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Energy Law Definition

ENERGY LAW DEFINITION

Energy Law brings expertise and creative solutions to the myriad legal and public policy issues confronting the critically important, interdependent and rapidly transforming fuel and power industries.

Clients in this category represent multinational and state-owned oil and gas companies, pipeline and transport companies, biofuel producers, mining and mining equipment firms, electric utilities and independent power producers, nuclear and fossil fuel power plant developers, renewable energy companies (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal), energy efficiency and demand response enterprises, and investors and financiers to all of the foregoing.

The work performed includes corporate, regulatory, legislative, international trade and litigation dimensions to fully address the complicated opportunities and challenges facing industry participants.

source: http://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/energy-law/overview

Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Litigation at The Lanier Law Firm

The Lanier Law Firm is one of the most experienced asbestos litigation law firms in the world. The firm's expertise and reputation, in these cases, derives from a long, successful track record that spans nearly two decades. Asbestos and other chemicals that have many recognized positive and helpful uses also could be dangerous or even fatal. Unfortunately, Americans are frequently exposed to toxic chemicals, whether they are discharged accidentally into our air or water, or we are exposed to them in our schools or workplace. Fatal illnesses can be caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, including:

The Lanier Law Firm has significant experience working on behalf of families and victims of chemical exposures. Since 1998, Mark Lanier has won countless substantial recoveries on behalf those affected by asbestos exposure and suffering from mesothelioma. Just one of those cases centered around 21 steelworkers who contracted the asbestos disease at an Alabama steel mill (Aaron, et al. v. Abex, et al, February 1998). The workers were exposed to asbestos while using a grinding wheel. The jury found the defendants liable for marketing and design defects, negligence, gross negligence and malice.

Significant Settlements

Our attorneys have a wealth of experience dealing with the specialized scientific and medical issues involved in asbestos and toxic exposure lawsuits. Our reputation for courtroom excellence gives us the added leverage to negotiate significant settlements on behalf of our clients, who would rather be spending time with their families than sitting through a trial.

Just a few examples of substantial recoveries on behalf of our clients include:

a 22-year-old woman with mesothelioma who was exposed to asbestos as a child while attending school in an aging school building;
a 67-year-old refinery worker with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by years of asbestos exposure in his workplace;
a 39-year-old brake mechanic with mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos found in automotive friction products;
a 48-year-old woman with mesothelioma who was exposed as a child to asbestos that was carried home on her father's work clothes. Her exposure was a result of playing with her father when he got home from work before he changed his clothes and from helping to launder the work clothes;
a 78-year-old railroad worker with mesothelioma who was exposed to asbestos over years on the job;
a 38-year-old man with brain cancer caused by exposure to vinyl chloride through his job working in a PVC plant.

We are also pursuing claims for other workers in high risk occupations, including:

Vinyl chloride plant workers, polyvinyl chloride fabricators and beauticians and barbers. Vinyl chloride can cause angiosarcoma of the liver and in some cases glioblastoma of the brain.

The Lanier Law Firm understands the emotional and financial stress caused by chemical-induced illnesses, and our lawyers receive a tremendous amount of satisfaction knowing that they're helping families in their time of greatest need.

Visit Source: http://www.lanierlawfirm.com/legal_practice_areas/asbestos_exposure/

5 Reasons First Nations should pass their own laws concerning family property on reserve

By Alex Keenan

The breakdown of a relationship or the death of a spouse is always a difficult experience. For many First Nations couples living on reserve, the experience may be even more difficult due to a lack of effective legal mechanisms for allocating family property.

Canada’s Constitution assigns family property matters to provincial jurisdiction while matters going to the core of Indigenous rights and reserve lands are considered to fall within the exclusive sphere of the federal government. As a result, courts have refused to apply provincial legislation to a number of matrimonial property issues on reserves, leaving couples to try and apply federal law (which may be under-developed or even non-existent in this area) to settle their legal disputes. Indigenous legal traditions are typically not even part of the discussion. Even where provincial law does apply to these matters, it is not necessarily well-suited to the particular circumstances and values of First Nations and their members.

