Crime is a problem that society will always have difficulty tackling. It is hard to prevent murder happening or crimes involving emotion of some sort. However, it is possible to reduce crimes that involve illegally obtained wealth by simply taking it away from the criminals.

Confiscation was introduced as a method by which it was hoped that crime would no longer pay. If a person could not explain how he obtained any of his wealth he would lose it by default. This was targeted at crime lords and organised criminals who were often thought to be beyond the law. They amassed enough criminal wealth so that if caught committing fraud or fencing stolen goods they could employ the services of expensive criminal defence lawyers and criminal defence forensic accountants to minimise the sanctions imposed upon them.

Now the prosecution authorities look less at the specifics of the crime on its own, and often simply ask how the accused obtained his money. If it was obtained illegally, it will be impossible for him to explain its source and it is not enough to provide vague explanations. Detailed accounts are necessary. If the money was obtained legally but no records kept, this can pose just as much a problem as when criminal proceeds are the issue. Any wealth is still assumed to be the proceeds of criminal activity – or it might be revenue that is avoiding being taxed. The tax on it plus interest and penalties will add up to the same result. The money is still confiscated by the authorities.

The confiscation system was strengthened considerably in 2003 with the enforcement of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The Act introduced and strengthened a lot of measures which many say are too heavy handed and sometimes even “unfair”. The intention was to create a system that allowed wealth to be taken away from the organised criminals, by being able to make assumptions that any wealth was from crime. It was up to the accused to explain where any wealth came from and if he couldn’t it would be taken away. The trouble is that the assumptions can be made on any person deemed to have a criminal lifestyle and the criteria for this are fairly light.

If a person has committed several crimes, or committed a crime over a period of six months, or if the crimes are for amounts adding up to at least £5,000 – then the person is deemed to have a criminal lifestyle and all assets held and every transaction for the previous six years are deemed to be criminal.

This might mean that a shoplifter who gets caught two or three times could potentially stand to lose every asset including his family home. In addition, he would need to account for every credit shown on his bank statements and every outgoing debit for six years prior to the date of the commencement of proceedings. If an order made within a confiscation is not paid on time, a substantial additional prison sentance can result.

The confiscation of wealth does work for serious criminals, but can be seen as “overkill” in the cases of some smaller crimes.

When it’s time to find a law firm it’s very often because of a sudden unexpected event. Perhaps an accident or injury that you need to act on right away. Sometimes it’s not unexpected as much as it is just delaying the inevitable. This is often the case where bankruptcy attorneys are involved. Many of their clients spend time looking for simple answers to their debt until they get sued by a creditor and it’s time to find a bankruptcy attorney.

So the question is, how do you go about finding an attorney? Seems like a simple enough question on the surface, but when you start to look for a law firm, you’ll notice right away that there seems to be an endless number of law firms and how will you manage to find the one that’s right for you.

As good as the search engines are, the legal profession is just as good as marketing themselves on the search engines. For this reason, if you type in a particular legal issue, such as bankruptcy or medical malpractice, it’s very likely that you will get results from law firms all over the country. Those firms that have done such a good job trying to get noticed on search engines will be displayed when you are searching. Exploring a bankruptcy attorney’s website and finding a lot of great information may lead you to believe that this is the attorney you want to retain. It is a bit disappointing to find out that when you click the contact tab, you find out the attorney is in Chicago, and you are in New York.

Certainly I am not suggesting that you turn to the Yellow Pages! However, there are sources that still let your fingers do the walking, but this time, on the keyboard. One of the most underused resources on the Internet is the local search directory. The major search engines have long recognized this with sites like Yahoo Local and Google Places, but many people don’t know that they have to access those sites differently. It’s hard to change old habits, and eve the major players aren’t making inroads to the local marketplace as fast as they had hoped. In addition, the thrust of their marketing seems to be directed to retail stores and services.

For professional services such as legal services, law firms, doctors, and other professions, there are few resources better than the independent local search, often called web directories. Finding these directories can be as simple as typing in simple search criteria. For example, let’s assume you live on Long Island in New York and you are in need of a law firm. Instead of typing “bankruptcy lawyer” only to be served up attorneys from all over the country, type instead “law firm directory for long island” or “long island law firms directory” and you will find a good number of quality, well organized, profession specific directories. Once you’ve found the directory, it’s a simple matter to drill down to the area of practice and the location. Don’t overlook these valuable local search tools. Like any other product you may be in the market for, sometimes the local grocer is a better choice than they bulk buy supermarket.

David Miller is a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He has written extensively about bankruptcy, debt settlement, debt consolidation, credit and credit cards, collection agency abuse, consumer law, credit card defense, FDCPA guidelines and complaints, loan modification scams, and foreclosure.