Who Is, and What Is, "Your Telephone Lawyer"?

This website is attorney advertising

Important Disclaimer - See Below

I, Carl Person (see photo), am Your Telephone Lawyer. What I offer is an opportunity for you or anyone else with a legal problem (even another lawyer) to talk with me about the problem and get my insight. I have had more than 40 years of experience as a lawyer, mainly in litigation, and almost as many years in business and marketing. For example, I created the paralegal field in 1972 and I was the first lawyer to sue for the right to advertise. Many unresolved problems have the possibility of litigation to resolve, and my experience, training and insight can prove valuable for anyone wanting to figure out how to resolve a problem most effectively. [The seal above was created by me for a new office I'm trying to create in the nation's towns, villages and cities. I call it the "Town Attorney General", to enforce the rights of individuals and small businesses at government expense. See my website the Town Attorney General>. If such office had been created in some of the nation's 40,000 towns, villages and counties, it is entirely possible that this country and most Americans would not be in the current threatening state of financial distress.] To see my range of legal interests, go to my website My Website as a Lawyer.

Even (or perhaps I should say especially) lawyers can use the insight of another lawyer. It happens all the time in law firms, which is one of the reasons that law firms exist. Individual practitioners such as myself have less opportunity to talk with other lawyers and can use an inexpensive sounding board in areas of law with which we have less experience or insight.

If You Are Not a Lawyer, What Types of Problems Are Suitable for Discussion with Your Telephone Lawyer?

I believe that most problems worthy of being considered by you as a "problem" would be worthwhile for you to discuss with a lawyer. With his/her knowledge of law, a lawyer will be better skilled than most laypersons in analyzing the legal aspects of a problem and suggesting what you should do.

You should not consider the discussion legal advice, unless I tell you that it is legal advice. Good legal advice generally requires more communication between lawyer and client than a few minutes, for the lawyer to get all the needed information upon which to give legal advice. Instead, the telephone discussion is intended to help you analyze your problem into legal issues without necessarily resolving those legal issues for you, to help you determine what to do about your problem. You may learn that your problem is not one that can be readily resolved by recourse to litigation, or that your proposed business idea has certain legal obstacles for you to overcome, or that you may have various claims against a business corporation or financial institution arising out of your relationship with the corporation or institution, or you may want to have a second opinion on advice you are getting from your lawyer or any problems that can be envisioned as to a contract offered to you for signature.

One Lawyer Cannot Be Familiar with All Areas of Law - But Your Telephone Lawyer Can Help Direct You to the Type of Lawyer You Seem to Need

No lawyer is familiar with all areas of law. There are more than 100 major areas of law, and perhaps 1,000 to 5,000 sub-areas of law. I can go so far as to say that most lawyers with several years of experience have a background in law not substantially duplicated by any other lawyer. This makes it difficult to find the right lawyer. I often cringe when someone tells me what type of lawyer he/she needs. I ask them to tell me about the problem and let me determine for them what type of lawyer I think is most suitable for them. They might believe a lawyer (often called a real estate lawyer) who represents homeowners in residential mortgage transactions is what they need to defend a mortgage foreclosure action, but I tell them that they need a litigation lawyer instead, preferably someone who has experience in defending foreclosure actions or someone highly experienced in state-court litigation. I have had substantial experience in many areas of law and in business, and I can draw upon this experience to provide meaningful insight into many different types of legal, or legally-oriented, problems.

Some of the My Areas of Interest, to Give You an Insight into How I Might Be Able to Help You

With more than 40 years of experience as a lawyer practicing law in New York City, I have represented clients in many different types of legal matters. Here is a link to my resume Resume of Your Telephone Lawyer. In addition, I have been in business during many of these years, and am familiar with marketing, advertising and sales techniques and practices, as well.

Here are some areas in which I could be helpful as Your Telephone Lawyer (not organized in any particular way):

