Showing posts with label howto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label howto. Show all posts

For the travelling lawyers [tips]

Thursday, September 16, 2010

 

 

Just to add some more tips:

1. Don’t forget to bring converters!

2. Use Kindle to read (and skip all the print papers)

3. Make sure everything is fully charged

4. Hassle first, fun later. Meaning: go through security check then find your coffee

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Howto: Sync your Endnote libraries, styles, filters and connections using dropbox

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

 

Hello again researchers!

 

Your Endnote contains the list of literatures and authorities you used for your research paper. It may also contain your research data itself, attached to the bibliography in endnote. For sure, you want it to be safe and if possible, retrievable from any location which has endnote software in it. The solution: store your endnote data in the cloud. If you use multiple computers, you might want to sync it as well so that every changes you made in one computer will be adjusted in the other. We’ll do this using dropbox.

Steps:


The Three Main Folders

1. Install Dropbox.

2. Identify three main folders used in endnote: the styles folder, the filters folder and the connections folders. Click edit, preferences, folder locations. You will see three default path to folder locations.

3. Go to windows explorers, find the location of those three folders, copy them.

4. Go to your MyDropbox, create a new folder (e.g. Endnote) and paste them there in the new folder.

5. Now you need to return to your endnote, click edit, preferences, folder locations, select folder. Change the path into your new endnote folders in Dropbox.

 

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The library file (ENL)

 

Normally, Endnote store your library file in MyDocuments/Documents. Go to windows explorer, find the *.enl files and copy them. Next, go to MyDropbox, paste them there (or you can paste it in your endnote folder in dropbox too, if you like). In order to change the default library location, do the following:
Click edit, preferences, libraries, open the specified libraries, click add open libraries, apply.

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That’s it! Your endnote is in your dropbox now. You can work on your paper in any computer with endnote and dropbox installed. If you are using a new computer, don’t forget to adjust the paths of your endnote software into your dropbox folder.   

Related post:
Howto: Autosave your ms word doc in Dropbox

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Howto: Autosave your ms word doc in Dropbox

 

This is a tip to my fellow countrymen ph.d, master students, and anyone else working with MS-Word in multiple computers. As you know, dropbox is a tool to sync, store and (optionally) share your data in the cloud. It gives you a 2GB of storage capacity.

Now that’s too small for me since I consume at minimum 5 GB of space ( for my MS Office files and PDFs data) every 6 months. So I use dropbox in combination with other free cloud strorage facilities such as Skydrive (25 GB). I use dropbox only to sync and store my working files, which are mostly in MS-Word (well, occasionally lawyers use excell and visio too, but only occasionally!). The whole ms-word working files cost me less than 500 MB for one year. That should work for everyone too. Even if you manage to write and publish 50 papers in a month, that should count for less than 1 GB for the whole year! Bottomline: dropbox free 2 GB account would suffice for syncing your working files. But for your data, you may need additional backup storage from Skydrive.

Here’s how it work for MS Word:


MS Word 2003:

Click tools --- Options --- File Locations --- Modify

 

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MS Word saves your working files in Document/My Document by default. In order to change this, click modify and point it to your MyDropbox folder (normally located in My Document).

For MS Word 2007, you need to click the Office Button, click Advanced, in the General section click File Locations, click Documents in the File types list,  click Modify and then point it to your MyDropbox location.

Done. Now there is no more need to copy-paste your file from your local computer to your MyDropbox folder. Just save it as usual, and it will store in the cloud, your local hard drive and sync with your other computers at the same time.


Later when I have time, I will provide you with a tutorial on how to sync your endnote files, libraries and styles across computers as well as storing it in the cloud, using Dropbox.



