In Legal Terms

I love a good theme show – today is “personal injury after Labor Day”. Mississippi is a state that wants to protect life. What happens if there's an injury during labor. We’ll talk about that with attorney Baskin Jones.If you’re in need of an attorney for personal injury, divorce, intellectual property, or whatever – try looking through the Lawyer Directory and the For the Public sections of The Mississippi Bar’s website: https://www.msbar.org/Our show is about you and your rights. If you or a loved one will be away from your home county on November 5th – our national election day – you still have the right to vote. If you’re in the military or living overseas, you can still vote also. Find out more by visiting the Secretary of State’s website or calling your county circuit clerk. Absentee ballot applications are available Monday. Voting starts Monday the 23rd of September 2024.We’ve been grateful that attorney Baskin Jones has partnered with us a few times. If you’re interested in the topic of personal injury look for our In Legal Terms podcasts from April 2nd of 2024 and October 10th and April 11th of 2023.http://inlegalterms.mpbonline.org/episodes/in-legal-terms-personal-injuryhttp://inlegalterms.mpbonline.org/episodes/in-legal-terms-auto-wreckshttp://inlegalterms.mpbonline.org/episodes/in-legal-terms-car-wrecks

MPB Think Radio has been talking about “education” on many of our shows this month. Today, we’re learning about the Right of Students with attorney McKenna Rainey from ACLU – Mississippi.The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office has a great website about voting. If you need to register to vote you can print off a form, or just call and ask your county clerk to mail you a form. If you’re interested in helping to register folks to vote, there’s a tool kit online with all the details.If you’re interested in Student Rights you’re probably interested in Education. There so much to read and learn about helping students on MPB’s learning page and on the MS Department of Education’s website.I love a good handout to remind me of what I’ve learned. ACLU Mississippi has a Student manual on rights that can be downloaded. There are also their webpages on rights for youth and LGBTQ students. Donations are also accepted on that website.

Whether you’re at a PTA meeting, City Council meeting, or watching our legislature at work, you’ll notice the Parliamentary Procedure that’s used. These rules exists to facilitate the transaction of business and to promote cooperation and harmony. But it can be a foreign language or a dance you don’t know the steps. To help us out we’ve got attorney Mary Largent Purvis, Director of Legal Analysis and Communication at Mississippi College School of Law.Delta State University has a cheat sheet you can download to learn about Robert’s Rules of Order. And Project Guttenberg, an online library of free eBooks, is offering a link to download a free digital version of the updated original book by Henry M. Robert.The National Council of State Legislatures has an online set of classes for elected officials to help them learn parliamentary procedures. InsideHigherEd.com recently published an opinion article that suggests college students would be better advocates for promoting world peace if they learn parliamentary procedures and employed Talking and listening, rather than shouting down other views.Mississippi doesn’t have the technology for online voter registration. And if you don’t have a computer and printer at your house, you can just call your county courthouse, and they can mail you a voter registration form. Be sure to register by October 7th to vote in our next general election. The secretary of state’s website sos.ms.gov

Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project helps individuals represent themselves in court through self-representation clinics. They are able to do this with help from volunteer lawyers. We learn more about the MVLP from their Executive Director and General Counsel, Gayla Carpenter-Sanders.If you need a little bit of help with a legal matter that can be handled without an attorney, you might want to attend one of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Projects Self Representation Clinics. There are clinics that discuss: Irreconcilable Differences Divorces, Uncontested Guardianships, Advance Healthcare Directives, Power of Attorneys, Simple Wills, Misdemeanor Expungements, Felony Expungements, and Foreclosure Prevention.The Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project has many opportunities for attorneys, law students, college students and paralegals with a willingness to serve. Folks Volunteer at legal clinics, there are attorney resources, and Continuing Legal Education opportunities. M V L P.org/volunteer has the details.Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project relies on the generosity of donors to help connect low-income clients with volunteer attorneys who will fight for their rights. That might be by large or small contributions or by selecting MVLP as a Community Rewards Program recipient from Kroger or Amazon. M V L P.org/donate has more information.Past podcasts:07/26/2022 In Legal Terms: MVLP 20223/30/2021 In Legal Terms: MVLP9/24/2019 In Legal Terms: Expungements

It’s Education Week on MPB Think Radio. For In Legal Terms, we’ve brought on the Deans for the two law schools in our state: John Anderson from Mississippi College and Fred Slabach from the University of Mississippi. We hope to learn about the differences between the two schools, what prospective students need to know, and what one can do with a law degree.Law School Admission CouncilComplete 2 Compete (C2C) is a statewide initiative designed to inspire Mississippi's adults to complete their college degrees.Get2College is a college access program of the Woodward Hines Education Foundation. We help you plan, prepare, and pay for college. Free support for Mississippi students and educators.It’s not too soon to get registered to vote. Educate yourself! The Secretary of State’s website has so much information. Register by October 7th, 2024. All votes matter. Learn your rights. Learn if you’re eligible to vote absentee. Learn what you need to bring to the polls.We’ll all be voting on law makers soon. You can learn from a non-partisan group – The League of Women Voters - about who’s running and where you can get more information about candidates, voting, and how to be a poll worker. Their website is VOTE411.org In Legal Terms has had representatives of the League of Women Voters on a couple of times. Voting with LWV-MS 09/26/23 and League of Women Voters 01/15/19Who are our legislatures in our state? You can educate yourself by going to the website legislature.ms.gov and checking out your senator and representative, what various committees are up to, and take a virtual tour of the building.

