-- Beth Padilla

Many people in Colorado are confused about the rules regarding voting if a person has been convicted of a felony. Importantly, every state has different voting laws, so this information only pertains to Colorado.

While waiting outside a court room in the Sixth Judicial District today, I found a pamphlet addressing whether an individual convicted of a felony may vote in Colorado. The pamphlet was produced by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and references C.R.S. 1-2-103(4).  The law states that an individual is not permitted to vote while serving a sentence or on parole for a felony sentence.

This brings up an important question: what does it mean to serve a sentence? If a person is sentenced to a period of time in jail/prison or is serving parole he or she is still serving his or her setence. This means that a person in jail/prison for a felony, or on parole for a felony is not eligible to vote in Colorado.

You can find more information on the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition's website: ccjrc.org.

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The internet is filled with blogs, articles, and postings criticizing and complaining about the state of the world. While I don’t want to fall into that trap and post another negative outburst that no one wants to read, I feel the need to vent a little. Specifically, I want to discuss customer service and the dissolving standards that many businesses are experiencing today.

As an attorney, I often find myself defending my profession and explaining why lawyers behave the way that they do (many times poorly). Most of the time, I simply say that lawyers fail to recognize that we are in a service industry. That realization is often overshadowed by the status and prestige of having a six-figure mortgage to pay for law school (note the sarcasm).

But, regardless of the reason, the fact remains that many attorneys do not recognize that we are here to serve. An obvious consequence of this is the long-standing number-one complaint by clients: lawyers don’t return phone calls. While this may be an issue that goes far back into legal history, and may not be resolved any time soon, it is also an issue that seems to be epidemic, spreading through many other industries and professions.

As both an attorney and a small business owner, I believe customer service is the most important part of my job. Without my clients, I have no job. As a result, both I and my wife / business partner do everything in our power to create value and provide more bang for our clients’ buck. It is a daily objective and effort. However, what I have observed and found incredibly disheartening is that many other small businesses no longer feel the way I do.

Traditionally, small businesses stay competitive by adding value through customer service. A small business is not a margin business with thousands of customers flowing through the doors daily.  So, regardless of the industry, a small business relies on higher levels of product knowledge, customization, and attention to detail. All the things that are lost in high-volume businesses.

Lately I have seen a growing trend of narcissism in many small businesses. Small businesses have certainly felt the brunt of the economic downturn over the past five years. But, rather than leveraging their core strengths (i.e. providing value through customer service), many small businesses have turned their attention to pricing and margins. This re-focus has two major consequences: 1) the entire reason to support and patronize small businesses (i.e. value) is lost; and 2) the small business essentially re-positions itself to compete with larger businesses that have much better pricing.

In short, small businesses will fail if they don’t provide value through customer service.  And, I’m sorry to say, I see a lot of small businesses going under these days and I don’t think that this situation is to blame on big-businesses. Big-box stores have a specific game plan and they do it well. The real issue is that small businesses have to establish their own game plan and execute it, rather than trying to compete with or blame big businesses. If anything, many large businesses have recognized the importance of customer service and are now beating out small businesses in their own game.

In the end, I don’t think small businesses are going the way of the do-do bird, but, without bolstering (and justifying) their product offerings with customer service, it’s going to be a long cold winter for many small businesses.

Padilla Law is pleased to announce the successful outcome of Martinez, et al v. Martinez, et al, in the First Judicial District Court of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Padilla Law acted as defense co-counsel in the quiet title action concerning a residential property located in Espanola, New Mexico.

Although the action was filed in the First Judicial District, the trial was held in the Second Judicial District, following Judge Sheri Raephelson's recusal. The lawsuit resulted in a one-day bench trial before the Honorable Judge Sarah Singleton. 

Plaintiffs' claimed ownership of the residential property, and sought title of the property plus damages for fraudulent conversion and modifications to the property. Judge Singleton dismissed the plaintiffs' claims in their entirety and entered judgment in favor of the defendants, granting the defendants' counter-claim for quiet title.