Criminal Law-Criminal law involves prosecution by the government of a person for an act that has been classified as a crime. Civil cases, on the other hand, involve individuals and organizations seeking to resolve legal disputes. In a criminal case the state, through a prosecutor, initiates the suit, while in a civil case the victim brings the suit. Persons convicted of a crime may be incarcerated, fined, or both. However, persons found liable in a civil case may only have to give up property or pay money, but are not incarcerated. Crimes include both felonies (more serious offenses -- like murder or rape) and misdemeanors (less serious offenses -- like petty theft or jaywalking). Felonies are usually crimes punishable by imprisonment of six months or more, while misdemeanors are crimes punishable by less than six months.

Estate Planning - the area of law relating to planning for the inevitability of death, such as obtaining life insurance to pay for the costs of a funeral, preparing a simple Will. More comprehensive planning such as preparing a more complex Will, Trust, and related estate planning documents may also be needed. It depends on the size of your estate and how comprehensive your needs are.

Expungement/Sealing of Criminal Record-Simply put, an expungement is a legal way to "clear your record".Under Ohio, all records on file in the criminal justice system that relate to a criminal prosecution may be extracted and isolated. Do the records just "disappear"? No. All the expunged records are sent to a special facility for expunged records. The records cannot be accessed for general law enforcement or civil use. However, there are certain exceptional situations under which the expunged records can be searched, retrieved, and used, but this is rare and normally requires a court order or statutory authorization. One way to look at it is, expunged records do not "disappear", but they do "go away", and in most cases are never heard from again.

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