With our partnership with
Detroit-based Sommers Schwartz, PC, we
represent persons who have been seriously injured or who have died due to the
negligence of another person, malpractice or the existence of a defective
product. We counsel clients on unique methods to settle their case in an effort
to minimize the emotional difficulty often encountered in connection with these
types of cases, while at the same time zealously advocating for and protecting
our client’s interests. Whenever possible, we strive to resolve issues by agreement;
however, we will effectively litigate those cases that cannot be settled.
Friday 23 May 2014
Thursday 22 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law Articles: Non-Profit Organizations
Avanti
Law Group can help you at all stages of your non-profit organization–from
the forming of a non-profit organization to obtaining tax-exempt status from
the IRS, to complying with federal and state laws governing fund-raising and
operations. When you retain us to create the non-profit organization and obtain
recognition from the IRS of its tax-exempt status, you are getting much more
than documents. You receive a comprehensive consultation to make sure you
understand formation and governance options. If you are considering forming a non-profit
organization or you are managing a non-profit organization (such as
501(c)(3) as well as many organizations that are tax exempt under other
categories of section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code, e.g., social welfare
organizations exempt under 501(c)(4) and trade associations exempt under
501(c)(6)), we would welcome the opportunity to be of services to you.
We advise in regard to options
for the formation of a new non-profit
organization, draft the necessary documents to create the organization, and
secure IRS recognition of tax-exempt status. We also provide state charitable
solicitation registrations for 501(c)(3) organizations, as may be needed. These
services are usually provided on a “fixed fee” basis.
Some of our services include:
- Formation (preparing all organizational documents, e.g. articles of incorporation, bylaws, trusts)
- Securing IRS Recognition of Tax-Exempt Status (IRS Forms 1023 and 1024)
- Advice as to IRS Form 990 (Annual Tax Information Return)
- State Regulatory Compliance
- Charitable Solicitation Registrations
- Tax Advice (Avoiding Unrelated Business Taxable Income; Maintaining Tax-Exempt Status)
- Facilities Acquisition
- Planned Giving (including Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Gift Annuities)
- Capital Campaigns
- Advice Regarding and Review of Fundraising Agreements of All Types
- Intellectual Property Protection
- Representation in IRS Audits and Tax Controversies, Including In Tax Court
- Group Exemption Rulings
- Non-Profit Mail Permits
- Executive Compensation Planning
- Charitable Giving Generally (Both Lifetime and Testamentary)
- Corporate Sponsorship Agreements
- Royalty License Agreements
- Charitable Sales Promotion Agreements
Wednesday 21 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law Articles: Document Review Services
Successful litigators know that document
production and discovery management requires a well-planned and meticulous
analysis of relevant documents as the only way to develop the key factual
evidence and build the evidentiary foundation of a winning case.
Avanti’s
Document review services are provided at the direction of, and for review by,
attorneys. Our document review and litigation outsource service include:
- Electronic Document Review
- Hard Copy Document Review
- Audio and Media File Review
- Deposition Transcript Summaries
- Due Diligence Review
- Contract Review
Typical engagements include:
Standard or subjective reviews for relevance,
privilege, confidentiality and issue coding determinations.
- Evaluation of documents to determine relevant summary information, such as key topics of the case, important people, specific vocabulary and jargon, and important individual documents.
- Organization of collected documents.
- Legal Review of Spanish written documents
If you
do not see the service you desire, please contact
us to determine if we can assist you.
Tuesday 20 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law Articles: Estate Planning
Avanti lawyers assist families
and individuals in the development and implementation of estate plans that
reflect their personal values, concerns, and goals. We give our clients peace
of mind that their commitments to the most important people and institutions in
their lives are met, while preserving control over their affairs and property
when they are alive and well.
Some of the issues that we can help you
address in your estate plan include (but are not limited to):
·
Leaving
a legacy for future generations
·
Creating
a succession plan for your family business
·
Philanthropic
giving
·
Protecting
your spouse and other loved ones
·
Establishing
a special needs trust
·
Preserving
your family values, history and dynasty
·
Estate
& gift tax planning
·
Ensuring
that you are protected and your wishes are followed if you become ill, injured
or mentally incapacitated
·
Distributing
your property & other assets
·
Wills
·
Living
Will
·
Durable
Power of Attorney
·
Living
Trusts
·
Irrevocable
and revocable trusts
·
Life
insurance trusts
·
Prenuptial
agreements
·
Financial
and medical powers of attorney
READ MORE...
