Law as career

Every state in the U.S. has a version of the lemon law. This law and qualification requirements are not exactly the same from from state to state, but the basic rights under the law provide you with basically the same level of protection. That is, if you purchase a car that turns out to be a "lemon," you are entitled for a refund or replacement vehicle. But you have to know your state's law to claim your lemon.

Your state probably also has some type of law that requires car manufacturers to honor car warranties under certain conditions. These laws also vary from state to state. It is up to you as the consumer to do some research to determine the laws and statutes in your particular state.

For example, the Texas law is available to consumers who buy or lease new vehicles in Texas. This law obligates manufactures to repair, replace, or refund the price of motor vehicles that prove to be defective time and time again. While the lemon law covers many different defects of a vehicle, you have to know the letter of the law to get your vehicle declared a lemon.

In California, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, or "lemon law" as it is more commonly called, benefits consumers greatly. The California law provides protection when purchasing new and used vehicles, making California consumers the most protected car buyers in the country. Offenders must offer a refund or replacement car for purchases that turn out to be "lemons" under the California law.

So if you live in California you are pretty lucky if you need to use the lemon law. However, your state may have laws that are almost as good. You should go to Google and search for "lemon law" plus your state's name to find out exactly what your state's laws are.

Winning a lemon law battle can be time consuming. However, this law is there to protect you, and it's becoming easier to win your case.

First of all you should get your state's information on lemon laws, consider all of your options, call the lemon law 800 number, and put your trust in the men and women who know what to do to get you a fair settlement. They will answer all of your questions, for example, "Who pays lemon law court fees?" Every state has lemon laws that are a little different, but by all means put your faith in the system.

Using the power of your state's law system, you will find all the answers you need. They will do the work for you and charge you little for the work. In the end, if they win the case, the person who sold you the lemon will pay your court fees anyway!

In many states, arbitration is used to solve problems when a car still under warranty turns out to be a lemon.

Lemon law provisions, like those of the California, often allow for a specific arbitration process that saves you time and money over expensive court hearings. Under the California law, there is an arbitration process that the Better Business Bureau uses that helps consumers with lemon cars.

Check into the exact lemon law requirements of your state, and before going immediately to court, it may be in your best interest to use an arbitrator.

Just be sure to get started right away by making the right contacts and keeping documentation.

"I like to pursue a law degree, but I hate to become a lawyer. What else can I do with my law degree besides being a lawyer?" You may be frustrating with this question in deciding to take up a law degree program because you worry that the law degree can't help you to find a career after graduation. Most often people with a law degree pursue careers as lawyers, but you are not limited to this career with a law degree. Law degree students find many career opportunities in other fields such as banks, real estates and factories and they also manage restaurants and hotels, and work as university's administrator. This article will help you discover some of career opportunities with a law degree.

1. Legal Consultant

Do you know that many large organizations such as Intel Technology Corporation, the giant manufacturer for CPU and chipset have a legal department in the company? Corporations have a variety of problems that require them to have an attorney or a team of attorneys on staff. They provide legal consultancy to the company on labor negotiations, tax law, investment, public releases, product manuals, public announcement notes, public release news and other legal related activities. You can start you career as a legal consultant to a corporate with your law degree. If you want to involve in business field with a law degree, then, you should choose a law degree that consists of courses in management or business administration besides the major law's courses. Continue reading “Discover your career opportunities with a law degree” »

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of accreditation is "to recognize (an educational institution) as maintaining standards that qualify the graduates for admission to higher or more specialized institutions or for professional practice." Law schools generally fall into three catagories of accreditation, American Bar Association (ABA) accredited, state accredited or unaccredited.

ABA accreditation  — According to the American Bar Association, "Law schools approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) provide a legal education which meets a minimum set of standards as promulgated by the ABA. Every jurisdiction in the United States has determined that graduates of ABA-approved law schools are able to sit for the bar in their respective jurisdictions. The role that the ABA plays as the national accrediting body has enabled accreditation to become unified and national in scope rather than fragmented, with the potential for inconsistency, among the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and other territories. The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the United States Department of Education recognized accrediting agency for programs that lead to the first professional degree in law. The law school approval process established by the Council is designed to provide a careful and comprehensive evaluation of a law school and its compliance with the Standards for Approval of Law Schools."

State accreditation  — Most states have their own accreditation process and in most cases give accreditation status to ABA accredited schools. However, there are many law schools that for one reason or another do not meet all of the ABA accredition requirements. Some of these schools, however, do meet the states requirements. Note: State requirements can vary by state. If a school meets state requirements it can apply to that state for state accreditation.

Unaccredited  — According to the California Bar Association "An unaccredited law school is one operating as a law school in the State of California that is neither accredited nor approved by the Committee, but must be registered with the Committee and comply with the requirements contained in Rules XIX and XX of the Admission Rules, applicable provisions of the California Rules of Court and relevant sections of the California Business and Professions Code. A law school operating wholly outside of California is unaccredited unless it has applied for and received accreditation from the Committee or is provisionally or fully approved by the American Bar Association." Rules in many other states are the same.

M ost states require that you meet certain requirements prior to being eligible to take their bar examination. The California Bar states "To be eligible to take the California Bar Examination, one must have completed at least two years of college before beginning the study of law or must have passed certain specified College Level Equivalency Program examinations before beginning law study and must have graduated from a law school approved by the American Bar Association or accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of The State Bar of California or have completed four years of law study at an unaccredited or correspondence law school registered with the Committee or studied law in a law office or judge's chambers in accordance with the Rules Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California." Most states have similar requirements.

T he foregoing suggests that many states will not allow, non ABA accredited out of state law school graduates to take their bar examination, unless they attended school in that state or a school that is certified by that state. Therefore students graduating from non ABA accredited law schools may not be allowed to practice in any state other than the state they attended school. Note: Some states have reciprocal agreements with other states allowing attorneys registered in one state to become a member of the bar in another state without taking a bar examination in the new state.

N otwithstanding the foregoing, there are many fine law schools in this country that are not ABA accredited. Additionally, many ABA accredited schools do not offer night time or part time classes. Finally, there are many more applicants that spaces available in ABA accredited schools, forcing many good students to attend other schools. Therefore, accreditation should not be your only criteria in choosing a law school or in deceiding whether or not to hire a particular law school graduate.

Permission is given to reprint this article providing credit is given to the author, David G. Hallstrom, and a link is listed to Resources For Attorneys the owner of this article.