Friday 31 January 2014

Family Law and Divorce of the Avanti Law Group

All family law related matters are emotionally-charged and highly stressful processes. While the vast majority of all cases settle, it sometimes takes significant work and preparation before either party has enough information to make settlement decisions. Whether a case can be settled by agreement rather than decided by a judge after contested trial depends on the parties and their attorneys. Avanti Law Group follows a cooperative approach. However, we are trial ready if the case needs to be decided by a judge. Each case has a unique dynamic that will dictate the method of achieving the results you need.

Our attorneys’ experience includes:

· Successfully represented mother in a custody battle against father (who was an established business owner), in obtaining custody of their 4-year-old daughter, even though mother was being deported to Mexico, child was U.S. Citizen, mother had no formal education and mother had been unable to secure employment in Mexico
· Successfully represented father in opposition to Friend of the Court Report and Recommendation and obtained a child support reduction of 50%
· Successfully represented mother in opposition to Father’s motion to claim income tax exemption every other year
· Regularly represents wife/husband in divorce proceedings.

Our attorneys represent clients in all areas of family law, including:

· Adoption
· Custody and visitations
· Grandparent visitation
· Relocation
· Paternity
· Guardianships
· Termination of parental rights
· Juvenile criminal matters
· Premarital and post-marital agreements
· Divorce modifications
· Separation agreements
· Annulment
· Divorce
· Spousal and child support
· Property division
· Post-judgment matters
· Business valuation and non-marital property
· Property settlement

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Civil Litigation of the Avanti Law Group

We know the impact litigation can have on a person or business. We have tried cases for both plaintiffs and defendants, including a number of high-profile, commercial disputes and class actions cases. We are committed to working with you when business objectives mandate that a case be settled out of court to avoid litigation. As counselors and negotiators, we work to help you to manage risk and find alternatives to litigation when possible and consistent with your organization’s objectives. However, if litigation does become unavoidable, we’ll move quickly to contain risk and protect your interests from start to finish. We are litigation-ready.

Our attorneys experience includes:

· Trial lawyers with a proven success record.
· Our attorneys have litigated or are currently litigating cases in Michigan, Illinois, Nevada, Tennessee, and other states.
· Our attorneys have appeared in state, federal, and appellate court.
· Broad range of skills in alternative dispute resolutions.
· We have represented clients in a wide variety of civil cases including, multimillion dollar cases involving claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, breach of non-compete agreement, breach of employment duties and tortuous interference with contract and business relationship, claims for hostile environment, quid-pro-quo sexual harassment and retaliation, and claims for unpaid minimum wages among others.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

The Avanti Law Group: Labor and Employment Law

Avanti provides assistance on the entire range of employee-employer issues, discrimination, non-competition agreements, confidentiality/secrecy agreements, and personnel manuals. We advise employers on all aspects of hiring, promoting, supervising, disciplining and firing employees. Our attorneys have the skills and language capabilities to provide the following services:

· Employee Benefits
· Employment manual (English & Spanish)
· Employment Training (Staff & Management)
· HIPAA Law
· Immigration Law and I-9 compliance and citizenship status discrimination issues
· Worker’s Compensation Law
· Sexual Harassment Investigation
· On-the-ground support in the event of a workplace disaster, fatality or act of violence.
· Representation before state and federal court/agencies on compliance issues related to ADA, FMLA, EEO, ERISA, OSHA and MiOSHA, FLSA, WARN and other laws.

In addition, we work closely with our clients to modify, design, and implement effective policies and practices that are compliant with applicable laws and tailored to our clients’ needs. Our attorneys can help you:

· Prepare and properly implement restrictive covenant agreements regarding:
  • Noncompetition
  • Nonsolicitation
  • Garden leave
  • Protection of confidential information and trade secrets
  • Protection and ownership intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights

· Conduct audits to assess the efficacy of existing policies and practices.
· Prepare policies designed to properly guard and protect the confidentiality of trade secrets and other proprietary information.
· Design and implement initiatives designed to enhance employee longevity and loyalty, which include appropriate restrictive covenants.
· Evaluate potential issues arising out of the potential hiring of talented personnel potentially subject to restrictive covenants with third parties.
· Injunction proceedings.

Community Involvement the Avanti Law Group

Our attorneys and staff donate a significant amount of time to public issues, civic leadership, and representation of those that could not otherwise afford legal representation. We work hard to improve the quality of life of our clients, our community and our families.

Some of the organizations that we currently help or have helped include:

· American Red Cross
· Asian Professional Organizations
· Cesar Chavez Foundation
· DeVos Children Hospital
· Dominican American National Round table (DANR)
· Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
· Gilda’s Club
· Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
· Grand Rapids Community Foundation
· Grand Rapids Symphony
· Hispanic Center of West Michigan
· Klass Kids Foundation (KKF)
· Kid’s Food Basket
· Latin American United for Progress (LAUP)
· Legacy Ball
· Local First of West Michigan
· Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (MHCC)
· Planned Parenthood of West Michigan
· Salvation Army
· The Children’s Museum
· United Way
· West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (WMHCC)
· Women’s Resource Center
· YMCA





Sunday 26 January 2014

The Avanti Law Group: Your Personal Lawyer



Here is a law group that believes that the advice “Do not take your client’s case personally” is useless. Avanti Law Group goes to great lengths to give its clients the best results by taking each case as their own personal battle, getting involved in it by standing for the clients’ rights all the way through.

Avanti Law Group is a full-service litigation firm providing excellent legal representation to its clients in Michigan and throughout the world. The firm’s experienced attorneys have worked with a “diverse clientele of businesses and individuals in a full range of disciplinary legal services”. These services include the following and many more:
  •          Class action litigation
  •          Criminal defense
  •          Immigration
  •          Business law
  •          Family law
  •          Labor and employment
  •          Civil litigation
  •          Personal injury
Anyone with a legal issue requires a dependable team of expert and innovative lawyers who will assure the client’s protection from any adverse results. Avanti Law Group takes a solid approach toward protecting its clients’ business interests and rights. Its main goal in every task, from its very inception as a law firm, has been to derive creative solutions to complex legal challenges, pursuing relief with meticulous attention.

Avanti Group attorneys are “passionate, committed, focused, empowered, creative, accountable and aggressive” – qualities every client should look for in their legal counsellor. Coupled with the firm’s winning strategies, the Avanti Group always takes a positive position in assisting its clients tackle every aspect of their legal needs.

The inspiring story of Avanti’s origin can be read from its website. In gist, it arose from the pioneering partners’ desire to “assist clients achieve success by consistently providing a cost-effective high level of legal representation and services.” Two unlikely law partners who started as legal foes eventually joined forces (now a “wonderful partnership”) to address a variety of legal challenges within a wide scope of corporate and personal concerns.

Avanti is a unique law firm – first from its choice of name (or non-name label) to its make-up as a top women-owned law firm in Michigan and to its unique entrepreneurial spirit. As its name connotes, Avanti is forging “forward” as an unrelenting champion of the rights and interests of companies and individuals who need a partner whom they can call not just a partner but a personal friend and co-sojourner in life toward success.