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HOWTO: Tweet the right lawyers

Thursday, May 13, 2010

 

(and get a free advice on something)

Jennifer asked:

Who would be a good person to tweet for advise on Clemency and human rights? I support Australian Schapelle Corby who is mentally ill and her lawyer has appealed to the Indonesian president for clemency. I believe she is innocent and did not receive a fair trial but now her mental health is priority. She was sentenced to 20 years which is harsh by Indonesian standards with no testing of the evidence despite her demands to police and prosecution (these tests may of proved her innocence). She has suffered enough and needs to come home. Thanks, any info would be appreciated

Short answer: perhaps these people can help:

@taufikbasari @arijuliano @anggarasuwahju @TodungLubis @lisrasukur

Long answer: follow them on twitter, discover their network and give a shot. Perhaps it is better to drag people’s attention through your own twitter campaign. A lot of people is using twitter to extend their advocacy to the online world.  An important feature in this effort is in creating incentives for people to tweet their opinion. The incentive could either be external (from outside factors, such as a praise or a thank you note from other people) but they are mostly internal (they just feel good about tweeting). I will try to elaborate this further on my next post.


Related posts:

Twittering the Indonesian Legal Community
ABAnet Twitter Debate on Virtual Law Office
6 Free Collaboration Tools for Lawyers



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6 Free Collaboration Tools for Lawyers

Sunday, May 2, 2010

You just start up a small law firm and can’t afford to pay expensive IT costs? No problem. There are tons of freebies out there which you can use to enhance your law firm’s productivity.

1. Delicious

Bookmarks cluttered your browser page? Use bookmarking sites. There are many free bookmarking services including google notebook and Digg, but I prefer delicious for my bookmarks. I have been sharing these bookmarks with colleagues in other countries working on the same issue. I don't lose anything by sharing what I found in the net and they don't risk the possibility of reinventing the wheel.
 

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In delicious, have a look at my Water Law bookmarks. If you do European Law, have a look at my EU Law bookmarks. For nanotechnology law, have a look here.
 
Important tip for delicious. In tagging, always use root words. Don’t use “nanotechnology+law” or “nanotechnologies”, unless you really have to.

2. Manymoon
Manymoon is a cool software for project management. It has project management features such as milestones, tasks, calendar, link sharing and progress report.
 
 
  













For example, if you are doing a merger, you can set the milestones into (i) Merger Plan, (ii) BoC Approval of the Merger Plan, (iii) Shareholder’s Approval for Merger and (iv) Notifications to Employees. You can add tasks to each milestones. For milestone (i) you can assign the drafting of a Merger Plan to a junior lawyer and a reviewing task to the more senior lawyer. You can set dates for these task, set a deadline and a reminder.
What I really like with Manymoon is its integration with Google Apps. Manymoon is integrated to Google Docs, Email and Calendar. It has a reporting tool too, but unfortunately, the free version only has one reporting for each projects.

Sign up to manymoon for free, here.

Oh, in case you are a time-sheet freak, yes, manymoon does track your lawyer’s time sheet.



3. Tungle
You are a very busy person with lots of schedules, but yet, your firm can’t afford to pay a secretary? It’s OK, not a problem. Tungle will help to sort out your scheduling problem.

 

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Tungle use google calendar to check the dates when you would be available. Clients can then propose several dates for a meeting or web conference or telephone call. Not clear enough, you can try scheduling a conference call with me, using my tungle here.


4. Dimdim
You are in Bali and too tired to go to Jakarta for a meeting, or you simply have a ‘virtual’ lawfirm and only work at the office if you have too. Besides, who needs an office these days, right?

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With Dimdim, you can always hold meetings online. Share presentations, share your computer screen, hold a web conference! Dimdim can record your meetings too. Again, no need for a secretary.


5. Offisync
The old school of doing review is by turning the track changes on and then sending it once you made the review. Well, there’s a more effective way of doing it.

Offisync, well, sync, your office files with Google Docs and allow instant, online collaboration with coworkers. However, there is a caveat. You may not be able to save the doc files in its original MS Word Format, unless you have a premium account with google apps. So, everytime you save docs in offisync, it save it in google doc format. If you have plenty of tables and footnotes, you might want to be a bit careful using the service. I hope they will sort out this problem soon. I will update you when they do.



6. Finally, Google Apps




Get 50 free (7GB each) email@yourlawfirm.com with google apps, integrated with calendar, docs and other google services such as video and sites. Yes, you get the email with your company’s name but using gmail services. Ain’t that cool? Sign up here.
All of the software I listed above (except for Delicious) are integrated into Google Apps. So when you sign up to google apps (the basic version) and go to the Marketplace from your domain management console, you can install those apps in your domain. Have fun! 

