Robert Grant Niznik, a 21 year old law student from the New York Law School, launched a new website which is like an e-bay for lawyers. Shpoonkle is a website in which lawyers and those that seek them can register. The service is free for now, but Niznik said that eventually attorneys maybe charged membership fees in the future. The website looks to solve two common problems in America. The first the fact the heavily indebted law students struggle to find work after graduating. The second is that many people struggle to afford legal advise in America. The platform will help address both of these issues at the same time. Although the website is still in need of some fine tuning, it should be sorted before its official launch.

Shpoonkle is designed to create a marketplace where legal fees will fall to rates well below the $284 per hour national average calculated by Lawyers.com, a division of Martindale-Hubble. "Paying nearly $300 an hour for a lawyer is beyond the reach of most people in need of legal assistance," said Niznik. "Shpoonkle will drive down legal costs because people can select the lowest bid submitted by our member lawyers."

One week before its official launch date, the site generated so much interest in legal blogs and an article in the ABA Journal that over 300 lawyers and scores of prospective clients have already registered to exchange services, Niznik said.

Shpoonkle works by having lawyers and law firms place bids on requests for legal work posted by potential clients. In standard auctions people bid against one another, forcing prices up so that the highest bid wins. But in reverse auctions, prices are driven down by individuals bidding to win at the lowest price. For example, a person needing a legal document, such as a contract or a will, can fill out an online questionnaire and post it on Shpoonkle.com. Interested lawyers then place bids by specifying the lowest fee they would charge for that service.

The site is not without it’s critics. Some in the legal community says it cheapens the profession.

Niznik says critics are usually “wealthy lawyers who don’t need us. There are plenty who find the platform valuable.”

In almost three and a half decades, in vitro fertilization has been responsible for the birth of over three million children, bringing immeasurable joy to their parents who would not have been able to conceive without this technology. To increase the odds of success for would-be parents who pour their hopes and dreams, as well as money, into this procedure, doctors have routinely transferred multiple embryos. Often this has translated into twin and triplet pregnancies and the complications of premature birth, neonatal morbidity, and long term medical problems. The infertility field has responded with more stringent embryo transfer guidelines, as well as the advancement of techniques like single embryo transfer for certain categories of patients.

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If you’re like me, you were shocked to learn that exonerated Duke Lacrosse player Reade Seligmann—falsely accused of rape—got a whopping $20 million settlement.  That’s the calculation by which some explain an IRS tax lien claiming he owes nearly $6.5 million in tax.  See Ex-Duke Lacrosse Star Insists Tax Bill a ‘Mistake’.  An IRS tax lien filed Feb. 17 in New York City claims $6,492,377 in tax from 2007, the year Seligmann and two others settled with Duke.  While the settlement was never disclosed, some have speculated:

• Daily Mail: Were the Duke Lacrosse Players Wrongly Accused of Rape Paid $20 Million Each in Secret Settlement?

• New York Daily News: IRS Claims Former Duke Lacrosse Player Reade Seligmann Owes Millions, Lawyer Says Bill Is Mistake

Even if accurate, I can’t say whether that’s a reasonable sum for having your life upended.  Still, I can’t help but compare it to far smaller amounts received by innocent victims locked in prison for decades for crimes they too didn’t commit.  Just one example:  Robert Lee Stinson was awarded $25,000 for 24 years of wrongful imprisonment, and there was some question whether he might get an additional $90,000.  See Justice Denied: The Journal for the Wrongly Convicted.

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(Investors.com) No bill has been introduced. But state chief executives say even the idea could raise debt costs and exacerbate fiscal woes.

"The mere existence of a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy only serves to increase interest rates, raise the costs of state government and create more volatility in financial markets," the National Governors Association said in a statement before last weekend's annual meeting.

Municipal bond mutual funds had a $38.7 billion outflow in the last 14 weeks, according to Bond Buyer.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, chairing the group's economic development panel, said at the meeting that default talk stems from "incomplete and inaccurate information" and is inflammatory.

"It's absurd," said Maine Gov. Paul LePage. "The last thing I want to do is have the markets contemplating that states are about to go bankrupt."

Governors have a message to congressional Republicans working to craft a state bankruptcy bill: You're killing our credit ratings just by talking about this.

The sharp recession and soaring retiree benefit costs have states in short- and long-term pickles. The struggles of governors like Wisconsin's Scott Walker and others to get their budgets under control illustrate the problem.

Many GOP lawmakers believe that inevitably some states will come begging for a bailout like GM (GM). So they've been quietly discussing giving them a managed bankruptcy option.

Gordon Silver bankruptcy attorney Ron Warnicke says certain criteria need to be considered before a plan could be made. A State bankruptcy would be infinitely more complex than a municipality chapter 9 for example.

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By Theresa M. Erickson

“Personhood” bills are threatening both women’s reproductive rights and access to IVF in all 50 states; however, the two states where they are currently building a great deal of support are Iowa (HF 153) and Oklahoma (HB 1571).  These bills are clearly intended to limit IVF treatment, certain forms (if not almost all) of birth control, as well as protecting all life “from the moment of conception, while removing any and all judicial oversight and interpretation.

