Sacramento Sacramento Attorney

We just posted a new video staring our lead family law counsel Robert Bowman.

If you or someone you know has legal questions regarding divorce, child custody, child support and other areas of family law, contact our firm today for a free consultation. We are here to help…

Although getting a green card through marriage can often be the easiest way to obtain residency for a non-U.S. citizen, approval is not automatic. U.S. citizens applying for a fiancée visa or marriage green card must be aware that immigration officials will scrutinize their applications to ensure that the marriage is legitimate and bona fide, and not for the sole purpose of gaining immigration benefits. The immigration lawyers of Bowman & Associates have significant experience in this area of law and know what documentation the USCIS is looking for. We have successfully handled hundreds of fiancée and marriage immigration cases. Our background and knowledge can guide you through USCIS policies and prevent unnecessary delay and denials due to mistakes.

To obtain a green card, your marriage must be bona fide. This is a lot easier to prove if there is a wedding reception where the U.S. citizen spouse’s parents and relatives are present, where the couple has joint property and files joint income tax returns and especially if the couple has a child together. Read More »

The Law Office of Bowman & Associates is proud to announce that attorney Sean Gavin has successfully won an arbitration award of more than $1,100,000.

Mr. Gavin’s clients contracted to have their dream home built in El Dorado Hills, California. After a series of delays and mistakes, the contractor left the site without ever completing the work. Mr. Gavin’s clients were left with an unfinished home that was dangerous for them and their two children.

Mr. Gavin sued the contract on his clients’ behalf, and the contractor forced the matter into arbitration. Undeterred, Mr. Gavin pushed ahead, and after an evidentiary hearing before the arbitrator, secured an award of almost $900,000 in compensatory damages and more than $200,000 in punitive damages. Read More »

The California job situation is improving, with an addition of 900 retail jobs and 4000 wholesale jobs. Initial unemployment claims are also down significantly, with California leading the nation in the decrease. The nation itself has a higher unemployment rate this week than last week although the nationwide four-week moving average has been improving.

San Diego County employers have managed to add several thousand new jobs, bringing the unemployment figures down 0.1% from last month, or 0.7% down from a year ago.

Riverside County also managed to drop the unemployment rate, and California as a whole has been experiencing a decreasing unemployment rate.

Most of those jobs have been added in the government sector, with public schools adding back many of teachers they removed throughout the last several years of recession. Temp agencies have also been experiencing a surge in employees, which is often taken as a sign that businesses will be expanding in the future, as they frequently hire temporary employees first before replacing them with permanent employees.

Congress recently passed a $1.7 billion package of veterans employment aid that President Obama has promised to sign into law.

The bill contains several new programs as well as some tweaks in existing programs designed to make it easier for veterans to find employment following their military service.

The bill passed with no negative votes in either the House or the Senate and provides a significant amount of transition assistance and job training programs for separated veterans.

Lawmakers in Taiwan have been called upon to adjust the country’s labor laws to reduce the number of hours medical professionals are working. The average workweek for a medical professional consists of 75 hours, which has been described as beyond the physical capacities of most people.

Taiwan already has legislation in place to limit the hours worked by salaried employees to 84 hours over a two week period, but medical professionals are normally not salaried which excludes them from this legislation.

Several doctors in Taiwan have died as a result of over-exhaustion caused by the long work hours.

A bill limiting collective bargaining by public workers in Ohio has been repealed. The bill was attacking the right of organized labor to collectively bargain, but had quite a bit of bipartisan opposition. Labor leaders celebrated the overturn of the bill, which would have taken away most of the collective bargaining rights including the right to strike.

Political commentators have been speculating as to what the failure of this bill means in the broader scope of the upcoming presidential election.

A new law has gone into effect in Pennsylvania mandating that all school workers disclose their criminal history by the end of December. The law was signed intoaction by the governor of Pennsylvania in June, and went into effect last month by mandating background checks for all employees of schools.

The law bans anyone convicted of some crimes for a specified length of time. Some of the more serious crimes result in lifetime bans, whereas first-degree misdemeanors result in a five year ban.

The teachers’ union in Pennsylvania has taken issue with some of implementation by school districts. The forms the districts are requiring to be filled out ask about not only conviction but also arrest, and some lawyers have raised concerns about the retroactive nature of the law.

Any worker who refuses the form must submit a current criminal history record at their own expense.

Most everyone is aware that having a criminal conviction on their record can have serious detrimental effects on their life. People are routinely denied employment, housing, and educational opportunities because of a transgression that may be decades old. Fewer people are aware that a criminal conviction can also seriously limit their ability to travel abroad, even if those convictions seem minor.

The Canadian government is one of many countries that freely shares information about criminal convictions with the United States, and whether or not you will be allowed to cross their border is entirely at the discretion of the border guard. It is only natural that a country would not want to allow persons to enter who have been convicted of serious offenses or who have a long criminal history. However, you may be surprised to learn that one-time low level offenses can bar you as well. I have heard many stories of people driving up to the border or stepping off of a plane only to be told that they would not be allowed to enter Canada because at some point in their past they were convicted of shoplifting or reckless driving. This is always an embarrassing, potentially costly, lesson to learn the hard way. Read More »