Monday 19 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law articles: Landlord & Tenant Matters
We represent both landlord and tenants in eviction
proceedings. When a party to a lease violates the lease, you are at risk. Our
West Michigan landlord/tenant law
attorneys will take quick and effective action on your behalf.
Eviction proceedings are precise and exacting. A small
error can require starting the process again. If you have an eviction problem,
our evictions attorney can help.
Friday 9 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law articles In The Fight To Vindicate The Comfort Women
Last month I
recounted how a top U.S. law firm had agreed to help shadowy Japanese interests
try to portray the so-called Comfort Women – the sex slaves grotesquely abused
by the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II – as no more than common
prostitutes. As I pointed out, the case is totally toxic and no respectable law firm should
have anything to do with it. The article
has generated nearly 90,000 clicks, 5,500 Facebook shares, and countless
supporting comments.
Now comes
news that the law firm at the center of the firestorm, Chicago-based Mayer
Brown, is withdrawing from the case. As reported in the Los Angeles Daily News,
pressure from outraged Forbes readers helped tip the balance. Mayer Brown was
probably also reacting to coruscating criticism from such well-informed legal experts
as Ken White, a prominent Los-Angeles-based criminal attorney, and Marc
Randazza, a First Amendment lawyer.
There is an
important lesson here: although early hopes that the Internet would prove a
powerful tool for good have been dashed, it still can be harnessed to further
the cause of truth. In particular it can still help the ordinary decent
American public win out at a time when many elite Americans have gone AWOL on
Japanese neo-fascism.
This is
where Caroline Kennedy comes in. The daughter of John F. Kennedy, she now
serves as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Japan. Few Americans have ever
enjoyed a greater opportunity to address latter-day Japan’s Jekyll and Hyde
complex. Unfortunately she has evidently been persuaded – no doubt against her
better instincts – to show “mutual understanding” on various contentious
U.S.-Japan issues, not least recent outrageous suggestions that the Japanese
may “apologize” for Imperial Japan’s treatment of the Comfort Women. In plain
terms, she has been all but silent.
More about
Caroline Kennedy in a moment. First let’s complete the point about Mayer Brown.
The firm’s Los Angeles office was somehow persuaded to represent two
Japanese-Americans who contend that they will suffer “irreparable injury” from
“feelings of exclusion, discomfort, and anger” if a statue in a park in
Glendale, California is not removed. The statue was funded by Koreans and
memorializes the Comfort Women’s rather more acute pain. The Japanese-Americans
are joined in the suit by an organization called the Global Alliance for
Historical Truth-US.
Although it
is, of course, not unusual for even the most respectable of U.S. law firms to press bogus
lawsuits, two aspects of the Comfort Women suit have proved particularly
embarrassing for Mayer Brown:
The
involvement of the Global Alliance for Historical Truth-US. Incorporated as
recently as February 6, the alliance gives its address as a UPS office and is
little more than a legal
fiction. The really controversial
part is that its name has been evidently chosen so it would be confused with a
very different entity, the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII
in Asia. This latter is a long-established, entirely respectable scholarly
group founded by Chinese-American professors that is on the other side of the
Comfort Women argument.
The toxic
wording of the lawsuit. The essence of the suit is that the Comfort Women were
common prostitutes. Here is the offending paragraph: “During World War II and
the decade leading up to it, an unknown number of women from Japan, Korea,
China, and a number of nations in Southeast Asia, were recruited, employed,
and/or otherwise acted as sexual partners for troops of the Japanese Empire in
various parts of the Pacific Theater of war. These women are often referred to
as comfort women, a loose translation of the Japanese word for prostitute.”