Laws are not the same from place to place in America. What might be legal in Louisiana or California isn’t necessarily the law here in Mississippi. Let’s learn about some of those differences today with our guest Professor Cal Peeler a guest professor at Ole Miss Law School. https://law.olemiss.edu/faculty-directory/calvin-peeler/What courts handle the distribution of property in a divorce?Chancery Courts have jurisdiction over disputes in matters involving equity; domestic matters including adoptions, custody disputes and divorces; guardianships; sanity hearings; wills; and challenges to constitutionality of state laws. Land records are filed in Chancery Court.We’ve talked about domestic law a few times here on In Legal Terms. Most recently August 22nd of 2023 our guest was Chancery Court Judge Troy Odum and Child Supporthttp://inlegalterms.mpbonline.org/episodes/in-legal-terms-child-support     https://courts.ms.gov/aboutcourts/aboutthecourts.phpIf you want to know what’s going on with our legislature, what’s being discussed, watch committee meetings, or see a calendar just head over to their website:https://www.legislature.ms.gov/calendars-and-schedules/I am very proud to announce that the next season of the MPB News program @Issue will be starting Friday, February 9th at 6:30pm on MPB Think Radio. There will be additional content on our YouTube channel. Michael Guidrey from MPB News will be joined by Republican Austin Barbour and Democrat Brandon Jones for weekly recaps and roundtable discussions about current issues. Will Stribling will be at the state capitol as MPB News' Legislative reporter.

We’re discussing liquor laws today. Our guests are from the Department of Revenue: Riley Nelson – Chief of Enforcement for the ABC and attorney Matthew Henry.https://www.dor.ms.gov/abcWe hope we can answer your questions with our show today, but if we miss something, maybe it’s answered on the Department of Revenue’s Frequently Asked Questions page. The legal drinking age for beer and/or alcohol is 21 years of age. However, a person who is 18-21 years of age, in the presence of his parent or legal guardian, may consume beer with the consent of the parent or legal guardian. Please note that this exception is for beer only and specifically does not include hard liquor or wine products that contain more than 5% alcohol by weight. Further, a person who is at least 18 years of age and who is serving in the U.S. military may possess and consume beer on military property where or when the consumption of beer is allowed.​But also - Persons under the age of 21 may be inside licensed premises; however, they cannot be allowed to drink or be sold alcoholic beverages. Please note that the owner of the premises may prohibit minors from their premises at the owner’s discretion.​Since 1966, ABC agents have successfully prosecuted in excess of 40,000 liquor law violations and destroyed approximately 3,000 illicit whiskey stills. https://www.dor.ms.gov/abc/abc-enforcement

How would you feel if you needed to go to court or conduct legal business but weren’t fluent in the language? Our guests will help us understand court interpreter service in Mississippi: Deenie Miller, Director of Language Access Mississippi Supreme Court and Dr. Javier Gerardo Gómez, Credentialed Court Interpreter. H.B. 1217 became law July 1, 2023. The new laws prohibit Limited English Proficient individuals from being responsible for the costs of court interpretation in all bilingual proceedings for civil and criminal matters. The law also now clarifies that a Limited English proficient individual is entitled to the services of an interpreter in any instance arising out of or pertaining to the individual’s involvement in litigation.The Administrative Office of Courts has developed the Mississippi Court Interpreter Credentialing Program. For more detailed information please contact: Administrative Office of CourtsAttention: Deenie Miller, Director of Language AccessPost Office Box 117 Jackson, MS 39205T: 601-359-4469deenie.miller@courts.ms.govFor assistance with interpreters for the hearing impaired, please visit the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf at the following link: https://www.rid.org or https://www.odhh.orgDr. J.G. Gómez, U.S. Army Veteran - Credentialed Interpreter and Translator Language Educator and Technologist - Gómez Language and Culture Services, LLC

Everyone loves a puppy! We’ll learn about your rights with a service animal with guest Robert Schwinn the National Legal Administrator at Canine Companions and disability attorney Rick Courtney whose daughter has a service animal. Canine companions website: https://canine.org/From their website anyone can pre-order their 2024 puppy calendar, sponsor a puppy, or learn how to donate or volunteer.National Headquarters:1-866-CCI-DOGS (224-3647)P.O. Box 446Santa Rosa, CA 95402-0446If you’d like to read up on Mississippi law, check out2013 Mississippi CodeTitle 43 - PUBLIC WELFAREChapter 6 - RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIESArticle 5 - MISSISSIPPI SUPPORT ANIMAL ACT§ 43-6-155 - Support animals' access to public places; limitationshttps://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/2013/title-43/chapter-6/article-5/section-43-6-155It’s always best to go to the official source for information. https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requirements/US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division: ADA requirements: service animals page where you can learn how “service animals are defined, where they are allowed, and how they must behave. According to their website:Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.