CHECK THE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY. It's a double edged sword as any document against you can hamper the whole matter. DOUBLE-CHECK THE CAUSE OF ACTION AND OCCURRENCE OF EVENTS. Cause of action and occurrence of events shall be specially pleaded if possible with date and time . DOES YOUR LAWYER KNOW THE JUDGE? There is an old saying: "A good lawyer knows the law and a great lawyer knows the judge". Different judges may have different points of view on the same facts and law. Therefore, plan the strategy accordingly. PLAN YOUR LITIGATION ACCORDING TO REMEDIES. The same occurrence of event may have different remedies under law like civil, criminal, winding up, insolvency and bankruptcy. Start with one and avail others if required to put further pre
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Handling sexual harrassment at the workplace can be tricky business. At stake is not just the morale and the productivity of employees, but also the very reputation and growth of the company. Here are some things you should consider as an employer.   Assess the Complaint: Insist on a written complaint. Where the aggrieved woman is unable to make a complaint on account of her physical or mental incapacity or death or otherwise, her legal heir or any person on her behalf may make the complaint. Reconciliation: If there is a miscommunication or the matter is of trivial nature, the mater should first be tried to be resolved with reconciliation. Form an Internal Committee as soon as you can: Assess  the date of incident and in case of a
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Here are some tips on how to make electronic evidence like recordings, emails and chats admissible in a court of law: 1. Preserve the original gadget: Keep the gadget with which you have procured the evidence in safe keeping. And produce it in court when the need arises. The possible gadgets are: For Pictures - the camera or the phone, for Audio recordings - the audio recorder, for chats - the phone or laptop. 2. Get the gadget tested: If the above evidence is disputed, you'll need to get the gadget tested through a certified forensic lab. 3. Various formats of evidence: Any electronic record which is printed on a paper or stored, recorded or copied in optical/magnetic media shall also be considered to be a document, if the conditions mentione
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Checking on the legal aspects of a property is easy. Simply make a note of these points and keep ticking them as you check them: Insist on seeing the original documents: There's a lot of scope for foul play with photocopies. So, never settle for photocopies, no matter what the excuse the other party gives. Thoroughly check the possession of property: Possession plays major role in checking legal aspect of any property. Check ownership of the property: Visit authorities like DDA, MCD etc. to make double sure about the ownership of property.Check whether the party has General Power of Attorney or Conveyance Deed. A Conveyance Deed means the party has absolute powers to execute the sale. If it is a GPA, it has limited rights , read the docu
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Here's how! Recovery of stuck payments is the pain point of many businesses. Except for a few cases where the clients have genuine challenges in paying you, in the rest they don't pay simply because they do not feel compelled to do so. Here's how you can force them to pay: 1. TAKE QUICK ACTION:   You should ideally take action the moment you see your client defaulting on your payment beyond a reasonable amount of time. Remember, the older the debt, the lesser the chances of recovery. In case of cheque dishonor, you should issue the legal notice within 30 days and file a complaint within 45 days post that, for the best chance of recovery. Please note, the courts do not entertain any debt recovery cases beyond 3 years. 2. CUT-OFF TIME
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Drafting a watertight contract can be really simple if you follow these simple Do's and Don'ts: The Do's Always include the following clauses to avoid future litigation: A. Consideration - value generated for each party B. Deliverables - what goods or services will each party deliver C .Responsibility - duties of parties while delivering D. Default - what shall be the damages in case of default E. Termination - when can the contract be terminated or deemed to be terminated. F. Timelines of deliverables - how much time is allowed for each work E. Jurisdiction - which court shall be approached in case of a dispute   The Don'ts A. Avoid using non-definitive words like 'would', 'should' etc. Instead, use words like 'Shall'. B. If you want t
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Avoid it! You might consider this advice as odd, coming from a lawyer, but this is what I strongly advocate. Litigation after all, is a painful process, especially more so in India where the courts can take years to settle the simplest of matters. If you are a first time litigator, you would expect an early disposal, which in most cases does not happen.   Here is how to avoid litigation altogether:   1. Always analyse the credentials of the person you are dealing with. Who is the person? What is his/her background? How was he while dealing with others? What is his litigation history? If needed, you may even hire a detective to know more. Your objective should be to understand the person better and explore how you can avoid
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