Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Compare and contrast Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Assignment Example Shannon at this time is tired of leaving the traditional life and decides to America so that she can be free. Surprisingly she and Joseph escape away together with joseph disguising himself as her servant. Along the way, Shannon gets herself in trouble but Joseph comes to her rescue. They find jobs in a chicken processing plant and Joseph starts boxing making him somewhat a celebrity in the Irish town. Things however start going sour for the both of them and Shannon is even shot. Shannon’s father comes in search of her daughter and tries to separate them but in vain. In the end Joseph and Shannon, profess their love and go ahead to take away the land they had acquired together (Fandango 2013). Comparing and Contrasting When comparing the two main characters in this film: Joseph and Shannon, it is easy to see quite a number of similarities. For one both characters are extremely strong and hardheaded. Joseph’s strong character comes from his determination to avenge the de ath of his father. For this, he is capable of doing anything, even murder. He does not even hide the intentions he has such that his home village is supportive of his mission and cheerfully bid him farewell. Shannon on the other hand is similarly a strong, rebellious and headstrong. This character is brought out by the fact that she wants to be free of the traditional life at her home and wants to go and explore the world. She does not like being the perfect and well-mannered daughter her parents and the society wants her to be. Her strong character is evident by the way she shoots at Joseph when he invades their home trying to kill her father Daniel. Both Joseph and Shannon are strong enough to survive a hard life in Boston. Shannon tries to dance in order to get money while Joseph becomes a ring boxer to also make money. The owners of the home they had invaded shoot Shannon but Joseph attends to her until she gains her strength back. This shows that both characters faced their cha llenges head on despite of how cornered they were. While contrasting both characters it is easy to see that Joseph and Shannon are still different in their own way. For instance, once Shannon has set her mind to do something nothing can deter her and she is not easily swayed by anything. Conversely, from the film one can see that Joseph does not stick to what she has originally planned. One instance is when Joseph decides to seek revenge on the person who murdered his father but after he see’s Shannon, he is mesmerized by her strong character and somehow forgets his mission. In addition, while in Boston both Joseph and Shannon decide to work in order to acquire a piece of land but when Joseph is paid, he uses his money on expensive clothes so as to get Shannon’s admiration (Ebert 1992). This however does not sit well with Shannon who cannot believe Joseph is wasting the money on other things instead of saving for their daily upkeep. Shannon is a very goal oriented pers on and anyone who tries to mess around with her plans of being independent is not very welcome. Another aspect that can be contrasted is the setting of Shannon’s home and where she escapes to in search of a modern and free life. From the film, it is evident that despite Shannon calling home traditional and wanting to be free, while there she was well taken care of by her parents who were wealthy. This is unlike Oklahoma where on the

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Conditional Fee Arrangements Law Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Conditional Fee Arrangements Law Essay UK legal aid system has undergone tremendous changes and reforms ever since its introduction in 1949. Its purpose of the act was to provide legal advice for those of slender means and resource, so that no one will be financially unable to prosecute a trust and reasonable claim or defend a legal right and to allow solicitors and counsel to be remunerated.  [1]  Due to its popularity, legal aid expenditure imposed a heavy burden on the government. In solving this problem, the UK legal aid system undergone various reforms. Conditional Fee Arrangement (hereafter CFA) was a result of one of these reforms after half a decade when legal aid act created. Ever since its introduction in 1990, CFA has been a controversial topic among legal educators. In determining the success of the CFA system, it cannot be easily determined purely by its utility rate, but ethics issue must also looked into. The numerous pros and cons of the scheme opened the door for criticism and professor to criticize. The history of legal aid dates back to 1949. After Second World War, it was recognized that equality of access and the right to representation before the law was fundamental to a just society. Hence, the Rushcliffe Committee made a number of recommendations that led to the establishment of the first legal aid scheme by the Legal Aid and Legal Advice Act 1949. The purpose of the legal aid scheme, as Lord Steyn once said is a principle of our law that every citizen has a right of unimpeded access to a court.  [2]  Generally, the legal aid scheme was a success. It achieved its purpose in ensuring that the public obtains access to justice. However, from the view of the State, the scheme was imposing heavy burden on the government. It is worth to point out that legal aid funding is placed very low in the political agenda as generally it does not favor anyone as compared to medical and education funding. As a result, Lord Irvine suggested capping a ceiling on legal aid funding. Since c apping the budget for criminal legal aid is against human rights, the only choice will be to first cover all cost in Criminal legal aid and civil legal aid will be funded by the leftovers.  [3]  In view of this, Lord XXX introduced CFA in the Court and Legal Services Act in 1990. The CLSA Act provided a statutory basis for parties to litigation to enter into CFA for a limited number of proceedings. Not until the Conditional Fee Arrangement in 1995 that it was released to different types of proceedings including personal injury, bankruptcy, insolvency and human rights cases. In 1998, subsidiary legislation has greatly widened the range of proceedings where CFA are permissible to cover most of the civil cases except for those specified in the CLSA act, which are mostly related to crime and family legislation. Today, majority of personal injury cases are funded by CFA under the amendment of Access to Justice Act 1999. CFA is an alternative to legal aid. It enables those without the necessary resources or with risk averse tendencies to take forward claims for compensation. It is an agreement whereby a lawyer and a client can agree to share the risk of the litigation by coming to a financial arrangement on the fee payable based on the outcome of the litigation. In the event of losing, the client will not be liable to pay any fee to their lawyer, but if the case is won, normal cost are payable. Although the client is required to pay the fee when winning the case, but it may be recoverable in full or in part from the losing party. Unlike Contingency Fee Arrangement, which is common in USA, CFA does not allow solicitor to claim a percentage of the winning. Instead, lawyers are allowed to charge the usual rate plus uplift if the case is successful. Conditional fee arrangements developed as a result of the proposed reduction in public funding for civil litigation and the fear that the abolition of legal aid would reduce access to justice for many. Access to justice is when people do need help, there are effective solutions that are proportionate to the issues at stake. In some circumstances, this will involve going to court; but in others, that will not be necessary. Someone charged with a criminal offence should have access to proper legal advice and representation, when the interests of justice require it. But in civil matters, for most people, most of the time, going to court is, and should be, the last resort. It is in no-ones interest to create a litigious society. People must make responsible choices about whether a case is worth pursuing; whether to proceed by negotiation, court action, or in some other way; and how far to take a relatively minor issue. This is one of the major advantages, which is also the purpose, of CFA and the legal aid system. A conditional fee agreement is therefore a very useful method of funding litigation as in many cases the prospective litigant may not have the financial resources to fund the case and may not qualify for legal aid. It is particularly important in personal injury cases as these claims cannot be funded by legal aid and as such many litigants would not have had legal redress owing to the lack of funding. Given the high cost of litigation in Hong Kong, those in the middle-income group whose means are above the limits set down by the Legal Aid Scheme and the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme would have difficulty financing litigation. The second advantages of CFA is that it could reduce the cost of legal aid funding and that it could refocus legal aid by removing cases which can be financed in some other way and promoting access to justice for the need by directing the aid budget to priority areas. This will allow the Government ultimately to concentrate publicly funded support on legal services towards helping people secure their basic rights such as a decent home, appropriate social security benefits and challenging officialdom through judicial review, and towards assisting cases that raise issues of wider public interest. The present system does not allow the Government to do this. It allows no assessment of the importance of classes of cases or any way of targeting help towards priority needs. The government simply pays for the amount and type of legal services that lawyers wish to provide. The reduction of legal aid fund of removing all personal injury cases to CFA was significant. The third advantage of CFA is that weak cases will be weeded out. frivolous claim Because the solicitor is taking the risk of the charge, they will for sure assess the chance of success of each case before they accept it. This way, all weak cases will be weeded out. Also, under the CFA scheme, litigant are required to disclose to the other party. Disclosure of a CFA to the other party may encourage earlier settlement because the other partys cost exposure will increase in line with the level of the success fee. Although there are significant contribution, CFA also brings up lots of problems. . Traditionally, solicitors were restricted to change on a conditional or contingent basis. They have been restricted by case law, statutes and practice rules. The two main common law principles related to this are Maintenance and Champerty. Maintenance is where someone who is not a party to the action and has no interest in it, funds or otherwise supports one of the litigants. Such an agreement was generally held by the courts