In response, the federal Government enacted the Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act (FHRA) in December 2014. The Act provides options for First Nations in dealing with matrimonial interests and rights to property on reserve. It also provides a measure of certainty in what has long been a jurisdictional vacuum.

More importantly, the FHRA recognizes that First Nations have a right to pass local laws regulating members' rights in, and entitlements to, property located on reserve during a conjugal relationship and after its breakdown. It also provides a set of “provisional” rules that will apply to those First Nations that have not enacted their own laws.

The provisional rules provide a system for allocating interests and rights in family property when at least one partner is an “Indian” (as defined by the Indian Act) and the property is located on a reserve. These rules deal with rights to occupy the matrimonial home; create processes for obtaining emergency protection orders in the event of family violence; regulate the division of property upon breakdown of a relationship; and set out a person’s property entitlements upon the death of a spouse, among other things. Notably, the provisional rules give fairly extensive rights to a spouse who is not a member of the First Nation on whose territory the property is located.

The rules give courts flexibility to vary the application of the rules in order to ensure that outcomes are not “unconscionable”. They also provide for the involvement of First Nations in the court process, permitting an interested First Nation to make submissions to the court about matters occurring on its lands. Finally, the provisional rules deal with enforcement of court orders that are made under the FHRA.

While the FHRA provisional rules were drafted with First Nations in mind and arguably represent a vast improvement over the uncertain, patchwork approach that previously existed, these rules were designed to apply to a large diversity of First Nations across Canada. As a result, they can fall short in addressing the issues faced by a particular community.

The most significant aspect of this legislation is the recognition that First Nations have the right to make their own local laws concerning family property. The passage of the Act has spurred discussions across the country and this is an ideal time for First Nations councils to engage with their citizens and talk about whether a local family property law would be right for them.

There are many reasons why a customized family property law may be appropriate. Here are just five of them.

Visit source to see full article : http://www.nelligan.ca

Apply due diligence and protect your business reputation and stakeholder liability

Business leaders, CEOs and executive boards need to apply all due diligence in order to protect their company reputation, in addition to their personal reputation. Now more than ever before regulator, shareholder and other stakeholder scrutiny are in sharp focus; there are many varied interests in modern companies many of which have a financial stake.

It is essential for business leaders to undertake all due diligence when entering into any commercial venture regardless of the level of investment, the type of ‘hook up' or indeed which established or emerging market it resides in. The internet continues to evolve as too does the continuing globalization of the economy, and it is fair to say that doing business abroad is now far easier than perhaps even a mere decade ago.

The problem is of course that along with more opportunities for trade, there are equally more opportunities for the potential of fraud and/or criminal action to be exploited against the unwary. Any business leader or executive board which enters in to partnership without seeking sound intelligence about the country, the organisation and the individuals they are dealing with are guilty of gross negligence.

It is risky doing business in your own country where the law and regulatory bodies are robust, and policing of business and banking is of a sophisticated nature. Doing business in jurisdictions where there is a lack of familiarity, and where some business practices are less than open and honest, falling foul of corruption, bribery and other criminal activity is a real danger.

What may be considered and viewed as unacceptable business practices to the more developed nations, may be viewed as acceptable in other areas of the world and regarded as practices which keep the wheels of industry turning. Unfortunately, if one falls foul of corruption or bribery which could have been prevented with the application of research and robust intelligence gathering, then there really is no one to blame other than the individual or group which ‘got taken'.

Corruption, bribery and other criminal action may be in the form of digital and cyber crime activities, shipments of products going missing, forged cargo manifests in addition to local government corruption. These and many others are very real threats; however, by undertaking research and weeding out the dangers, your business and its reputation can continue to thrive, as too can the rewards for shareholders and other stakeholders within the business.

mark jagger - About the Author:

Protect your business integrity by engaging the investigative services of Risq Group; the team of professional risk assessors and investigators will undertake investigations as an element of your overall business strategy. Enabling your business to exact due diligence your organisation will protect all stakeholders, and of course the integrity and reputation which has taken long years to accrue. For more information, click here