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Living with the Other Fishes

Monday, August 27, 2007

Finally I could meet Mr. P yesterday, after getting his rushed phone at the mid of this week. Currently, he dedicates his life to a mid-size law firm in Jakarta which hold an affiliation with the south-east law firm and America continent law firm.

Yesterday’s appointment was promised to him in order to clarify an important case. The case was, Ms. Z his boss, a foreign citizen got panic and little bit shocked with the news that appeared in the Jakarta Post dated 21 August 2007 with the title "lawyers meet to discuss roles in global arena". Under the news, president of the Indonesian Advocates Association (“Peradi”), Otto Hasibuan commented some following issues:

a. the Ministry of Law and Human Rights as the authority to issue work permits for foreign lawyer shall send report on foreign lawyers which has received the working permits in Indonesia to Peradi;

b. Peradi suspected that in addition to 37 registered foreign lawyers working in Indonesia, there are more foreign lawyers who work in Indonesia; and

c. Peradi suspected that there are some law firms actually owned by foreign lawyers while the Indonesian staffs only act as puppets.

Therefore, while she was abroad last week, unless something happened then she would not come back to Indonesia. He asked P whether she and her colleague have already a proper license to work in Indonesia as a foreign lawyer. Besides her query, she also noted that in this globalization era, Indonesian government has committed to become a member of World Trade Organization (as ratified in Law Number 7 Year 1994). Also, it is advisable for giving concern more on the development of domestic capability rather than putting the blame on foreign aspect. In line with the gathering that held in Jakarta by 10 lawyer associations i.e. from Indonesia, India, Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia, she thought that Peradi must also give a positive contribution to harmonize the role of lawyers in this era of inclusiveness instead of keep standing on the exclusivity.

After we ordered calamari to indulge us, Mr. P continued telling his experience during this week. Basically, it is so irresistible that an Indonesian law firm have an association with an international or regional law firm which already exists in some other countries through opening of branches or affiliations. It is merely a business action conducted by some firms’ owner to be affiliated (not be owned for sure) for the purpose of grabbing the potential market being captured by those regional law firm. Mr. P said, Ms. Z often receive the client that referred by the “affiliation” in which such client has trusted that his investment in Indonesia shall be backed-up by qualified legal assistancship as the client receive in their own country. Sometimes, Mr. P added, he should introduce himself as a lawyer from the “affiliation” instead of the “local firm” solely for assuring the client that they are not treated with the wrong person.

Yesterday, both of us had the same main course to satisfy our tongue in savoring the juicy half-done US ribs. While I was busy with cutting and chopping, he started again. It may be based on a true story that Peradi come up with the indication that there are some law firms which owned by the foreign lawyers and afterwards Peradi wants to do the direct investigation to catch them. Peradi’s stance is the consequence of prohibition stipulated under Article 23 Paragraph 1 of Law Number 18 Year 2003 regarding advocates in which foreign lawyers may not appear in court hearings, practice and/or open legal services office or representatives in Indonesia. However, in Paragraph 2 of the same Law, it is stated that the law firm may employ foreign lawyers as employee or expert staff in the field of foreign law based upon permit from Indonesian government with recommendation from organization of advocates. In addition to that, foreign lawyers who provide a legal services in Indonesia may be subject to criminal sanctions including imprisonment. Mr. P said, Ms. Z seems still in the corridor of stipulated laws and regulations. She only does the advisory role and provide her expertise in cases where prospective client from her country must be convinced that Indonesian law is quite different with their legal system. That Indonesian company must has a board of commissioners while theirs not, for example. In addition, Mr. P told that Ms. Z is employed by his Indonesian partner to become a marketing agent, to anchor client or as the receiver of referrals from the “affiliation” which coincidently has same citizenship with Ms. Z.

