Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 May 28

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May 28

clarification.

is it correct to say that Law firm associates are retainers and not employees and that in-house legal counsels are employees? then what is really an external/outside counsel or when are they required? please clarify. Grotesquetruth (talk) 07:19, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

There's nothing much to clarify. Your statements are merely a mix of the state of the matter and the implication of them. You need an external impulse if you either need more objectivity than you're allowing internally or you're trying to lever on forces for any given change of course. You may in the abstract compare with the Baltimore Bridge collapse, although that may be a little bit of a stretch.. --Askedonty (talk) 08:13, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Used in connection with legal services, a "retainer" is the fee a client pays for future legal services. There can be many reasons why someone needs legal counsel. One possible reason is that one has a plan of action but is not certain of the legality of some aspects. Another possible reason is that one is involved in a conflict that may end up in court. If one needs counsel and does not have access to in-house counsel, one needs to obtain external counsel. The in-house counsel of an organization represents the interests of that organization. Someone working for a company may have interests that are not aligned with these company interests. If they need legal counsel, they'd better seek it outside the company.  --Lambiam 09:40, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Law firm associates are employees of the law firm. In-house lawyers are employees of the company (or other organization) for which they work. An organization that needs legal services may turn either to its in-house lawyers (if it is large enough to have in-house lawyers) or to a law firm that it hires. There are a variety of reasons why an organization with in-house lawyers might use a law firm instead of, or in addition to, its in-house lawyers. For example, a project might be too big for the in-house lawyers by themselves, or the organization might need more expertise than is available in-house. A law firm typically will staff a matter with a mix of partners (who are not employees) and associates, and perhaps some lawyers with other titles. John M Baker (talk) 12:11, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Bengali naming conventions in the US?

I was reading an excerpt from The Namesake, a book about a family of Bengali immigrants in the US, and it made me wonder how the bhalo nam vs the dak nam is usually handled when immigrating to the US. In the story, the main character's dak nam is on some of his legal documents, but on the Wikipedia page for Bengali names, it says that the bhalo nam is used on all legal documents. Was this just a decision for the sake of the story, or is this something that might actually happen? Dinsfire24 (talk) 22:56, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Mistakes are made. I have seen my own name, as well as my father's name, recorded incorrectly in official documents. I suppose that in the Wikipedia article the legal documents referred to are Bangladeshi legal documents, which would normally be written in the Bengali alphabet. I'm not familiar with the story of The Namesake. Did the dak nam appear in a Bangladeshi document? Or did someone use the dak nam unofficially in the US and it somehow ended up in a US official document? It is easy to imagine confusion caused by Americans being unaware of the existence of non-US naming customs – and new immigrants being unaware of the general American unawareness of other cultures.  --Lambiam 16:46, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Ah, that makes sense. I believe it was on a US official document, so your assessment is likely correct. Dinsfire24 (talk) 17:14, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Is that the one whose main character is named for Nikolai Gogol? (I saw the movie years ago, at a Dravidian friend's suggestion.) —Tamfang (talk) 18:41, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I think it was. What did you think of the movie? Dinsfire24 (talk) 03:40, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

I have forgotten all but some insignificant snippets :( —Tamfang (talk) 23:09, 9 June 2024 (UTC)