1. Possible inability to pay your monthly mortgage payment in three to six months from now [my recommendation generally in judicial-foreclosure states is to stop paying the lender and force the lender to sue, for reasons I will discuss; in non-judicial foreclosure states, I have a different strategy
2. loss of investment due to market conditions - is there anyone you can sue for your losses? I was a securities lawyer for many years and might be able to give you some insight into recovering investment losses you may have suffered during the past few months; for example, what can you do if you lose all of your savings in a ponzi scheme or toxic mortgage interests? Are there any solvent persons, firms or institutions you can sue?
3. loss of your job - what can you do to obtain needed income? - I have a way by which your town or village can bring in $25,000 to $50,000 per year of pre-tax income to each participating resident (who is willing and able to perform various types of "tasks" for hourly compensation) as well as information on how to start a business
4. creating a highly functional website (including blogging) in one day for less than $100 using the best content management system ("CMS") - I don't write websites for others, but can give you some valuable insights on how to buy website construction services in India or the United States
5. Various defenses, offsets and counterclaims available to you in a lawsuit brought against you
6. Various claims or "causes of action" you may have in a lawsuit you are thinking of commencing against someone who has caused you monetary or personal injury
7. how to commence a lawsuit against someone and keep your expenses to a minimum
8. comparing a lawsuit with arbitration
9. advice to a small retailer, jobber or wholesaler being driven out of business by discriminatory pricing practices of a greedy manufacturer or supplier
10. Do you have a civil rights action for some discriminatory event that has happened to you?
11. Is an appeal worth its probable cost?
12. whether bankruptcy is your only alternative
13. how you can run for political office in your home town on a realistic prosperity platform
14. what to do if repayment of student loans become too burdensome
15. What you can do if you are filing a lawsuit "pro se" (i.e., without a lawyer)
16. If you are a lawyer and want some insight into a legal problem from my experience and background
17. what to do if credit card debt becomes too burdensome
18. how to collect an unpaid rebate - see my website at www.rebate-fraud.com
19. how to stop unwanted faxes and telephone solicitations
20. Is someone in your family or a close friend in any kind of trouble and could use some help
21. Are you being threatened with loss of your apartment because you are "harboring a pet"?
22. Learn more about the "fee and plea" process for persons accused of crimes
23. Learn about a checklist of claims you should review when filing a commercial-type lawsuit
24. what to do if you have an unsatisfied judgment against you (to prevent attachment of your bank account)
25. Would you be interested in setting up a tuition-free equivalency college for all residents of your town?
26. Would you like to know the top 13 reforms needed in the US, to assist you in measuring whether your elected representatives are doing anything of value to you or the country?
27. Is there any part of the current bailouts by the U.S. government available for you?
28. Do you need some marketing ideas?
29. Do you need some website ideas?
30. Our community lost thousands of jobs last year, is there anything we can do about it?
31. Do you have a claim against your last employer?
32. Why is it that complaints made to federal agencies generally result in no action?
33. What can you do if you are a victim of prosecutorial abuse or prosecutorial misconduct?
34. What can you do if the judge on your case is biased against you?
35. How can you get around the federal statute preempting the state usury laws for federal financial institutions?
36. If you owe the IRS taxes, what is the best thing for you to do?
37. Can you commence a whistle-blower lawsuit for the purpose of making money?
38. How can you collect money owed to you by someone?
39. Is there any alternative to Google's AdWords when Google's per-click price is unrealistically high?
40. How can you get protection for your valuable idea?
41. Can you sue someone for stealing your idea?
42. How you can submit your idea in a way to protect you if it is stolen
43. Why does your union always fail to take the fired employee's case into court?
44. Do you want some insight into today's biggest news story - or another news story?
45. How is outsourcing going to affect your chosen field?
46. What is the best field for someone to go into today?
47. Does it pay to go to a high-tuition college?
48. Does it pay to obtain a patent, copyright or trademark?
49. What are the best jobs to try for today?
50. How can you reduce your monthly expenditures
51. How can you tell the truth for publication and not be liable for defamation?
52. How to start a school
53. Anything else you have in mind

I left out about 2,000 topics (a number I just pulled out of thin air). Many of my topics above have legal angles to them, which gives me a better insight than a non-lawyer because of my legal background (Harvard Law School, and 40+ years of practice of law in NYC, and continuing).

How "Your Telephone Lawyer" Works

1. Call me at my office, 212-307-4444 to set up a time for the call. My time in New York City is Eastern Standard Time. During this conversation I will estimate the number of minutes it will take to discuss your problem with you. The purpose of this estimate will be to provide you with a minimum amount I want you to pay to my account through Paypal (or using a credit card to pay through PayPal as a non-member of PayPal). For example, I may say that I want you to make a $50 payment to PayPal, which would buy 8-1/3 minutes of my telephone time.
2. Make the payment by clicking on the "Buy Now" button in the right sidebar and follow the instructions. I will receive email notification from PayPal that your payment has been made. Even if you are not a PayPal member you can made a credit-card payment through PayPal
3. At the agreed upon time for the call (making sure to account for any difference in time zones), call me at 212-307-4444.
4. The first thing we will do is coordinate our watches (or clocks) so that we know what time we started the conversation.
5. At any time before your PayPal deposit is used up, you may terminate the conversation. Before terminating the call, we will agree on the number of unused minutes, and I will send you immediately a refund of the appropriate amount (i.e., $6 per unused minute). If, on on the other hand, you want to continue the conversation, you must make an additional PayPal payment (of any amount we can agree upon) and we'll resume the conversation and the count. Once again, if the conversation is ended with minutes to spare, you will receive an immediate refund of the unused minutes (at $6/minute).

Important Disclaimer for You to Read - See Below

I am not licensed to practice law in any state except New York, where I have been licensed to practice law for 46 years. I have had litigation matters in various states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C. but with permission of the respective courts involved. Because of this and because I do not have the time to obtain and read any relevant documents and do not have the time to obtain all the relevant facts from the client and any others, whatever I say to you should not be considered "legal advice" but should be considered useful information to help you understand your legal or business problem and give you better insight on what to do than you now have. I may be able to tell you that what I'm telling you is "legal advice", but this will be rare. I do not want to give legal opinions about the laws of any state other than New York, and I probably will not have enough information from you to do that when New York law is involved. I would like you to look at me as a highly experienced and inventive litigating lawyer with a pretty good business background who can help you see things about your problem(s) that you otherwise might not see. [End of Disclaimer.]

Contact Information

You can reach me, Carl Person (Your Telephone Lawyer) by telephone to my office at 212-307-4444; or send me a fax - 212-307-0247; or email your message to me at carlpers@ix.netcom.com.