensation methods and details
• Bonus criteria
• Available benefits
• Performance expectations
• Termination policy

Draft Employee Handbooks

Every new hire will receive an employee handbook that outlines your company’s policies, procedures, working and behavioral expectations, closures, and other vital information. An employment lawyer can ensure that nothing in your company handbook can be misconstrued as offensive, misleading, in violation of labor compliance standards, and covers a full range of topics.

Draft Non-Compete and Non-Disclosure Agreements

Your lawyer can draft non-disclosure agreements your employees can sign when they come on board that prevent them from divulging confidential information to the public or your competition. When you want to restrict former employees from working for your competitors under any circumstances, your lawyer can draft non-compete agreements that are reasonable and enforceable. A lawyer knows the appropriate language to help ensure that these agreements satisfy local courts and dissuade former employees from violating them.

Offer Advice Regarding Terminations

Terminating employees is never easy and can leave your business open to many perils if you neglect to take specific steps beforehand. An employment lawyer will advise you about how to prepare to dismiss an employee in a way that protects your company. The necessary steps may include:

• Referring to your employee handbook to determine the employee’s policy or performance violations.
• Documenting conversations with the employee about violations.
• Maintaining consistency when dealing with all employees.
• Referring to the terms of an employment contract.
• Ensuring you have a valid reason for dismissing someone in a protected class.

If former employees decide to sue your company despite reasonable grounds for their termination, your attorney can defend your decision at a hearing or in court.

You can call May Law LLP and schedule  a consultation with an employment lawyer with a background in your industry who can advise you about all employee matters.

Employment Discrimination Lawyer

Tactics Employers May Use To Terminate Employees They Don’t Like

Although many employers probably seek to terminate acceptably-performing staff members they don’t like, proving this is usually impossible. Instead, employers are more likely to create a specific reason or offer none at all. 

Common Acceptable Reasons To Terminate an Employee

In most states, employment is at will, and your boss can terminate you without warning, as long as you are not a member of a protected class or a union. Although some employers look for grounds to terminate employees they don’t like, rational or mature employers will not engage in this practice. Instead, they will not allow their personal feelings to cloud their assessment of an employee’s performance and only consider termination for legitimate reasons, including:

• Poor work quality
• Insubordination
• Lateness
• Excessive absence
• Stealing
• Drug and alcohol use at work

How Some Employers Create Reasons When None Exist

Although employers do not owe employees reasons for their termination in states that uphold at-will employment, they may use various strategies to appease human resources managers that require a cause that eliminates legal liability. They may begin campaigns that set up employees to fail with the following tactics:

• Providing vague performance expectations: Employers and managers may give confusing answers to an employee’s questions about assignments and become angry when pressed for additional clarification. This tactic is an attempt to make the employee appear incompetent.
• Over-disciplining for perceived offenses: Write-ups or other exaggerated responses to behavior once considered acceptable is a way of thickening an employee’s HR file with evidence of questionable behavior.
• Withholding assistance: Some employers will intentionally refuse to assist an employee who comes to them for help, even when there is an expectation for them to do so. They document the employee’s inevitable failures as examples of poor performance.
• Doling out criticism publicly: Criticising an employee’s performance in front of colleagues ensures that there are witnesses who can back up the employee’s faults resulting in termination.
• Dramatic increases in workloads: An employer who starts dumping mountains of work on an employee’s desk while expecting completion within a limited period will point to the employee’s inability to complete assignments on time.  
• They limit resources: Most companies establish protocols for resource allocation to enable their staff to perform their jobs efficiently and correctly. When an employer starts restricting an employee’s access to supplies, equipment, or people, the quality of an employee’s work can suffer, leading to a valid reason for termination.

If you suspect that your employer is unfairly trying to terminate you, speak with an employment discrimination lawyer, such as one from Eric Siegel Law to discuss how you might prevent that from happening.

No matter what type of business you own, your company will eventually need legal representation. Having a business lawyer from an experienced litigation law firm to rely on can be a major asset for your company. If you have no experience hiring a lawyer, the whole ordeal may feel daunting. Here are a few tips on how to hire the best litigation law firm for your company.

What Type of Litigation Lawyer Do You Need?