This paragraph makes no concession to the incontrovertible historical fact –
admitted even in a statement of apology by the Japanese government in 1993 – which
thousands of innocent women forced into sexual servitude. In the case of Dutch
women captured in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), a post-war court
operating on Western rules of evidence sentenced one Japanese army officer to
execution and eleven Japanese citizens
to imprisonment on Comfort Women allegations.
As for
Caroline Kennedy, in late February she was handed a perfect opportunity to
bring some intellectual honesty to the Comfort Women debate. This came when the
New York Times, in an article
headed “Japan to Revisit Apology to Wartime Sex Slaves,” reported that Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe’s government was considering cancelling the 1993 apology.
The report was published a week after Mayer Brown had filed the Glendale suit.
While it would not have been appropriate for Kennedy to have criticized Mayer
Brown directly, she could have announced that any move by Japan to
“unapologize” would be viewed with dismay in the United States. The implications
would have been hard for any decent person at Mayer Brown to overlook.
That said,
we should not be too hard on Caroline Kennedy. No matter how capable and wise
she may be (and no matter how many doors a famous name may open for her), she
can do little without the support of embassy officials in Tokyo. Unfortunately
most of her staff are, to put it politely, conscious apologists for the
Japanese establishment. Their job, as they see it, is to tamp down American
anger anytime anything provocative emerges from Japan. They reflexively oppose
any instinct by an ambassador to stand up for truth and decency, and it would
take a uniquely strong ambassador to ride roughshod over them.
This is not
to say that U.S. ambassadors have not occasionally tried to break free of their
minders. Indeed in a widely reported tweet in January, Kennedy protested
Japanese cruelty to dolphins. For anyone who knows the Tokyo diplomatic world,
however, Kennedy’s dolphin intervention is a case of “close but no cigar.” The
difference between dolphins and Comfort Women is that the former don’t have
relatives who might claim for massive compensation. In Tokyo money is what
matters, and the U.S. embassy has for generations connived with the Japanese
establishment in heading off all efforts by Imperial Japan’s victims and their
families to seek monetary redress for World War II atrocities. Apart from the
Comfort Women, other notable victims of this policy have been U.S. servicemen
who have never received more than derisory compensation for brutal treatment in
Japanese POW camps.
Thursday 8 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law articles: Driving innovation, brand protection and growth
Building on
the success of the 2013 IP Conference series, ALB held its inaugural Japan IP
Conference on April 15, 2014, attracting more than 100 of Japan’s leading
senior counsel, brand protection experts, IP managers and litigators to the
heart of Tokyo’s Akasaka business district. Supported by Thomson Reuters IP
& Science, Baker & McKenzie, UBIC, the Asia-Pacific IP Association, the
Roppongi Bar Association, the Japan In-House Counsel Network and the American
Chamber of Commerce Japan, the event conveyed ALB’s continued presence in Japan
as an international media and knowledge platform bridging local, regional
and global expertise.
Aligned with
the Japan Patent Office’s (JPO) objective of “achieving the world’s fastest and
highest quality IP system,” Commissioner Hideo Hato opened the conference
explaining how international IP harmonization initiatives are embedded into the
government’s Japan Revitalizations Strategy and the subsequent strengthening of
the Design, Trademark and the Patent Attorney Acts.
The stretch
of government keynotes continued with a presentation from one of ALB’s most
loyal supporters, Director-General Peter Cheung of the HK IP Department. Cheung
gave an update on the IP exchange initiative, reiterating the important
collaboration efforts with government and industry leaders in Hong Kong, Japan,
Korea and across the region. He surprised delegates by concluding his speech
with an impromptu song on IP monetization, hinting on his next career move
after his impending retirement from the public sector this month.
The World IP
Organization’s (WIPO) Japan representative Masaki Okamoto offered delegates an
insight into Japan’s significant contribution to WIPO’s global
services such as the free patent search system PATENTSCOPE or the CASE
initiative, enabling the safe exchange of search and examination documentation
related to patent applications. With the launch of the GREEN and Research
projects, WIPO is also pioneering IP management as a means to sustainability
and healthcare development.
WIPO’s
inter-governmental guidelines were well complemented by the subsequent industry
case studies. Toyotaka Abe showed that
Microsoft, as an owner of a large pool of patent rights, is the perfect example
of how market leadership can be sustained in the technology field with the
creation of clear IP transaction guidelines covering IP licensing, purchase and
sale as well as the transfer of IP rights.
