Author Archives: Stacey Schmidt

Flat Fee v. Hourly Retainer

For many, contact with our office is the first time they have needed to retain counsel. Often in the discussion on compensation, questions arise around flat fee agreements and hourly retainer agreements. Either way, a client will sign a “retainer agreement,” but under the flat fee arrangement, they would not pay a retainer, but a […]

Statutory Analysis VS Case Law Analysis in Utah

There are several different methods that Salt Lake city attorneys can use to analyze and interpret laws. The two that we’re going to focus on here are Statutory and Case Law. These two methods are related to each other but are entirely different in their nature. Knowing the difference between these methods is important, you […]

State v. Butt – Jail is not “custody.”

The Utah Supreme Court has decided that incarceration in county jail is not “custody” for purposes of the Fifth Amendment. While serving a sentence for theft in the San Juan County Jail, Defendant Eric Butt “mailed rudimentary nude drawings of himself to his five-year-old daughter.” After inspecting the drawings, Deputy Alan Freestone met with the […]

Congressional Bill Increasing Immigrant Visa Availability for Foreign-Born College Graduates to be Introduced This Week

Earlier this year, Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that sought to increase the pool of immigrant visas/green cards available to foreign-born graduates with advanced degrees in science, math and technology fields. House Democrats criticized this measure because it would eliminated the diversity visa program — a “lottery” […]