You know you need a lawyer for your business, but do you know what specialty the lawyer should experience? Business lawyers work in various areas, as contract lawyers, financial lawyers, trademark lawyers, and more. 

Depending on the issues your business needs to address, you will have to determine the type and length of representation your business needs. Some scenarios may only require you to hire a lawyer for a specific issue, while others require an ongoing relationship with the lawyer. You may need a business lawyer that you can talk to from time to time when you need it.

How Big of a Firm Do You Need?

There are various law firm sizes. In some cases, you may need to work with smaller or larger firms. Owners of major corporations tend to work with large law firms the most and have their own team of lawyers for the company. For smaller businesses, however, small firms are the most common.

The complexity of your issue usually dictates which type of firm you need. For example, if you are in the middle of a complex lawsuit, a larger law firm may be better. Larger firms have more people working for them, which means more resources available to you. 

How Much Experience Do You Need?

Your business needs will be better suited with an experienced litigation law firm. For more complex cases, you want lawyers with more years of experience. He or she is more likely to provide you with practical advice. Sometimes, in larger firms, you may deal with more inexperienced lawyers.

When you work with small firms or solo lawyers, you are more likely to receive individual attention. Sometimes solo lawyers will also have connections that they can bring to the table if they ever have to leave town. You won’t ever be without a lawyer when you need one.

To find out how a business lawyer can help your company, set up a consultation as soon as possible! Some litigation law firms like Brown Kiely LLP may provide you with a free consultation about your company’s needs.

In this dog-eat-dog occupational field, it’s important to consider your options to stand out as a paralegal, from enrolling in the top paralegal workshops Washington, DC has to offer, to attending networking events, and everything in between. Becoming a good paralegal these days is almost on par with becoming an attorney; and with so much market competition, it’s important for you aspiring paralegals to get a leg up on the competition when you can. We at themainstreetnewtork.com have compiled a few key tips to help you find your way in this highly competitive field.

1. ATTEND PARALEGAL COURSES WASHINGTON DC FIRMS OFFER. These kinds of courses are held all the time, and can be a wealth of information for people just trying to break into the field. From general “need to knows” about the legal field, to more advanced courses like correct Bluebook citing, these courses will not only teach valuable parts of the profession, but also get you in-tune with the lingo that will help you score during your next interview. The paralegal workshops Washington, DC professionals trust are easy to find; a quick google search should lead you to an array of helpful courses.
2. NETWORK. Outside of networking events held in the city, attending the top paralegal workshops Washington, DC has to offer and taking them as networking opportunities is a crucial step in getting your foot in the door. Not only are you killing two birds with one stone (see tip #1), but you are most likely bumping elbows with some of the most successful paralegals in the city with inside knowledge on who’s hiring. Don’t be afraid to make friends with those in your class. It may just lead to a job!
3. FIGURE OUT YOUR PREFERRED FIELD. Not only is getting your foot in the door important, but figuring out the kind of firm you’ll want to stick around for is crucial to your success as well. There are all kinds of law firms out there. Ranging in not only legal practices, but also in firm culture. You need to figure out what kind of law you’re interested in, and what kind of firm culture works best for you.
4. NEVER STOP LEARNING. Most firms require their staff to attend these paralegal workshops Washington, DC offers to keep their skills sharp. You should take the hint! The legal world is ever-evolving, and without continued education, you could find yourself falling behind. For continuing education for paralegals Washington, DC is the place to be.

As you can see, utilizing the top paralegal workshops Washington, DC puts on is an important facet to propelling your career; for more information, visit us at themainstreetnewtork.com today!

Becoming an athlete for a living clearly isn’t easily done. It requires extreme talent, extraordinary dedication, and thousands upon thousands of hours of practice to even begin to have a decent shot at making it in the big leagues – or even the minor leagues, for that matter. Yet it is still done, and many Americans make a great living out of it. If you have made it into the the professional or semi-professional world of athletes, you have done very well for yourself. There are some aspects of the career, however, that is worth being aware of.

There is no doubt that athletes are among the most likely in any profession to experience an injury at work — and there injuries can have severely harsh consequences on an athlete’s career. The seven most common sports injuries experienced by professional athletes are listed from most to least common.

