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For most of us, your driver's license is your basic form of identification. You want to prove you're 21, pull out your driver's license. You want to pick up your medication from the drug store, pull out your driver's license. And, of course, if a police officer stops you, you better pull out your driver's license.

To quickly summarize a large body of sociological research and opinions about punishment: Prison may not be the answer for criminal defendants who suffer from substance abuse problems. Prison may be the answer, however, for those defendants who commit serious felonies as opposed to minor misdemeanors. What about defendants who suffer from substance abuse but who also commit felonies? Enter the DOSA.

A Spokane police officer woke up, put on his uniform, and went to work. As it turns out, that was enough to convict Michael Connors of attempting to elude. a police vehicle, a Class C felony.

One in four Americans moves every five years. On average, Americans move over 11 times in their lifetime. You generally have three years to file a personal injury lawsuit in Washington. If you wait that long, the person you're trying to sue may be living someplace else. You need to know what to do.

To simplify a complicated subject, suing someone is a two-step process. First, you file the lawsuit with the Court. Then you serve the legal paperwork on the defendant.    The first step is relatively easy (legally speaking). The second step can be a lot more difficult.

Unlike opposing attorneys—who are locked in litigation combat on a daily basis—judges are supposed to be above the fray. Figuratively (and literally in the courtroom), judges sit above it all. Neutral, un-biased, unemotional—these are the traits we commonly associate with judges. But not in this case.

Congratulations, you've settled your personal injury case. But here comes the IRS. Uncle Sam wants his cut. No one enjoys tax season, except accountants and maybe tax lawyers. Just ask rapper and producer Dr. Dre: “The only two things that scare me are God and the IRS.”

What exactly is insurance? Seems like an obvious question. Most people you know probably have some kind of insurance—car insurance, health insurance, and life insurance are the big three—so we have a pretty good idea of what insurance does.

The Paperless Revolution Many businesses and consumers are in the midst of the paperless revolution, and I'm definitely drinking the Kool-Aid. I hate mail. I opt into every electronic delivery notification service I can—bills, accounting statements, military documents, legal bar association notices, everything. The first thing I do when a lawsuit starts is ask opposing attorneys whether they'll agree to exchange all documents by email. In the perfect world, I would never receive a single piece of mail ever again.

The phrase “winning on a technicality” is generally a short-hand way of expressing disgust at lawyers and the entire legal profession in general. Hearing that someone won his or her case “on technicality” basically means that the lawyer found some creatively underhanded way of stretching the law to win the case even though the client was clearly morally wrong. And when insurance companies win on technicalities, people feel even more strongly, because many people don't like insurance companies to begin with.

Snowmageddon is upon us, which means school closures, sledding with your children, and unfortunately shoving snow off your property. But what happens if your neighbor slips and falls on a snowy or icy sidewalk right outside your house. Are you at fault?

Here are 10 tips for knocking your deposition out of the park:

You're in an accident and you go see an attorney. He gives you a copy of his fee agreement to sign. It looks longer than you thought it would be. You don't know much about the law, but from what you've heard and seen, in a personal injury case you don't pay unless you win money. “We don't collect unless you get paid,” you've seen in hundreds of TV ads. So is that true?

You were involved in a car accident recently, but it wasn't serious and you weren't injured. You feel you should be compensated, but you really don't want to go to court or pay any money to hire a personal injury attorney. What should you do?  Go to Small Claims Court. 

For many of us, dealing with our insurance company is a necessary evil—we know we have to, but it's rarely pleasant. ​ But we can take some satisfaction in the fact that statements to our insurance companies generally can't be used against in a personal injury trial—the WA Court of Appeals reaffirmed this important legal principle in an opinion issued yesterday.