Boumil Law Offices provides service in the following areas of expertise:
- Contracts
- Corporations
- Personal Injury Law
- Litigation in State and Federal Courts
- Domestic Relations
- Real Estate Law
- Business Formation
- Intellectual Property
- Medical Malpractice
More About Contracts
"Good walls good neighbors make"
Robert Frost, "Mending Walls"
The flow of modern commerce is lubricated by clearly flowing contractual language. Ambiguity is the harbinger of mistrust and ultimately the choice between expensive litigation and unjustified loss.
Perhaps sadly, but definitely, gone are the days when the mere handshake of two persons was sufficient to seal an agreement. As Ross Perot now admonishes: "The devil is in the details".
We have found that most persons who contemplate or conclude business transactions of substance desire to have the benefits and burdens of their transactions simply expressed. Serious businesses seldom seek to gain advantage through contractual obfuscation, and even more rarely, through intentional deception.
People who understand their contracts are much more likely to honor them.
Understanding begins with clarity and precision from legal counsel.
Litigation - the expense and aggravation of Court proceedings typically results from the different parties to a contract forming different expectations. [Back to top]
Thoughts on Corporate Matters
Twenty five years ago the choice of business entities available to either a "start up" or established business was limited. However, as the "global economy" has developed, entrepreneurs are faced with a dizzying array of legal entities, jurisdictions, and combinations of entities and jurisdictions, each of which may have significantly different tax and procedural impacts.
When should a small business incorporate to take advantage of tax and retirement plan benefits?
When should a limited liability company be chosen over a limited partnership?
When under what circumstances and conditions is it desirable to bring venture capital investors into a new or established business? [Back to top]
Background in Real-Estate Law
Attorney Boumil has 30 years of broad experience in real estate. He has represented numerous consumers, businesses and financial institutions in loan transactions. He has represented buyers and sellers in large commercial transactions including office and apartment buildings, hotels and shopping centers. He has taken numerous large parcels of land all the way through the development process, from concept planning to environmental review, to the subdivision and planned unit development process.
His real estate experience includes participation as a principal in numerous projects including residential units, office parks and office buildings. Having experience as a principal, where one’s own money is “on the line”, brings a keen perspective to the process of land development. It is far easier to understand the needs and vision of a developer if you have been one. [Back to top]
Personal-Injury Law
Suffering and loss of the capacity to earn a living is often compensible.
Injury does not lead to automatic recovery. Insurers employ hundreds of attorneys and investigators all with the single minded purpose of minimizing the amount of money paid to people who have lost health, suffer pain, and endure economic hardship.
Simply put, the goal of an insurer is much more often (if not exclusively) to protect its profit margin than to see that what you have lost is restored.
Boumil Law Offices handles significant personal injury cases.
In order to denote sufficient time and resources to those cases where the losses are large, we generally do not become involved in any case where the total potential recovery is less than $50,000 (including medical costs, earning capacity, and fair compensation for suffering).
Injury cases are usually taken on a “contingency fee” which means that there are no attorney’s bills unless money is recovered. However, the Client always remains liable for out of pocket costs, such as Court filings fees, sheriff’s fees, experts, stenographers and so on. For a more complete listing, please see the “sample fee agreements” tab.
No reputable attorney guarantees the results of any personal injury case. We do promise to honor the Boy Scout motto: “Be prepared”.
Preparation, skill, and experience provide the best opportunity to prevail and to achieve the most satisfactory result possible. [Back to top]
Intellectual Property Law
Ideas are the capital of the technological era. Properly protected ideas have far more profit potential than “mortar and bricks”.
Business enterprises which develop useful products, processes or ideas must be prepared to obtain legal protection for such items in order to maximize their economic potential. Failure to act swiftly can result in a competitor gaining an advantage or even an employee becoming a competitor.
The term “Intellectual Property” has often been limited in the public’s view to the concept of “patents.” However, over the last twenty-five (25) years, the term has broadened to include many ideas that may be economically exploited if properly protected.
Some of the more obvious types of Intellectual Property are:
1. Trademarks - A trademark is a distinctive sign or logo which is used to distinguish the products of a company or the company itself from other companies or businesses.
2. Copyright – A copyright may be obtained for works of art or entertainment such as books involving either fact or fiction or combinations thereof, movies, documentaries, musical works, paintings, photographs, and even computer software. The “Copyright” grants the holder an exclusive right to control and allows reproduction of the copy written work for a specific period of time.
3. Trade Secret – A Trade Secret is typically any confidential information of a company which is not generally available outside of the company. A “Trade Secret” can involve a formula, a process or commercial practices. In some jurisdictions “Trade Secrets” may also involve customer lists and/or price lists. A “Trade Secret” is most often maintained by a company which does not desire to disclose its information to the public as is required by a patent. Sometimes “Trade Secrets” are more beneficial than patents. However, the holder of a “Trade Secret” has no protection for its propriety knowledge should another individual or company develop the same information independently. If your organization possesses Trade Secrets, it is very important to have agreements with employees which govern the non-disclosure of such Intellectual Property.
4. Industrial Design Rights – Such rights protect the form of appearance, style, or design on industrial objects such as spare parts, furniture or textiles.
5. Patent – A “Patent” may be granted for a useful and non-obvious improvement in a product, process, or device. The term “invention” has been the subject of much litigation and is a term of art which is constantly evolving. Not every idea is worthy of being granted patent protection. [Back to top]
Medical Malpractice
The substantial majority of physicians are honest, competent professionals dedicated to serving the public good. A few are not competent, and even the best on occasion may depart from the required standard of care.
The fact is that tens of thousands of people are injured or killed every year due to medical errors. Many of these injuries can cause substantial pain and suffering or take loved ones away prematurely, and forever. These injuries are not due to “greedy lawyers” as very greedy insurance companies would have you believe. Malpractice awards are difficult to obtain and in general, are achieved only by those who both have retained experienced attorneys and who have a clearly valid claim. Juries simply do not hand out awards to the undeserving.
The job of the malpractice attorney is to obtain justice and economic compensation for the injury. Who is going to pay the rent, mortgage, or college tuition for a family which has lost a member to a medical error? Who will pay for the care of some one rendered disabled by the carelessness of one to whom his/her care was entrusted?
Boumil Law offices has taken and won many medical malpractice cases turned down by other firms who were looking only for “sure things” and easy paydays.
We have successfully handled cases involving such errors as:
Such errors have led to suffering and disability caused by prolonged incontinence, amputation of limbs, heart valve replacement, stroke, and death. Our office has collected millions of dollars in personal injury recoveries.
If you want your case handled by a skilled scientist and attorney who has been chosen to lecture on medical issues to conventions of physicians, and who sits on the Board of Directors of an international association of physicians, consider Boumil Law Offices.
Results are obtained the “old fashioned way”. We earn them through hard work, experience and dedication to your cause.
If you believe that you have been injured as the result of a medical error, please call us. There is no charge for a consultation. We take medical malpractice cases based upon “contingency fee” agreements which result in compensation to the attorney only if money is collected for you after you have signed the agreement.
Consultations concerning your case are totally confidential and protected from discovery by attorney-client privilege. [Back to top]
Copyright © 2007 by S. James Boumil, Esq. All rights reserved.