to be void for reasons of public policy and was also grounds for making an order for cost against a non-party funder. In entering CFA, lawyers may tend to put their duty to the court second to their desire to secure a win to guarantee fee, which may lead to suborning evidence, coaching witness, failing to give discovery of documents. This restricted the ability of solicitors to act either contingently and conditionally as they risked significant cost liability. A CFA gives the lawyer a financial interest in the litigation and he therefore takes control of the st rategy and resolution of the litigation. As Lord Denning once mentioned, in Re Trepca Mines Ltd. (No.2) 1963 CA, if legal advisors had a personal interest in the outcome of litigation they might be tempted to influence the damages, to suppress evidence or even to suborn witness Champerty is an aspect of maintenance where the third party not only supports a litigant but also takes a share of the damages awarded, e.g. contingent fee arrangement and success fee. Champerty has been held to be contrary to public policy and thus champerty agreement is void. Last but not least, Claimants may not be able to find a solicitor whos willing to take risk. Even if the case is strong, some solicitors may demand an unreasonably high chance of success to take the case. The decision in Calley v Gray and Halloran V Delaney have made solicitors less willing to take on the risk of CSA when success have been pegged at 20%. Further confusion has occurred after later decision of Sanwar V Alan and Designers Guild v Russell Williams, where the court allowed a claim of 100% success fee and justified it with the recognition that solicitor has taken a substantial risk in entering into CFA.

Friday, October 25, 2019

summer flower :: essays research papers

As we walked among the flowers we began to tremble. He said to her what a wonderful world. Oh my she explained to her husband of fifteen thousand years. And from there on they became universally involved. After reading Mervyn Peake’s short story â€Å"Same Time, Same Place,† it is apparent that the author intended to create a story based around fantasy. Customarily, fantasy is mistaken for stories that include abstract creatures and inconceivable story lines. Under these circumstances one would then conclude that Peake’s short story may not in fact be categorized to such an extent. However, when the formal definition of fantasy is applied to this story it becomes evident that Peake does more than hint at a story based around make believe. Fantasy can be better understood as one of two types of non-realistic fiction, the other being science fiction. In this case fantasy resembles the psychological state of fantasy in that it provides the reader with an experience of liberation similar to that provided by a daydream. Fantasy typically contains 1) a magical world in which liberating events can plausibly take place and 2) main characters with whom the reader closely identifies and through whom he or she enters the magical world. Now, in order to relate this formal definition to Peake’s short story, it is more applicable to break down the definition of fantasy and apply necessary parts from the short story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of the many characters mentioned in the story, only one proved identifiable. From the opening lines, the narrator and main character is the first character the reader is able to identify. The young man we first come across seems responsible for the curious and sympathetic feelings the reader obtains. The narrator proclaims that his life of twenty three years has been nothing more than a bore to him, and perhaps he is having trouble with his own personal identification among his family. His time spent at home has left him to deal with hatred that has accumulated from being around his parents and not knowing his role in the family. Specifically, he deals with a father who is constantly consumed with cigarette smoke and a moustache that drives him crazy. He hates his mother who wears â€Å"tasteless and fussy† clothes and he even hates â€Å"the way the heels of her shoes were worn away on their outside edges.† The way in which he describes his hatred p rovides more reasoning as to why the reader is apt to feeling sorrow and sympathy.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Going to College Essay

Decisions require a lot of thorough thinking before acting. An important time in my life was to make the big decision to go to college. Any important decision requires steps to ensure that everything is completed in the correct manner. I did not follow any sort of formal process. However, I did weigh the pros and cons first and exhaust all options before making my final decision. First, I checked into several different schools in the surrounding area to see which would be a better fit for me and also see which ones offered the degree that I was in search of. After thinking of going to class several nights a week, I decided to explore the online university options. Online classes are much more flexible and seemed to suit me much better. I started my own my own business, which made me extremely busy. With online classes, I knew that I would be able to do things on my schedule instead of someone else’s schedule. Attending online classes and campus once a week, was the best option I would have as a businessman. After a lot of research, I decided that the University of Phoenix best fit my needs and what I was looking for with my personal goals. Phoenix also