Understanding the Vacated and Dismiss Buttons

We often hear this from clients: “Nationwide says that my resident vacated, but they haven’t. Please help!

Usually, this is simply a misunderstanding of what the Vacated and Dismiss buttons mean.  We hope this brief video will help explain how to interpret that data and the buttons on the Case Status screen.

 

Google Sheets to Microsoft Excel

Google Sheets to Microsoft Excel

We understand that not everybody has access to Microsoft Excel, so we have an easy and free workaround for you.

If you receive an Excel spreadsheet from our team, you can open it in Google Sheets to make any edits.  When you’re done editing and you’re ready to send the sheet back to us, you can use one of these two methods.

Option 1: Click File > Download > Microsoft Excel and then send it to us as an attachment

Option 2: Click File > Email > Email This File and then key in our email address.  If you choose option 2, be sure to change the file type from PDF to Microsoft Excel like in the video below.

NOTE: If you “share” the file, we will not be able to click to access it as we do not click hyperlinks to access files outside of our system. The file must be sent as an attachment so that our virus filters may scan the file.

 

 

 

 

Validating Property Information

This video tutorial will help you see how to validate your property’s address, phone number, and contact information. Regardless of what the video says, if you have changes to submit, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page rather than making changes on your own.

 

 

If you need to make changes, please use this form to do so. That will afford us the opportunity to update our internal client records as well since Nationwide is a 3rd Party platform that we both use.  After you verify that you are a client, choose “Username / Password / Technical Support” from the dropdown list.

 

Uploading Secure Documents to Nationwide

Uploading Secure Documents to Nationwide

We were notified by Nationwide that their upload protocols changed recently to be in line with electronic court filing systems used across the country. Because of that, you can no longer upload a PDF that has any security on it (like password protection, encryption, or even just because it’s secure because it was electronically signed).

If you receive the error message below (or something similar), you will need to remove the security from the PDF before you can upload it into the eviction platform.

Here are some options for removing the security before attempting to upload the documents to Nationwide.

  • OPTION 1:  Open the PDF in Google Chrome or another web browser of your choice (not in Adobe Acrobat) and click Print, but instead of printing to your printer, print to PDF using Microsoft Print to PDF or any other Print to PDF software that you might have besides Adobe Print to PDF.  Adobe Print to PDF will keep the security settings, which you don’t want.
  • OPTION 2:  Print the document to your printer and then re-scan it as you normally would without any security restrictions. Be sure, if the document is legal size, that you scan it legal size so that nothing is trimmed or cut off the bottom of the scan.

Alternatively, you can try these instructions from Nationwide’s help page – https://nationwidecompliant.force.com/help/s/article/How-To-Remove-Password-Protection-from-a-PDF-file

 

If you have any trouble, please contact your IT department for assistance.

 

 

Lawyers’ and Well-Being. Erasing the stigma.

Lawyers’ and Well-Being. Erasing the stigma.

Contrary to public perception the day to day life of a lawyer goes beyond the 9-5. Most people are surprised that, on average, an attorney at a large law firm can work more than 50-60 hours a week. 

A lawyer’s day is primarily shaped by the area of law in which the individual focuses their practice. Most lawyers are typically very punctual and early risers. When they are not in court, they catch up on memos from paralegals, prepare for cases by doing research and drafting motions, negotiate pending cases, or respond to clients. 

So why are lawyers unhappy? 

Lawyers have an incredible amount of influence over our society as a whole, and of course, their clients’ lives. They deal with unpleasant scenarios and sometimes, people. Oftentimes, lawyers are tasked with obtaining favorable outcomes based on less-than-favorable facts. Such a job requires attention to detail, creativity, time value, and unyielding confidence. It’s easy to see, then, how such a demanding career can be taxing on the psyche. 

According to a recent study, Twenty-eight percent of lawyers experience mild or higher levels of depression, 19% experience anxiety, 23% experience chronic levels of stress, and 20.6% of participants struggle with problematic drinking. Some reports suggest as many as one in five attorneys struggle with problem drinking, including binge and heavy drinking. This is twice the national rate. According to the CDC, Lawyers ranked fourth when the proportion of suicides in that profession is compared to suicides in all other occupations in the study population (adjusted for age). They come right behind dentists, pharmacists, and physicians. 

What can be done about this issue? 

Simply put, bring awareness to the mental health issues that lawyers face. This is why our team at Loebsack & Brownlee has decided to participate in National Lawyer Well-Being Week. At L&B, our lawyers work diligently every day to bring the best outcomes for our clients and to provide education to our industry. We can only have peak performance for our clients and the industry we serve by paying attention to our mental, physical, and emotional health. Many often believe that being a lawyer is all glitz and glamour: fancy cars and suits, charging exorbitant rates, and using legal jargon to tap dance around their clients. That is not the case! So let’s do what we can to erase the stigma and make kindness to lawyers the norm.

Lawyer Well-Being

Click here for Directory of Lawyer Assistance Programs.