Many people know they need to have a power of attorney. Not wanting to pay a lawyer for drafting, they turn to the Internet to find a form document that will be legal where they live. Is this a safe strategy? This is a tricky question, and the answer depends on the law of the state where the person lives, although many general principles are common. To illustrate, let’s consider these issues in the context of a West Virginian who has completed a power of attorney form in WV.

This blog focuses on Internet-based powers of attorney. It is the second in a series designed to help people think through issues that often arise when considering powers of attorney. The first provides an overview of WV power of attorney laws, and the third focuses on specific power of attorney forms designed to achieve narrow purposes. 

How many unions can fit inside one building? After the NLRB issued its decision in Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile in August 2011, the business community predicted that “micro-unions” would pop up in workplaces, vastly increasing the number of unions with whom an employer would be obliged to bargain. Senator Lamar Alexander said that a single store might find itself saddled with more than a dozen unions: “The National Labor Relations Board’s decision to allow micro-unions fractures workplaces…. your local department store could splinter into dozens of factions that the employer must now negotiate with — with the men’s clothing department, the bedding department, the fragrance department, and the women’s shoe department all represented by separate unions…." 

When legal disputes arise, many expect to be vindicated by a decision made at a trial. The justice achieved in jury or bench trials is dramatized regularly on television, and we buy into that picture of litigation. But the reality is that juries are not made up of actors, and jurors don’t always behave in predictable, stereotypical ways. Sometimes, alternative dispute resolution is a less expensive and more secure way to achieve the goals in your legal dispute. Before insisting on their day in court, litigants should consider arbitration in West Virginia.

Need help with West Virginia power of attorney laws? You’ve come to the right place. This blog is the first in a series of three dealing with powers of attorney in the Mountain State. In it, we’ll give an overview of the most common powers of attorney. The remaining two blogs will address the legality of online power of attorney forms, as well as specific powers of attorney in West Virginia.

I have lost track of the number of times in my 27-year career—usually when giving a seminar presentation—that I have been asked the question, “How can I keep from being sued?” My response never varies, “You can’t.”  A person or a company can do the very best that they can—follow all the rules to the best of their abilities—and, yet, still be brought into litigation. Sometimes, despite best efforts, they have made a mistake (and the larger the company, the more individuals there are to make those mistakes).  Sometimes, they simply are wrongly accused. Sometimes, unfortunately, they (or someone in their organization) did not believe the rules applied to them. All that can be done is to lessen the risk of suit by employing best practices. The overriding reason for employing best practices, however, should never be simply to avoid lawsuits, but instead to instill a culture where people work well together to achieve a good result. Reducing the risk of litigation is just one positive byproduct.