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Writing for About.com – The About.com Law GuideSite

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. on August 14, 2010

William L. Pfeifer, Jr. © 2010

http://williampfeifer.com

in About.com,Law Practice Management

Many of my clients know that in addition to my law practice, I am also a freelance legal writer. I’ve recently been given the opportunity to combine those two skills into one task – writing a website for lawyers for About.com.  About.com is owned by the New York Times Company, and I’m looking forward to building this site for them.

While this is a big project, I will still be maintaining a full-time law practice. Practicing law is still my “day job.” Over the years, I’ve learned how to manage my time so that I can do my regular job as well as indulge my love of writing. So now, in addition to writing appellate briefs, I’ll be writing about law practice management issues too.

The new website is located at law.about.com, and is written primarily for attorneys seeking information on how to improve and develop their law practices. Topics covered will include law practice management, law firm marketing, law office technology, and other issues that come up in the operation of a law office. While the site is written primarily for lawyers, the content is available for reading by anyone with an interest in the issues attorneys face in their law practices.

The site is new, so I am still in the process of developing content for all of the categories. Over the next few weeks a substantial amount of new material will be going live on the site. The new law site also includes a blog where I’ll be posting some comments, while also maintaining the other blogs and websites I write for as well.

Some of the recent articles I’ve added to the About.com Law website include:

There are a lot of other articles on the site to read as well, and many more are on the way. Take a few minutes to visit the site, and let me know of any suggestions you have for it.

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To contact me about handling your case, please give me a call at (800) 737-3702 Ext. 1, or use the online  Contact form on this website to send me an email about your case.

Alabama State Bar rules require the following disclaimer in all attorney advertisements: “No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of services provided by other attorneys.”

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Changes coming to the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. May 18, 2010 Appeals

On March 1, 2010, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an order making amendments to the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure.  These updates do not go into effect until June 1, 2010, and the version of the appellate rules posted on this website will be updated to reflect those updates on or before that date.  Until [...]

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Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure now available online

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. May 5, 2010 Appeals

Image via Wikipedia The Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure are now available on this website.  The version of the rules posted is current through the most recent amendments that went into effect on February 1, 2009. Posting the Rules of Appellate Procedure to our website is part of our effort to increase public access to [...]

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Effective assistance of counsel includes accurate advice about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea (Alabama Rule 32)

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. April 21, 2010 Crime

The United States Supreme Court recently held that an attorney’s duty to provide effective assistance of counsel includes the responsibility of providing accurate advice about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea. Providing incorrect legal advice to an immigrant about the deportation consequences of a guilty plea to drug trafficking charges constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel, and can serve as grounds for setting aside a guilty plea. In Alabama, such a petition would be raised under Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure, which provides Alabama’s method for asserting that a defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel.

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Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. April 21, 2010 Criminal Law

In recent weeks, our office has been contacted more and more by people looking for information about filing a claim against their attorney under Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. Not to be confused with Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration which deals with child support, Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure provides a method for defendants to challenge their conviction in a trial court. It is normally filed after a defendant has already lost his or her direct appeal of a conviction, though appealing a conviction is not mandatory before filing a Rule 32 petition in most cases.

We have posted several articles about Rule 32 petitions on this blog, but we have not previously posted a copy of Rule 32 itself. Since so many people seem to be looking for information about Rule 32 petitions, we thought it would be useful to place a copy of the rule itself on our website.

The following is a copy of Rule 32 in it’s entirety, including all of the subsections of the Rule and the committee comments issued concerning the Rule. The general form which the rules say a petition should follow is also included in an appendix to the rule. For more information about filing a Rule 32 petition in your own case, please call me at (800) 737-3702 Extension 1 or fill out the Contact form on our site to send me an email message online.

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Sexting & Youth: Recommended Article from the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. February 13, 2010 Crime

Image via Wikipedia Nancy Willard, director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, has published an article on the Center’s website addressing the subject of Sexting and Youth: Achieving a Rational Approach.  Among the issues addressed in the article is how children are now being prosecuted for distributing child pornography when they take [...]

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Using Rule 32 to set aside a guilty plea in Alabama – Part 2

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 29, 2010 Criminal Law

This is the second in a series of articles on using Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure to set aside a guilty plea. To read Part 1, click here. A defendant who enters an involuntary or coerced guilty plea has the right to petition the court to set aside his plea and [...]

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First Circuit rejects asylum petition of Chinese woman alleging religious persecution

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 28, 2010 Immigration

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the appeal of a Chinese woman, Jin Weng, who fought deportation on the grounds of religious persecution. In the case of Jin Weng vs Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, the 1st Circuit reviewed an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) which had affirmed the [...]

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Never talk to the police (video)

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 28, 2010 Criminal Law

One of the most amazing aspects of the practice of criminal defense law is the number of people who would never be arrested if they simply exercised their right to remain silent.  Even after being advised of their Miranda warnings and knowing they don’t have to say anything, many people still cannot resist running their [...]

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Using Rule 32 to set aside a guilty plea conviction in Alabama – Part 1

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 26, 2010 Criminal Law

Many people are familiar with using Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure to attempt to obtain a new jury trial in Alabama after being convicted in a criminal trial.  Not as many people are aware that, in some limited circumstances, Rule 32 may also be used to set aside a conviction after [...]

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