1. Pulled Muscle – these occur most often when an athlete has neglected stretching prior to playing, and has in some way exerted severe force that has stretched fibers beyond their capacity.
2. Runner’s Knee – a catch-all term for kneecap aches and pains and, of course, affects more than just runners.
3. Shoulder Impingement – any movements in which the shoulder joints are continually stressed (such as those involved in baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, weight training, or swimming) can cause the rotator cuff muscles to stretch too much, which can allow the head of the joint within the shoulder socket to become loose.
4. Shin Splints – the shin bone is attached to the muscle that gives the foot its arch, and repeated stress on this while running can cause minor yet chronic pain and internal bleeding of the shins.
5. Tennis Elbow – the name is actually misleading. A common cause of this injury is the backhand tennis stroke, yet the pain is felt mostly in the wrist. Inflammation occurs and moving the wrist backwards can become painful.
6. Ankle Sprain – when the foot lands awkwardly after a jump or while running, ligaments can be stretched too much or even partially or fully torn.
7. Achilles Tendonitis – sports involving a lot of running or jumping can lead to overuse of this tendon, which can lead to inflammation or, in more severe cases, surgery.

These injuries aren’t as glamorously horrific as the ones often replayed over and over on ESPN, in which you see the bone sticking out of a leg or an ankle hanging at a 45 degree angle. Most injuries, thankfully, don’t look like those, nor do they happen as quickly. Most sports injuries happen gradually due to repeated strain or a lack of stretching. These injuries can be just as devastating as the more physically noticeable ones, and require much treatment and rest to care for properly.

Palm Beach Gardens workers compensation lawyers focus in procuring compensation for athletes who sustain injuries that temporarily incapacitate athletes or those that simply require much time and money to treat properly. If you are a professional athlete who has been injured while playing, you are entitled to compensation for that injury. Contact workers compensation lawyers in Palm Beach Gardens today for a free case evaluation.

 

Finding a job is hard enough, and the last thing you need in your job search is a DUI on your record. And a DUI isn’t only bad when you’re on the job market — it can be the reason you’re back on the job market. Here are five ways a DUI can affect your career:

1. Suspended License
   A suspended license has significant implications on your daily life. It can hinder your ability to get to work( which can result in you getting fired). It can put a on halt your job search. It can prohibit you from doing the many things you typically need to do in your daily life. DUI lawyers in Montgomery County MD find that many of their clients have issues with this early on.
2. Insurance Loss
   Your ability to be insured by employers as an employee is often crucial. Many insurance companies have policies that prohibit them from insuring anyone with a DUI on record. This can be a huge detriment to finding a job, or staying employed.
3. Education
   Most educational institutions — undergraduate as well as graduate programs — will look ask for any felonies you may have on your record. If you have a DUI on your record, you are much less likely to be accepted into such programs. This means that, in the long run, advancing in most careers will become quite difficult.
4. Professional License
   DUI lawyers in Montgomery County MD understand how important it is to have a clean record to keep your professional license. Often times, professional licensing agencies require licensed individuals — lawyers, doctors and nurses, for example — to disclose arrests. This could affect your license and, thus, your career.
5. Commercial Driver’s License
   If you are a commercial driver, or are licensed to operate large or powerful machinery, you will very likely lose that job and not be able to acquire another one in the industry. DUIs remain on your commercial driver’s licenses for 55 years — the span of an entire career.

If you have been arrested for driving under the influence, you may wish to contact a DUI lawyer in Montgomery County Maryland for help. The best advice, of course, is to avoid drinking and driving. It is never worth risk your career, and many other aspects of your life. Having a successful career means being responsible at all times.

 

Considering a career in dermatology? We’re glad to hear it. Medicine and healthcare are highly rewarding fields and within them, there are many different paths. If you have decided to work in dermatology, you may be wondering if a subspecialty is right for you. The kinds and number of subspecialties within dermatology vary across the globe and from state licensing board to state licensing board. According to the American Board of Dermatology, however, there are three main subspecialties applied across the United States:

Pediatric dermatology– This is possibly the most globally recognized dermatology procedure and some of the best dermatologists from Washington DC to San Francisco, CA specialize in this arena. Pediatric dermatologists complete a fellowship in which their skills in treating children and adolescents are honed. Some pediatric dermatologists treat hair, skin and nail conditions for children up to age 18 and sometimes even into the early 20’s, while others focus on adolescents or young children exclusively. Common conditions they may treat include allergic reactions, acne and head lice.

