The Intuit Small Business Blog regularly posts articles on a range of topics important to small business owners. From money, marketing and employment issues to current trends in local and nationwide small businesses, it can be a vital resource for both employers and employees looking to stay up to date on important issues and best practices.

Recently Intuit published a blog by writer Jean Dion entitled "Should You Sign a Non-Compete Agreement?" The article touches on a variety of issues central to freelancers' consideration of employment contracts and features quotes from Attorney Kevin Parks.

Lately there's been an increasing number of landlord/tenant cases coming into Parks Law Offices LLC with a very similar fact pattern:

1) Tenant signs a term lease agreement for 1 year.

2) Tenant moves in and stays on top of rental payments.

3) Before the one year lease is up, the Landlord decides that they're going to sell the rental, or it's being foreclosed by the bank, or they want to move into the rental themselves, or rent to a friend or family member, etc. -- long story short, the Landlord wants the Tenant out.

4) Landlord then gives Tenant a 30 Day No-Cause eviction notice.

If this sounds familiar, you need to know you rights and contact an attorney to assist you.

In Oregon, a 30 Day No-Cause eviction notice isn't valid when a Tenant is in the middle of a term lease agreement. If the Landlord proceeds to file a Forcible Entry and Detainer (FED) eviction complaint in Circuit Court, you have the right to challenge the complaint and you can be awarded your attorneys fees.  For this reason, Parks Law Offices LLC is often able to take these types of cases on a contingency fee basis.

You've been paying rent to your Landlord and living up to your end of the bargain, why shouldn't they?

If you've received a 30 Day Notice, contact us for a consultation.

Did you file and win a Small Claims case? While you typically can't retain an attorney to help you win your small claims hearing in court, often the hardest part of the litigation process has yet to even begin: collecting your judgment.

Filing a claim and then winning your case in front of the judge is merely the beginning of the process. What happens if the defendant doesn't want to pay?

Whether you won by default and were awarded a default judgment, or your case was litigated on the merits and you were awarded a judgment and money award by the court, you still have to collect the funds from the other side.

So what happens when you can't collect, and all you have is a mere piece of paper?

Wage theft remains a serious problem, in Oregon and throughout the U.S. 

Every day, workers living paycheck-to-paycheck are shorted the wages they're owed by their boss, required employee benefits like rest and meal breaks are over-looked or ignored, and employers get away with things that would likely land an employee in jail.

Patrick Pierce briefly and poignantly explains in the video below the dynamic surrounding his wage theft issue, which occurred not in Oregon, but rather in Rhode Island. Mr. Pierce's words and critique likely ring true for many victimized workers, however, as his circumstances are not uncommon.

Wealth inequity is nothing new, as we've all witnessed firsthand the gross disparity between the haves and have nots.  

But what if our perceptions of wealth inequality weren't even close to reality?

During the economic crisis of 2008, homeowners began to increasingly lose homes to foreclosure sales while their lender banks received federal bailouts and, in some instances, approved golden parachutes for departing CEOs -- seemingly disparate treatment, and certainly disparate outcomes, for the 99% and the 1%.

Our clients are not amongst the ultra-wealthy, or even the rich, but rather are middle-class or poor individuals and families, small business owners and non-profits, each looking to our legal system to balance the scales blindly in pursuit of justice.

A quick view of this viral video on just how misguided are perceptions of wealth inequality really are, however, may well have you questioning just how possible meting justice can really be. 

Parks Law Offices, LLC is a big fan of social media. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are vital to the way we get information out, keep tabs on the news and what's happening in the community, and keep in contact with colleagues, clients, family and friends.  We use both so much, we even post the feeds directly onto our webpage.

But one social media site we've only recently started using, and slowly but surely it's becoming a favorite: Pinterest.

As technology continues to develop and mature, a number of online legal resources have begun to change the ways that potential clients find lawyers.

While there are any number of legal directories available to anyone with a computer (or a phone book), one of the more interesting and useful legal websites is utilized by Parks Law Offices nearly every day: Avvo.

Throughout Oregon, it's not uncommon for consumers to realize their wallets are getting thinner and thinner.

Why?

Having to get rid of those credit cards, for one reason or another.

Daily operations are changing here, at a fairly rapid pace.

As of this week, we've moved into our new suite in the Board of Trade Building in downtown Portland. Located at 310 SW 4th Avenue, suite 806, between Stark and Oak, there's parking facilities on either side and we're close to all four MAX lines and a number of bus routes.

We're still in the process of settling in, but look forward to welcoming you to the new digs in the coming weeks!

That the mortgage foreclosure crisis has gotten out of hand shouldn't be news to anyone at this point.  Record numbers of homeowners have increasingly found themselves facing foreclosure at the hands of lender banks.

What is somewhat unique, however, is then those big banks file suit and institute foreclosure proceedings ... on themselves.