You don’t need a signed document to have a binding settlement agreement. This was always a concern that needed to be considered with oral negotiations, which can amount to enforceable, oral contracts. But with the age of electronic media also came a flood of litigation about the enforceability of an agreement that is reached via email even if it is never signed by the parties on a paper document. For example: lawyer one sends lawyer two a proposed agreement that the lawyers think may eventually result in a “Settlement Agreement” to be...

“Don’t take the law into your own hands: you take ’em to court.” We have all heard that familiar catch-phrase from the TV show People’s Court. But, People’s Court was not actually a “court” – it was a binding arbitration between the parties. (By the way, in cases where the plaintiff won, the producer paid the judgment. But, that’s a story for another day.) So, what is arbitration? What is mediation? How are they different from a court trial? Mediation and arbitration are two types of alternative dispute...

When someone asks me what kind of law that I practice, I answer “civil litigation.” The response is usually a puzzled-then-accepting-without-questioning look or the question: “What is that?” The civil legal arena covers a broad area that does not include criminal or family law. Beauregard, Burke & Franco has handled the whole gamut of civil cases. There’s the classic personal injury suit, be it a motor vehicle accident, or a slip and fall; or an employment case, which can include contract disputes, wrongful termination, and...