Use It Or Lose It - Privilege

"Privilege" in the context of the law refers to the special relationships that a person might have which allows them immunity from having to disclose what that person said to the other in that relationship.  A common privilege you may have heard of is the doctor-patient privilege, where anything that a person says to their doctor for the purposes of medical treatment is privileged; that is to say, whatever the person tells their doctor is confidential, and nobody can force the doctor to disclose what was said to him or her except under extremely narrow circumstances.

This privilege was created at least in part for the general welfare of the public; a person's ability to trust in their doctor includes the assurance that no matter how embarrassing, a patient can tell the doctor exactly what is wrong and how it got that way so that the doctor can do their absolute best to treat the patient by having the most accurate information from their patient.

Electronic Problems.

One of the unique challenges for small business owners is the necessity for you to be something of a Renaissance person, the need to be proficient in everything, IT, accounting, logistics; and as they say, when you're in charge, everything is your fault.

Our e-mail system was operating perfectly for years; at least, that's what we thought.  You'd think that if your e-mail was allowing messages to be delivered to you, and you were able to send messages, that would be the definition of "functioning," and you'd be right as long as you had checked all of the addresses in your domain.  To our surprise and dismay, messages sent to "info@downyok.com" were not getting through to us!

We fixed it, but we did miss quite a few messages, and if we missed yours, we are deeply sorry for any inconvenience it might have caused.  We are confident that we've now fixed it, and hope that you'll write us if we can help you with your labor, employment, and criminal law needs.

Helena Downyok Honored By Local Jurists

We are pleased and proud to announce that owner and partner Helena Downyok, Esq., has been invited to join the Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court as a Barrister!

A New Addition to the Firm!

As promised a while back, we had big news that was coming, we just didn't want to announce anything until we were sure it would happen.

Get My Lawyer!

It's been remarkably busy here at the Downyok Law Firm!  That news we mentioned over the holidays is coming soon, just a few more months.

It's funny sometimes how we are forced to make the most important decisions of our lives when we are in the worst possible position to make them.  If we decide to go to college, generally we have no idea what we're going to major in, and we have no real idea which school would be best to go to.  When we decide to get married for the first time, realistically we have no idea what being married is like, whether we are actually ready for it, and how our lives will change because of it.  If only our future selves could come back in time and tell us what we need to know when buying a car, mortgaging a house, finding a job.  "If only I knew then what I know now."