Then my hot pancake with vanilla ice cream and his single espresso became the end session of our yesterday’s meeting. Mr. P said, her boss is one of the 37 foreign lawyers that has been registered on Peradi. Also, as required by the Decree of Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Number Kep-20/MEN/III/2004 regarding the procedure in the obtainment of Permit To Employ The Expatriate Worker (Izin Mempekerjakan Tenaga Kerja Asing or “IMTA”), his law firm already obtained the IMTA for employing Ms. Z as the legal expert in Indonesia, furthermore Ms. Z consequently has obtained the limited stay permit card (Kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas or “KITAS”) too. And, I am quite surprised that every expatriate who wants to work here shall pay in advance a monthly fee of USD 100 of skill and development fund levy (Dana Pengembangan Keahlian dan Ketrampilan or “DPKK”). Usually, the expatriate will apply for 1 year period of working and stay permit. It then translates to USD 1,200 (or equivalent to approx. 10 million Rupiah) per expatriate to be stored in the Department of Manpower and Transmigration’s account. If every month, for instance, such Department approves application from 100 expatriates, it means that there is 1 billion Rupiah in its account to be utilized and reported in accordance with accountabilty and transparency principle on every single month. What a great asset then. Mr. P also don't know if such financial report must be opened or closed to public.

In spite of worries towards Ms. Z’ permits, Mr. P actually really concerned about Peradi’s contribution to expedite the process for foreign lawyers who applies his application to work in Indonesia legally. Still fresh in his mind, that he needed 1 month only in order to obtain Peradi’s recommendation. When Mr. P pushed the lowest person in such organizational pyramid, they only keep saying that the required recommendation still has not been signed by the relevant authority because of his occupation as an active lawyer in addition to the activity in the Peradi’s organization. And, once the Peradi’s recommendation is obtained, it does not means that his job has completed even for a half way. The recommendation from Minister of Law and Human Rights shall be signed first by the Director of Public Administration Law from the Ministry prior to process the manpower utilization plan (Rencana Penggunaan Tenaga Kerja Asing orRPTKA”). From his experience, the Ministry recommendation will take 2 to 3 weeks to be obtained. One other thing that I knew from yesterday’s appointment is beside 2 main recommendations that must be obtained by each law firm, they must also secure the entire 13 other documents to be permitted working and staying in Indonesia.

The last slurp of his espresso had signaled me that Yesterday’s appointment must be continued some other time. Lastly, Mr. P said, it is quite awkward when Peradi utters that the Ministry of Law and Human Rights must coordinate with Peradi pertaining the report of all working permit already issued by the Ministry to each foreign lawyer. Because, the scheme is already clear that prior to holding the IMTA, that the local law firm sponsoring its foreign lawyer shall apply to Peradi for obtaining the recommendation is the first thing to do.

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How to set up a company in Indonesia

Sunday, January 21, 2007

The process of establishing a limited liability company is actually too complicated to be explained in a blog post, so I'll just give you a summary:
  1. Minimum Two shareholders are required
  2. Minimum authorized capital is IDR 20 million
  3. You need to reserve the Company's name (trade ministry), obtain a domicile license (local authority), obtain the company tax number (tax office), and re register everything at the ministry of trade.
A notary can do all those task for you, for a fee. There is no specific time period for the whole process so it depends in each case.

But, if the company is a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Company, then there are some other procedure that must be followed such as acquiring foreign capital license from the Central Bank and BKPM licenses. For that, you might need to either hire a lawyer or use investment consultancy services.

There are so many licensing services in Indonesia, each has their own rate. Okusi associates charges 2,550 USD. Healy Consultants charge up to 9,000 USD for 1st year for FDI. But, I also know that there are also consulting firms who charges only 800-1000 USD.

To get a broader view on investment in Indonesia and the judicial protection granted to investors, I suggest you to read this article from the US Embassy. The types of foreign investment licenses is discussed here. Please pay attention that I do not guarantee that both sites I've mentioned earlier contained an up to date information. If you want the latest information, use the search box in the right panel and search for foreign investment licenses. It should bring you to BKPM's (Coordinating Agency for Foreign Investment) website which should contained the latest info.

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Labor Strike Procedure in Indonesia

Saturday, January 20, 2007

In essence, every dispute arising out of Industrial Relation must be settled through deliberation of the involved parties. In this regard, prior to conducting a strike, a negotitation among Labor Union and the Company is mandatory. For the purpose of legal-evidentiary formalities, a sealed notes of meeting of the above negotiation process signed by authorized representative of the Labor Union and authorized representative of the company (if it is a limited liability company, then it shall be signed by members of the board of director or any one authorized to negotiate under a proxy signed by one of the company’s Board of Directors) shall be prepared. Only after the negotiation failed can the labors perform its right to strike.