Another
interesting group of sessions followed featuring government, industry and
academic standpoints surrounding Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and Fair,
Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing. Professor Shuya Hayashi of
Nagoya University pointed out the anti-competitive impact of patent hold-ups
and royalty stacking using the Apple vs. Samsung case and advised against
injunctive relief in case of FRAND litigation. Qualcomm’s vice-president of
Patents, George Whitten, in turn, provided an overview of the ICT industry,
arguing that while the issue exists, there is no substantial empirical evidence
of the aforementioned patent infringements, neither of their adverse economic
effects.
Commissioner
Hiroyuki Odagiri of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has gave a detailed
rundown on JFTC`s extensive work in reconciling reasonable IP monetization and
innovation with fair competition practices. JFTC has pioneered the standardization
of patent pool arrangements, guarding the fragile benefits of standard-setting
including quicker product commercialization and customer convenience, while
acting on antitrust concerns, the type of issues voiced by Whitten and Hayashi.
This has been evidenced by JFTC’s numerous enforcement actions including the
cases of the Pachinko Manufacturing Patent Pool’s, Hokkaido Shimbun Press’,
Microsoft’s and Qualcomm’s monopolistic activities as well as the IP merger of
the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group and the Osaka Stock Exchange.
Following a
morning dominated by discussions surrounding hard IP, the afternoon focused on
soft IP matters with an overarching theme of brand protection and
anti-counterfeiting. In the digital piracy panel discussion, KT Ang of IFPI
Asia gave an overview of the challenges faced by the global entertainment
industry and the various counter piracy methods available to including
advertising, litigation and website blocking. Joe Welch of 21st Century Fox
took this one step further, arguing that the obsolete “notice and take-down”
approach should be strengthened with the blocking of “overseas egregious rogue
(pirate) sites” and downgrading and delisting penalties imposed by search
engines. Using the examples of the EU and the cases of The Pirate Bay and Grooves
hark, both Ang and Welch agreed that right holders should be able to apply for
injunctive relief, essentially requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to
take blocking action without exposing them to liability to infringement. Yoichiro Hata of the Recording Industry
Association of Japan showed an even higher standard adopted by Japan with the
Amended Copyright Law, which effectively criminalizes
the act of downloading music and/or motion pictures with knowledge of the
illegal nature of the source and legal pay-for
alternatives.
Wednesday 7 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law articles: Getting Legal advice in Japan
April marked
the start of the year for schools and many companies in Japan — a month when
many newcomers from overseas arrive in the country, just in time for the cherry
blossom season.
If you are
one of these new arrivals, a lot will be fresh and unfamiliar, and that,
unfortunately, applies to the problems you may face as well as the positive
aspects of your new life here. Even long-term residents are not immune to
complications related to their visa status, work, money, family and so on. With
this in mind, I thought it would be timely to take this opportunity to share
some tips on how to use legal services in Japan.
First, the
national and local tiers of government offer a range of free counseling services
in English and other languages. The Immigration Bureau operates a number of
regional Immigration Information Centers (see No. 1 below) that you can call
for general information and “one-stop” information centers in Shinjuku (2);
Urawa, Chiba Prefecture; and Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. These centers can
offer advice on a variety of issues, not just those related to immigration.
If you
believe your human rights have been violated, whether it is related to
discrimination, bullying, defamation or privacy issues on the Internet, you may
want to consult with the Justice Ministry’s Human Rights Counseling Offices for
Foreigners (3). This service is also free.
If you work
here, you are protected by Japanese labor law. If you have problems with wage
payments, unfair dismissal or other employment-related issues, you can find
information and advice at your nearest Labor Bureau (4).
Local
municipalities also offer free consultation services. If you live in Tokyo, the
links prepared by the Tokyo Employment Service Center for Foreigners should be
useful, as they show available consultation services in Tokyo at national,
regional and local levels (5).
If you are
interested in retaining a lawyer, there are a number of English-speaking
attorneys at private firms. Even if you do not know any English-speaking
lawyers, there are several local bar associations that provide legal counseling
for foreigners at ¥5,400 (tax included) for 30 minutes with free interpretation
(6). Some even provide a completely free service.