But, it does not stop there – other states such as Colorado, Montana, Nevada, & North Dakota also have petitions being circulated at a rapid rate for inclusion via ballot or legislation.  And, let’s not forget the recent attacks on surrogacy in both Arizona and South Dakota.

As for Iowa and Oklahoma, be aware that these bills are a clear attempt to provide all rights and protections currently only provided to those functioning outside of a woman’s uterus to a fertilized egg in a petri dish or in a woman’s fallopian tube.  In short, a woman who does become pregnant would not only lose her right to any medical privacy, she will essentially lose any decision-making authority over her own health.

Some may claim these ramifications of the legislation are both “far-fetched and absurd:” however, one must not forget that many women all over the country have been arrested and charged under the guise of “personhood.”  This bill unequivocally threatens the reproductive rights of women across the entire country.

And, let’s not forget the impact on IVF – as it is more than a mere slippery slope since the bills intend to impede the ability of those who suffer from the disease of infertility to seek treatment to create their family.  By giving constitutional rights to embryos, the bill will effectively restrict a patient’s right to make any decisions regarding their embryos, while leaving physicians to provide care under the threat of criminal action.  These bills intend for the law to consider all embryos as human, regardless of their ability to either implant in the uterus or develop into a person, and their impact will leave patients and their doctors with the inability to decide what is best for them and their treatment.

In short, with “personhood” bills being promoted across the country that will restrict a woman’s reproductive rights and restrict the creation of families, what are we to do?  We (as patients, women, men, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers) need to stand firm against the legislators that are proposing these bills and supporters who are circulating petitions as they have the potential to impact the human race as we know it.  Stand up and be heard, keep abreast of what is happening in your state, write your legislators, and use the power of your vote to keep these bills off of the docket.  Reaction now needs to become action in the future.  We did it in Colorado in 2009 and 2010, and it can be done again.

Wisconsin's political and governing crisis went from bad to worse Thursday. In what had the feel of a hostage drama  Republican Gov. Scott Walker threatened to start layoffs on Friday if his budget-repair bill wasn't passed.

Democratic political strategist Brad Bannon discusses Wisconsin, the government shutdown and DOMA.

For decades, the donor sperm insemination process was shrouded in secrecy. Children created this way had little hope of retrieving medical or other types of information about their genetic origins and parents often were encouraged to not disclose their children’s donor status. But Wendy Kramer, co-founder and director of the Donor Sibling Registry, was determined to change that situation for children like her son, who was conceived with donated sperm, as well as for those born from newer technologies via egg or embryo donation. In fact, she hopes the lessons learned from donor sperm, which has been utilized as a family building technique for much long than either of the other methods, can serve as a model for how the third party reproduction field should be treating both gamete donors and children resulting from third party donation.

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When retiring clients move to a lower risk investment mix, annuities can help manage both the risk and taxation considerations.  It’s also important, when shifting gears to more fixed income planning, to consider timing and Social Security taxation as it relates to capital transactions involving their assets.

Shurwest Financial Group CPA Joe Arsenault discusses some of the tax, insurance and income stream benefits of an annuity for these clients.

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One of the great pleasures of operating a broadcast platform such as we have on Legal Broadcast Network is the ability to create custom crafted content that fits very specific areas of expertise in the law. Our ability to do this in a powerful and affordable fashion brings us to our newest channel, Brook Hollow TV, the first program dedicated to the specific topics of structured legal fees, structured attorney fees and provides a sophisticated look into the cash flow and planning challenges facing trial lawyers.

Brook Hollow TV is hosted by the Brook Hollow group out of Chicago, Illinois, a firm that has developed over the past decade a reputation for creative solutions in the area of structured sales, structured legal fees, or as some refer to them, structured attorney fees. Their recent launching of the Kenmare Assignment Company, one of the most innovative firms to come on to the structured settlement and planning market in the last 15 years, is an illustration of their commitment and willingness to invest in solutions for their legal clients.

As the channel builds out, attorneys, tax lawyers, CPA's, structured settlement experts and others who work with trial lawyers on tax, cash flow and retirement planning will get a regular stream of shows, content and commentary illustrating how lawyers can spread out their income using a safe, but sophisticated program, designed by Brook Hollow and funded through their Kenmare Assignment Company.

Check out the Brook Hollow TV by going to www.structuredlegalfees.com or go to the Brook Hollow page that outlines the Kenmare assignment company process to learn more about how you, your firm or your clients can benefit from what is certain to be one of the most important innovations in the structured settlement planning market in the last 15 years.

(Forbes) If your spouse—current or ex—squirreled money away in Switzerland or didn’t report consulting fees or gambling winnings, is it your tax problem too?  If you filed joint tax returns the answer is yes, and that can be painful—financially and otherwise.  Who’s innocent or guilty may seem irrelevant given today’s no-fault divorce.

Yet when it comes to the IRS, it counts big-time.  If you’re married, you don’t have to file joint tax returns but most people do.  In fact, only about 5% of married taxpayers file separately.  It’s worth thinking critically about this.  See Consider Tax Filing Status Carefully.

After all, by filing jointly, you are both fully liable, even if your spouse earned 100% of the income and handled all the finances.  If your spouse dies, goes to prison, flees the country, or simply divorces you and disappears with no forwarding address, you can be left holding the bag.  Your spouse could take 100% of the income and disappear, leaving you with 100% of the tax.

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