Labors can perform their right to strike without getting through a process of negotiation. This can only be performed however, if the company refuses to negotiate. Decision of the Labor Minister, Kepmenakertrans No. KEP. 232/MEN/2003 Year 2003 on the Consequences of Illegal Strike (“Kepmenakertrans”) obligated workers to request the employer to enter into negotiation, at least 2 (twice) within 14 days. It would be important for the Labor Union to accept receipt from the employer that such notification has been given to the employers.

If the company refuses to negotiate after being properly notified as explained in the above paragraph or if the nagotiation have taken place but no resolution is achieved, Labors can perform their right to strike. Performance on the right to strike must comply with prevailing regulations, otherwise it can be categorized as an “illegal strike”.

At least within 7 (seven) business days prior to the strike, labor or its union must notify in written, the company and local ministry of manpower (labor dispute resolution institution should also be notified, and presumably, the police too). The ministry of manpower is obligated to give receipt of such notification under the law.

The notification must contain at least (a) timing (day, date, and hours) where the strike begins and will end, (b) the place where the strike will be held, (c) reasons and causes of the strike; and (d) signature of the chairman and secretary and/or each of chairmans and secretaries of the labor union responsible for the strike. If the strike is not performed in such procedure, the employer may take temporary action in secyring its company and its production facility by (a) prohibiting the labors striking at its production site or, (b) if necessary prohibits the strike to be held in the company’s locations. (Article 140 Law No. 13 Year 2003 on Labor, “Labor Law”).

In giving the notification to the ministry of manpower, Labor or the Labor union must enclose (1) notes of meeting signed by authorized representative of the company and authorized representative of the Labor Union, (2) a notification of strike to the employer and a receipt from the employer indicating that such notification has been accepted. All receipt and notifications must be signed by authorized parties.

In cases where no negotiation is possible, the enclosure must contain a letter of requesting negotiation to the employer and its receipt, and the letter notifying a strike with its receipt. As the law obligates the ministry of manpower to give receipt in return of those notifications, it would be better tomake sure that in the receipt, the ministry of manpower has clarified that the strike procedure has been fulfilled by the labors, in accordance with Article 140 of the Labor Law.

Legal Protection on The Right to Strike

The Law guarantee the right of labors to perform the Strike. Article 143 of the Labor Law stated that no one shall impede the labor and labor union to use its right to strike and no one shall be permitted to arrest labors which perform strike that are peaceful and in accordance to the prevailing regulations. Elucidation of Article 143 of the Labor Law gives examples that giving punishment, intimidating in any of its forms and determining work mutations to the labor is an example of “impeding the right to strike”.

In addition to that, Article 144 of the Labor Law forbids employer to replace the striking worker with another labor from outside the company or to give sanctions or any other form of retaliatory action to labors or the labor unions as a result of the strike. It needs to be underlined that the protection given by Article 144 will only be applied toward strikes that are in accordance with the procedure. In practice, the “evidence” that a certain strike has complied with prevailing regulations are:
  1. Signed notes of meeting between labor union and the employer, if no negotiation is possible, then the receipt of letter requesting for negotiation
  2. Receipt of strike notification from the local ministry of manpower alltogether with a statement that the strike preparation has fulfilled Article 140 of the Labor Law
  3. Receipt of strike notification from the company

Legal Consequences of Strikes

If a strike is not performed in regards to the prevailing regulation, then it can be deemed as an “illegal strike”. Article 16 of the Kepmenakertrans stated that illegal strike may count as absence from work. The company must call upon the labors – properly through a written notification -- twice in a seven days period. If such proper notification has been conducted, workers which are ignorant to the notification will be deemed to resign from its employment.

Toward a strike which are not caused by normative problems (problems caused by non fulfillment of certain provision in a regulation) the company may refuse to give payment to labors. Company may perform lock-out as a consequence of the strike but this must also be conducted in regards to prevailing regulations.





Disclaimer:

This article is not intended as a legal opinion.

Click here for a link to the Labor Law