offered the degree that I was looking to obtain. So, going to Phoenix was my final decision. I’ve been going to Phoenix for about two years. Since I have completed about 70% of my education, I’m close to obtaining my Bachelors degree in Business. As the reading states in Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World, the six stages in the decision making process are Identifying and diagnosing the problem, generating alternative solutions, evaluating alternatives, making choices, implementing the decision, and evaluating the decision. I identified the problem in my situation when I decided that I needed to go to school. The second step is generating alternative solutions, and the third step is evaluating the alternatives which I did by exploring my options and looking at online universities and brick and mortar schools as well. I then made the choice and implemented my decision. The only step that I did not do is evaluating the decision last. I evaluated the decision before I implemented it. I strongly recommend everyone to follow the decision making process. Following the process could definitely help to make healthy and intelligent decisions. Reference: Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. A. (2011). Management: Leading & collaborating in a competitive world (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Position paper †Accreditation Essay

Hello, This assignment is for a subject called: Quality Management for Health Services Assignment 2: Position paper – Accreditation Weighting: 20% Length: 1000 words â€Å"Accreditation programs for health services or facilities are not useful.† Discuss this statement with reference to specific accreditation programs. In your response substantiate your claims with reference to literature. The assignment will be marked using the following criteria: 1. Style, organization and presentation 10% [2 marks] 2. Demonstrated understanding of principles and frameworks of accreditation 30% [6 marks] 3. Description of strengths and/or weaknesses of accreditation programs 30% [6 marks] 4. Identification of opportunities for improvements in accreditation programs 30% [6 marks].   Introduction – Accreditation is a process of certifying and approving that the services or products produced by a certain organization meet with certain standards in quality.   In Australia, one of the organizations that provide accreditation for hospitals and other healthcare organizations is the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS). The main objective of this organization is to improve the quality of healthcare in Australian hospitals. ACHS is an independent organization that works for non-profit purposes and conducts reviews of the performance, quality assessments, etc, during the accreditation process. It was formed in the year 1974, and several other organizations such as the Australian Medical Council, the Australian Healthcare Association, and the medical colleges association have approved accreditation by the ACHS. For determining the standards in the level of healthcare, a committee formed containing representatives from various sectors of the population including the general public, government, hospitals, etc. The Council members vote for the Board of Directors. In the year 1996, the ACHS had launched a unique quality program titled Evaluation and Quality Improvement Program (EQuIP), the main aim of which was to deliver customer-oriented healthcare services to the people. A systematic external peer review process was set in place to closely monitor the program. The ACHS has about an 800-organization subscription and also acts as a consultancy to several other organizations throughout the world (ACHS, 2007). Body – Accreditation is a means of issuing trust. Any consumer who requires healthcare services desires those healthcare services to be of good quality and ensuring safety. It can be understood that in healthcare there are certain amount of risks, which can only be reduced to a certain extent. Accreditation is one of the means by which these risks can be reduced and quality care can be ensured. The patients should identify means by which these risks can be reduced.   Through accreditation, the entire process of providing medical care is well documented, besides being fool proof.   This would ensure that a process would be setup that would be based on strong evidences, ensuring better patient management.   Accreditation is often determined by the healthcare and the accreditation organization in strong technical terms that have to be fulfilled (ACHS, 2007). In the year 2006, the Australian Commission that maintained safety and quality in the healthcare sector felt accreditation standards needed to be improved.   They also felt that an independent review process was needed to raise the level of adherence to quality standards in healthcare organizations in Australia.   The organization felt that accreditation is a process to publicly recognize the achievements and adherence of the healthcare organizations national standards. Accreditation should be made available to all public and private sector organizations, and at different levels including community-based, private-health setups and tertiary healthcare organizations.   The accreditation organization should function independent of the organizations that it would be accrediting.   