May 2013 State Holiday Closing Schedules

Please note, states sometimes make last-minute changes to their holiday closing schedules. We will update this list as we become aware of any changes.

Want to learn more about a holiday? Just click on the links.

Date	State	Holiday
Wednesday, May 8	Missouri	Truman Day
Friday, May 10	South Carolina	Confederate Memorial Day
Friday, May 24	Maryland	Service Reduction Day
Monday, May 27	All	Memorial Day

Help For CA Secretary of State Business Registration Times

If you've been following the Sacramento Bee's investigation into the long wait time for business registration filings at the California Secretary of State's office, you've got a pretty good idea of how frustrating the process can be. There are so many ways submitting a filing can go wrong.

• If there's an error in your filing it will be rejected and you'll need to resubmit it. This means going back to the end of the line and paying additional fees.
• If you need to make up for lost time, you can pay the expensive expedite fee. However, expediting requires delivery by hand to the Secretary of State's office, and if your document has any other errors in it, the process starts all over again and the money you paid to expedite is gone.
• You need to keep track of filing documents on time and in each jurisdiction in which your entity will do business. If you lose track, you may fall out of "Good Standing," and penalties and fines can be assessed and contracts entered into can be invalidated. Further, if there is no service of process address on file, you face the inability to defend in lawsuits and risk the loss of your business name.

Fortunately, there is help available. CLAS Information Services is a service company for attorneys, corporations, lenders and small business owners, and we handle the process of corporate and LLC formation. We interface with the state, filing and retrieving documents multiple times per day at the California Secretary of State's office. There are many service companies similar to ours that save an applicant time and increased fees for improper filing.

What qualities should you look for in a service company? Your provider should review your documents and be knowledgeable about details that may cause them to be rejected. Look for a provider that specializes in the filings of these documents and understands the requirements in all jurisdictions throughout the country. Your provider should also help you to keep track of future required filings so you can stay in Good Standing.

When you're navigating the complexities of interfacing with the state, one of your best strategies is to seek expert help. For a low fee plus the state's fee, you'll be able to rest assured that from the initial year and every year thereafter, you can remain in Good Standing and protect your company.

If you'd like to learn more, please give us a call at 800.952.5696 or email Christy McCullough at Christy@clasinfo.com.

What's happening in legal social media?

If you're interested in keeping up with legal social media, you probably know there's a lot out there to sort through. Here are a few interesting articles from the blogs we follow to get you inspired:

Prosecutor's Use of Undercover Paralegals in Ethics Spat Brings Reprimand
Check out the ABA Journal's article on the attorney who used a paralegal as an undercover agent. (Apparently, sending a paralegal to pose as a student taking a survey to gather information in your ethics complaint is a bad idea.)

Will Paralegals Disappear?
The Paralegal Mentor takes a look at the future of paralegals challenged by new technologies and recession, and offers tips for keeping up in a changing workplace.

California Court Record Fees Changes Pending
The BRB's Public Records Blog offers article on the CA Administrative Office of the Courts' efforts to modify the fee structure for public access to court records.

Court Project Testing Social Media Reporting
News about the end of the first phase of the OpenCourt project in Massachusetts, designed to test reporting via social media. The project allowed for live streaming and for blogging and tweeting directly from the courtroom.

What topics are you looking for in legal social media? If you follow blogs in this area, which do you recommend?

UPDATE to March 2013 State Holiday Closing Schedules

Please note, the Texas Secretary of State office will be closed on Friday, March 29, 2013.

http://blog.clasinfo.com/2013/02/march-2013-state-holiday-closing.html

April 2013 State Holiday Closing Schedules

Please note, states sometimes make last-minute changes to their holiday closing schedules. We will update this list as we become aware of any changes.

Want to learn more about a holiday? Just click on the links.

Date	State	Holiday
Monday, April 1	California	César Chávez Day
Monday, April 15	Maine Massachusetts	Patriots' Day
Tuesday, April 16	Washington DC	Emancipation Day
Monday, April 22	Alabama Georgia	Confederate Memorial Day
Friday, April 26	Nebraska	Arbor Day
Monday, April 29	Mississippi	Confederate Memorial Day

Improvement in California Business Filing Times Ahead?

California lawmakers passed Measure AB 113 on Monday, March 18, 2013, aimed at reducing filing times for state business filings. The current backlog* can be approximately 2 months; this measure may reduce the wait to just 5 business days by November 2013.

Read more here: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/03/18/ca-lawmakers-aim-to-slash-business.html

*You can find the current California Secretary of State Working On Dates here on our blog.

From CLAS to the Bar

Meet Monica Cornejo, Juvenile Dependency Attorney, McGeorge Law School graduate and former CLAS employee. Born in Santa Clara county and growing up in Sacramento, Monica chose to major in political science with a minor in ethnic studies, with the idea of going on to law school.

However, her first job after college with a small law firm was not a positive experience. Monica says, "The lady who owned it frequently yelled at her legal secretaries. It was a terrible environment." Monica started questioning whether a high-stress law career was what she wanted and took a year off to travel in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica.

After she returned, a friend who worked in the industry suggested that she should apply for a position at CLAS. Monica says she hadn't heard much about the "hidden" industry of public records research and decided to give it a try. At CLAS, she worked first doing order verification and later doing UCC searches.

Monica explains, "In addition to the work I've done clerking at law firms, the work I did at CLAS helped to prepare me for law school. It required me to be organized and meticulous and extremely mindful of deadlines." Just as important to Monica, "Being exposed to CLAS's work environment was an entirely different experience. It brought home to me that the way matters are handled internally in a company sets the tone for how employees are going to interact with clients. CLAS's clients have a real advantage in working with people who are good at communicating with each other and work as a team for their clients' benefit."

Monica is currently with the Children's Law Center here in Sacramento representing children who are county dependents, from newborns to 19-year-olds. She plans to continue focusing her career on public interest work and can be found on LinkedIn.

We're very happy for Monica's success and we look forward to seeing her continue to accomplish great things!