Procedural dermatology– Outside of dermatology, procedural dermatologists (like this Washington DC dermatologist may go on to do a second residency in surgery, but this is not always the case. Procedural dermatologists are able to treat medical and cosmetic dermatological conditions using special methods and tools such as laser surgery, which may assist in treatments for skin cancer treatment in Washington, DC or in cosmetic injection procedures like Botox.

Dermopathology– Dermopathologists investigate skin conditions and diseases and their roots. Many procedural dermatologists are also dermopathologists, as understanding the pathology of a disease is vital to a successful procedure.

How to Pick a Subspecialty

Consider your influences– What drew you to dermatology in the first place? Were you tortured with acne as a teen? Perhaps you watched a loved one suffer through skin cancer and were grateful to the Rockville MD dermatologist who helped. Looking back on what has made dermatology meaningful can help guide you forward.

Consider your potential patient demographic– Depending on where you live and where you want to live, you may be interested in helping different kinds of people. For instance, the typical client of a dermatologist in Malibu, CA, where there is significant sunshine, may be different from the clients for a dermatologist in Washington, DC. Also, members of different ethnic groups may be prone to different hair, skin and nail conditions and may require different dermatology services. If you want to help a particular community, that may be worth considering when choosing a specialty.

Talk to a specialist– Whether you are looking for a dermatologist in Arlington, VA or Chicago Illinois, the internet is a great way to begin your search for a specialist and find one who is willing to talk.

Do your research– Getting involved in the field, meeting with experts and, of course, using our website as a resource, are always good guidelines for learning more about your field of interest.

Dermatology is a richly diverse and interesting field, whether you are saving lives or giving patients an extra boost of confidence about their appearance.  We hope that with the right guidance, we can facilitate your transition into this field.

In 2013, the Cruise industry saw revenues upwards of 36 billion dollars. It requires many cruise ship workers (crew members, servers, maids, bartenders, lifeguards — the list goes on) to maintain such colossal amounts of revenue.If you’re looking for a new job, you may be considering using previous work experience to fulfill an open role on a cruise line. Maybe you would like to try your hand at bartending on the open ocean. At first sight, it sounds like a good deal — especially if you love the sea — yet there are a few lesser known issues many cruise ships have that you may wish to consider before making such a decision.

1. Personal Injuries
   Personal injuries are common on cruise ships, and not just for passengers. Cruise ships are hard to maintain well. As the price of a cruise ship is so high, companies attempt to keep their ships running for as many years as possible. There are still cruise ships running today that were built in the 1950s, and often times cruise companies will rebrand old ships to make them appear new. Personal injury lawyers in Long Island know that these tendencies cause many people to face injuries caused by slip and falls or object collisions each year. If you have been injured on a cruise, personal injury lawyers in Long Island may be able to help you gain compensation.
2. Sickness
   Cruise ships are unique in that they bring hundreds of people from all over the place into close quarters. Passengers circulate through the ships for days to weeks without leave. This means that it is exceedingly likely that each passenger and worker will, at least indirectly, make contact with each other. This means that any contagious illness brought on by one passenger or worker will likely make its way around the ship before the cruise’s end. Just a few years ago, one cruise resulted in the spread of a norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug that induces diarrhea and vomiting, that had spread to 118 passengers and crew.
3. Draining Hours
   Cruise ships are notorious for overworking their employees. Many cruise employees report working 80 hour work weeks at 7 days a week. This results in lack of necessary amounts of sleep, which increases risk of injury. If you have been injured while working on a cruise ship, personal injury lawyers in Long Island can help.

Of course, there are benefits to working on cruise ships as well. Traveling the world, meeting all kinds of people, and the after hour parties are some of the often cited ones. This list simply provides some of the negative aspect of such a way of life.

Additional Resources: Car Accident Lawyer in Long Island