If your
income is lower than a certain level, you are eligible for free legal
advice from the Japan Legal Support Center (7).
If you are a
resident with mid- to long-term residential status and satisfy certain
means-test criteria (8), you can receive a legal-aid loan to retain a lawyer
for civil and family cases. Legal
aid is available as long as lawyers are contracted with the Japan Legal
Support Center, and provided that they are willing to take on legal-aid cases.
Even if you do not have a legitimate residential status, you may still be able
to receive legal aid in some cases.
Regardless
of your residential status, if you are unfortunate enough to be arrested, you
can consult a lawyer once for free. In such a situation, you simply need to
tell a police officer to call the duty attorney (tōban bengoshi) and the
officer will contact a local bar association and get them to call a lawyer (9).
The lawyer will bring an interpreter if you do not speak Japanese. A family
member or friend of the arrested individual can also call a local bar
association directly and ask them to send a lawyer.
Tuesday 6 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law articles: Tokyo lawmakers begin China visit amid tensions
A group of bipartisan Japanese lawmakers began their trip to
Beijing on Sunday, with more delegations from Japan scheduled to visit China
later this month.
The delegation members are expected to find
remedies to boost communication between the two neighbors at a time when
official contacts have hit a record low, observers said.
Masahiro Koumura, visiting vice-president of
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led the union delegation to Beijing
for the three-day visit.
The delegation consists of lawmakers from the
ruling coalition and the opposition, including Katsuya Okada, a senior member
and former chief of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Former Chinese state counselor Tang Jiaxuan
held a meeting on Sunday evening with Koumura, former Japanese foreign minister
and now the president of Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union.
Tang said Beijing "places great
priority" on Koumura's friendly visit when the ties are facing huge
challenges. Koumura said he hopes the visit may help improve the relationship.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK said Koumura
will seek a "breakthrough" for improving the relationship.
Related:
The Avanti
Law Group - Communities
Bilateral ties were stalled after the
Japanese government unilaterally announced the decision to
"nationalize" part of China's Diaoyu islands in September 2012.
Sun Cheng, professor of Japan studies at
China University of Political Science and Law, said the grudges
between the two countries have expanded from the islands issue to an overall
confrontation on a diplomatic level, which is "unlikely to be resolved in
a short period of time".
"The ties may not be improved unless the
relevant issues are properly addressed and disputes are appropriately managed,"
Sun said.
The diplomatic climate worsened after
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a pilgrimage to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine
in December, which enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals.
Commenting on Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe's
visit to China on April 24 and Koumura's trip, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin
Gang said on Wednesday that Beijing "welcomes people from all walks of
life in Japan, including figures from the ruling and the opposition parties, to
play a positive role in improving the China-Japan relationship".
Monday 5 May 2014
The Avanti Group Law articles: Gov't invest in Tokyo, Osaka port operators
A bill to
revise the Ports and Harbors Law
was passed into law Wednesday to enable the government to invest in the
operators of hub container ports in the Tokyo and Osaka areas with the aim of
boosting their competitiveness.
Having seen
large chunks of Japanese cargo to Europe and North America routed via South
Korea's Busan Port, which has been wholly backed by the South Korean
government, Japanese businesses have been calling on the government to get
involved in running ports in the Tokyo and Osaka bay areas.
The
operators of three ports in the Tokyo region -- Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki --
and those of two ports in the Osaka region -- Osaka and Kobe -- plan to
integrate their management, and the
government will then invest in the new firms.
The
government will promote business investment in
preparing facilities to handle cargo that will contribute to reducing
operational costs and be involved in sales to attract domestic and foreign
freight.
Under the
revised law, the government can also provide non-interest-bearing loans into
projects to introduce warehouses with distributive processing functions near
the major ports and to reinforce the quake-resistance of privately owned
seawalls.
Details of
the government's involvement, including investment ratios, will be discussed
later as Yoichi Masuzoe, governor of the Tokyo metropolitan government which
supervises the Tokyo port, remains cautious about the state's participation.
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