Hi, Kansas City. This is Aimee the Attorney, here with some legal news about Kansas City, some news about Kansas City itself and just some general items. It is the week of May 21st.
Lawyer Suspended
The first thing I want to talk about is there was a ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court that suspended a local Kansas City lawyer. It was mainly because of fiduciary, money, duties. The lawyer was putting his clients' money into his own account, and that's a huge no-no, and obviously, very problematic for his clients and for the lawyer himself. I will link in the article, in the show notes, the link to the article about this lawyer. He has a pretty lengthy history of doing this, and now he is finally suspended.
Finding a Good Lawyer
But it leads me to a further topic, which is how do you find a trusted lawyer? I mean, how are you looking for a lawyer? I think there are a couple suggestions that I would give. The first one is ask a trusted friend, family member, coworker, somebody that you really trust about your situation, and you trust their judgment, maybe somebody that has had a similar situation - gone through a divorce, filed a lawsuit, was in a business dispute. Ask them who their attorney was and what they thought of them. I think you'll get very unbiased reviews of attorneys that are out there from people you trust and have been in a similar situation.
The second thing is ask a lawyer you've already used. My main source of business is Municipal Court but I always have people calling me and saying, "Hey, I need a family law lawyer." "Hey, I need somebody for a DUI." "I need somebody for a criminal case." I can give them great referrals, people that I know are good lawyers, that are good communicators, that will give good advice and good set of expectations for my previous clients and their possible future clients. So, ask a lawyer you've worked with previously and trust.
And lastly, there are reviews, obviously online, just like there are for everything. Many are reviewed in the Google Maps space. I get reviewed there quite frequently. There's also two dedicated referral review sites. One is avvo.com and one is lawyers.com. You can go and read reviews. And the final thing is, both Kansas and Missouri have ways you can check and see if there are any past or pending bar complaints against your lawyer or the lawyer you are thinking about employing. So all of those sites that I've listed, or that I talked about, I'm going to list in the show notes, so please check those out when you're thinking about hiring a lawyer.
Election News
The next thing is that the Kansas City Mayoral and City Council election is coming up June 18, 2019, and May 22nd is the last day to register. Fortunately, you can register at libraries. You can register at the election board. But now in Missouri, you can also register online. I'm going to put the link to registering online in the show notes, and I would encourage everyone here that is in Kansas City or wherever to register to vote. Obviously, it's a huge part of our democracy, especially local elections. Those are the elections, for mayor and city council, that affect us the most. It's kind of glamorous to talk about the president and presidential elections, and there's a lot of fodder there, but in reality, the city council and the mayor are making the elections about the streets you drive... or making the laws about the streets you drive on, the jails in your community, the judges in your community, things that affect your everyday life, so get registered.
Improv Night!
And lastly, I am performing on Saturday at The Kick Comedy Theater in Westport. I take comedy improv, and this is my student showcase. This is my third class with the Kansas City Improv Company. I hope you will come out. It's $5 at 5:00 at The Kick Comedy Theater. I would very much love to see anyone out there in the audience. I like to ham it up when I know people are there, so please let me know if you're coming!
Thanks so much for listening, reading, watching! Look for our next video next week!
Aimee!