This would ensure that the performance and the standards that are present in the organization are given no bias by the accrediting organization (ACHS, 2007). Benefits of the accreditation system: – Greater involvement of the public and the healthcare organizations The clinicians who are responsible for providing quality care can be involved. Improves the community confidence levels in the healthcare system Better risk management in patient care Better compliance with the laws (reduction in medical malpractice cases) Patient safety standards are improved Education of the staff members towards developing good practices Provision of professional advice and guidance Staff education and training Developing strong mission statements, values and objectives for the organization The human resource processes can be effectively handled Compliance with the standards imposed by the regulatory bodies Better management of insurance claims and those of third parties Reduction in the insurance costs Better handling of the organization and the management Better flow of information Better decision-making processes Co-ordination can be improved Building a proper evaluation system Developing areas in which priority and attention is required (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2007 & JCAHO, 2007) Disadvantages would also be applicable, including: – Huge costs of accreditation which is finally passed on to the patient Emphasis on resources such as human, support systems, etc. The standards have to be continually updated, changing the area of concentration Accreditation would concentrate on improving structure rather than services Greater attention on increasing collaboration and partnership It may be difficult to streamline the processes Accreditation may not have an effect over the outcomes There may be huge emphasis on competition present in the market Need to subscribe to accreditation by more than one organization (PHF, 1997) In the year 2007, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care gave an alternate model for accreditation of healthcare organizations.   Consultation with the stakeholders helped to identify the deficiencies in the current system and to develop a better one.   The idea was to apply this new alternative accreditation system across all the sectors of healthcare in a phased manner. Characteristics of this new accreditation system: – Implementing certain reforms Bringing about certain standards in the Australian healthcare system The system was to be developed in association with the stakeholders Improve the quality standards Improve the compliance levels with the rules in the healthcare organization Ensure evidence-based practices Improve the monitoring system Support mutual recognition Improve the participation levels Improve the assessments levels, methods and surveys Obligations to be imposed so that the organization adheres to the standards (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2007). Conclusion – It can be said that the entire process of accreditation needs to be setup in such a way that emphasis is given only in improving the patient care and satisfaction. All the meaningless process and structures that do not have an effect over improving the patient care should be removed.   The accreditation organization should ensure that such a system of accreditation is practically applicable by various types of healthcare organizations.   Not much emphasis should be given on costs.   Even organizations that are providing cost-effective care and are meeting with reasonable standards should be provided accreditation.   Accreditation should also be a voluntary system and not a compulsory one.   Different levels of accreditation should also be provided (PHF, 1997).    References: Australian Council for Healthcare Standards (2007). â€Å"About US.† [Online], Available: http://www.achs.org.au/whatwedo/, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. Australian Council for Healthcare Standards (2007). â€Å"Mission, vision and values.† [Online], Available: http://www.achs.org.au/missionvisionvalues/, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. Australian Council for Healthcare Standards (2007). â€Å"What accreditation means.† [Online], Available: http://www.achs.org.au/whataccredmeans/, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. Australian Council for Healthcare Standards (2007). â€Å"ACHS Position Statements.† [Online], Available: http://www.achs.org.au/positionstatements/, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (2007). â€Å"UPDATE: Review of National Safety and Quality Accreditation Standards November 2007.† [Online], Available: http://www.safetyandquality.org/internet/safety/publishing.nsf/Content/accreditation, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (2007). â€Å"Draft: An Alternatvie Model for Safety and Qualtiy Accreditation.† Barnes, A.M. (2001). â€Å"Healthcare Law: Desk Reference.† Ali-Aba. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KS5xke6-DEgC&dq=accreditation+advantages+healthcare&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 JCAHO (2007). â€Å"Benefits of Joint Commission Accreditation.† [Online], Available: http://www.jointcommission.org/HTBAC/benefits_accreditation.htm, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. JCAHO (2007). â€Å"PSP Fact Sheet.† [Online], Available: http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/fpdf/ICPS/PSP%20Fact%20Sheet%20with%20New%20Logo.doc, [Accessed: 2008, March 17]. Public Health Foundation (1998). â€Å"Accreditation: A Study of Issues and Characteristics Applicable to Public Health.† [Online], Available: http://www.phf.org/Reports/Accreditation1/final_report.htm, [Accessed: 2008, March 17].                      Â