03-04-2013, 03:10 PM | #11 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Tax law needs constant updating, too.
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03-04-2013, 03:36 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Seattle, WA
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Of more potential interest is discussing the ways that Law might be used in games. If you need constant knowledge on police procedure, that's one thing. If, on the other hand, you want to know if your lawyer PC can figure out a new area of law, that's another.
I would put it this way: a lawyer is probably only immediately conversant in just a few areas of law. These are the areas they practice the most and would be comfortable giving professional advice in. This would be their optional specialty or techniques (if you like that idea). However, almost any lawyer is going to be able to *figure out* almost any area of law, given time and motivation. If a tax lawyer PC suddenly needs to figure out the finer points of corporate law for an adventure, that shouldn't be too challenging--just time consuming. It's also the difference between being willing to give professional advice versus just providing a personal, but educated, opinion on something. Let's say the tax lawyer PC is also involved in some potentially illicit corporate shenanigans. The other PCs ask him if he thinks Action X is illegal. It's not tax law, so he's probably not comfortable answering immediately, but would be happy to provide his friends with an opinion, though not one they should rely upon legally, after a few days/weeks/whatever of research. See the difference?
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03-04-2013, 03:40 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Mechanically I think this is handled through mandatory specialization with cross-defaulting, though there's something to be said for trashbinning the Research skill and only using skill-based research.
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03-04-2013, 08:04 PM | #14 |
Join Date: May 2007
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Another one --
Probate's a biggie in the US of A.
Went through it recently with the death of an elderly relative. Everything was cut & dried but it still took 2 years to process -- and that with another relative very experienced in administration riding herd. You could use this as a hook for an adventure -- there's a big bequest waiting for a PC -- but it'll take years unless a single key document can be located. Have said document be in an interesting and dangerous place and hey presto! adventure. [Of course, if the referee doesn't want the PC to get rich quick, he only has to let some other possible legatee challenge it. That way the PC will be in a grave or a retirement home before he/she sees the $.] |
03-04-2013, 10:16 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Quote:
I allow a single specialty to cover entire legal systems if they are small or specialized enough. Law (Khanga Customary) or Law (Catholic Cannon) seem plenty detailed for any game I can imagine running. Societies with a dozen or so distinct and overlapping legal systems can be fun.
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
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03-05-2013, 03:28 AM | #16 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Okay, thanks for the many answers. But I have great trouble placing them into context of GURPS specialisations. E.g. just what is Material Law? Does it handle a percentage of the Contract and a percentage of Administrative specialisations, or what? How many mandatory specialisations are there in a typical jurisdiction of a given type (e.g. common/civil), and what are they?
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03-05-2013, 03:51 AM | #17 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Where the Celts originated
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Unless the meaning is a different one in the English language, this would be
the same as Substantive Law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantive_law Quote:
lawyer can have up to 3 such specialisations. However, these specialisations are not mandatory, it is up to the lawyer whether he wants to specialize. |
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03-05-2013, 04:05 AM | #18 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
I mean when buying the skill. The Law skill requires specialising by a non-localised field (examples given as International Law, Space Law and Catholic Canon Law), or a jurisdiction+field (examples given as British Criminal, Canadian Constitutional, USA Contract).
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03-05-2013, 08:08 AM | #19 | |
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Quote:
How many specializations do you want ? The RAW are very unclear. If "criminal" is one, "civil" and "administrative/public" might be the other two for a total of three. But "police" is a subfield of "administrative/public", and there are many comparable subfields. Same with "contract" and "civil". On the level of "police" and "contract" I would guess a total of several dozen. |
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03-05-2013, 08:56 AM | #20 | |
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Re: Calling all lawyers! List of specific fields for Law
Quote:
Specializations are only mandatory in the game, not generally in the world. Similarly, in the real world, the specializations are not perfect stove-pipes. Family lawyers must know some property law. Tax lawyers must know some estate law if they work for individuals, or corporate law if they work for corporations. Etc. I'll suggest again -- think of how many specializations a Hard skill should be divided into as a game function, then there will almost certainly be a schematic of the field of law with a number of categories to match. |
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law, lawyer, lawyers, skill, skills, specialisation, specialization |
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