Fooling Around
October 24, 2008
Sell photos on photrade | By Sophener
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How to deal with legal matters on a budget
October 21, 2008
How to Deal With Legal Matters on a Budget
from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit
The good lawyer is not the man who has an eye to every side and angle of contingency, and qualifies all his qualifications, but who throws himself on your part so heartily, that he can get you out of a scrape. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
When it comes to trying to deal with legal matters while living on a budget, it can be both daunting and very worrying. This article contains helpful information from lawyer Andrew Flusche, on how you can deal with legal matters effectively whilst keeping an eye on the budget. Note that this article was written principally with US citizens in mind but much of this is still excellent advice applicable generally wherever you live.
Steps
- Ask yourself this very important question before you do anything: Do you need a lawyer? The best way to save money on legal expenses might be to keep lawyers out of the equation. This definitely isn’t right for every legal matter, but it could be right for yours. Consider:
- If there is very little money at stake, hiring a lawyer may not be cost effective. You may be able to identify a paralegal or consultant with the needed expertise. Or you might be better off trying to resolve the matter yourself. Sometimes a polite phone call or letter can go a long way.
- Even if the issue is significant, helping yourself might be an option. A variety of good do-it-yourself legal handbooks exist, such as those by Nolo Press. Your local library will probably have similar books ready to check out.
- Go to small claims court. Small claims court exists for a reason. It helps people have their day in court to resolve small disputes. The precise rules and requirements vary by jurisdiction, but it can be a cheap option to litigate a monetary claim. You can generally pursue amounts up to a few thousand dollars in small claims court. The filing fees are usually a small amount. You typically do not hire a lawyer in these cases; you pursue the case on your own.
- Buy unbundled services. Perhaps you need a lawyer for part of a matter, but you can handle some things on your own. Unbundled legal services could be the frugal solution. This innovation breaks down legal services into discrete parts, letting clients purchase only what they need. Under this model, you could hire an attorney to just give advice on a certain situation. Or you could hire someone to review contracts for you. Unbundled services can be a win-win deal for clients and lawyers. The client gets exactly the needed services and only has to pay a minimum amount. And the lawyer can work on discrete matters for a variety of interesting clients.
- Educate yourself. Regardless of the legal option you choose, you need to educate yourself. Even if you hire an attorney for all your legal needs, you should make sure you understand what’s going on. One simple thing you can learn is legal terminology. Your attorney should be able to speak to you in plain English, but there are still legal terms involved. If you take the time to find definitions for things, you save your attorney’s time in explaining them to you. In most arrangements, saving time for your attorney saves you money.
- Provide all the details. After you have decided to hire a lawyer, you have to communicate with him. To help your lawyer work as efficiently (and cheaply) as possibly, get all your details together. If you’re prepared to answer the lawyer’s questions, you can make the most of any meetings you have. In today’s computer age, it’s easy to keep records and documents handy. You could just create a Google Doc of information about your case. When something happens, or a memory resurfaces, make a note of it. You could share this Doc with your attorney through Google or just email it to him.
- Group your questions. If your attorney is billing by the hour, you want to minimize the time he has to spend on your matter. Most attorneys bill in six-minute increments, so even a quick phone call to your attorney will cost 1/10th of an hour (possibly $25). This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t contact your attorney. But you should be efficient in that contact. Don’t call your attorney five times during the day. Make a list of things you’d like to talk about and call once. The same applies to email.
- Ask for alternative billing. Lawyers don’t have to bill by the hour all the time. In fact, many lawyers are using different billing methods precisely to lower the cost of legal services. If you want to lower your attorney’s fees, ask about alternate billing arrangements:
- Contingency fees are a popular method of billing in cases like personal injuries. You pay your attorney a percentage of the amount you recover.
- Attorneys use flat rate billing when the amount and nature of work is predictable. If you have a routine traffic court matter, a flat rate might make your cost easy to foresee. Flat rates can also help you get a simple will drafted and signed.
- Stay focused on the goal. A wise business attorney once said that the client is truly in trouble when they’re fighting “for the principle of the matter.” If you’re fighting for principles, your costs will likely skyrocket. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up for your beliefs, but sometimes fighting in the legal arena can be a bad business decision. The same rationale applies to people who want to harass people through the courts. An unscrupulous attorney might help you, but it will likely be expensive. Do you think an attorney who will simply harass your adversary will turn around and bill you fairly? Always keep your focus on the end goal, and make sure your attorney knows that goal as well. Ask yourself how certain decisions might affect reaching that goal. If you get off course, talk it over with your attorney and get back on track. You’ll save money in the end.
Warnings
- Representing yourself, especially against someone who has an attorney, may put you in serious legal jeopardy. This is where the phrase, “A man who represents himself has a fool for a client” comes from.
Things You’ll Need
- Law library
- Documentation system
- Organized approach
Related wikiHows
- How to Hire a Trial Lawyer
- How to Become a Lawyer in the United States
- How to Think Like a Lawyer
- How to Choose a Lawyer for an Entertainment Contract
Sources and Citations
- Original source of article from the very generous Zen Habits. Please feel free to visit and support copyright free information providers. Information in this article was provided by Andrew Flusche, a lawyer who runs his own private law practice in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He helps with Virginia legal matters, including trademarks, copyrights, litigation, and probate.
Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Deal With Legal Matters on a Budget. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.
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Ok, enough testing. Here’s the real scoop.
October 3, 2008
I’m putting together the pieces of my policies and procedures and I’d like to share some resourceful information I found in regards to that. The following does not pretend to be complete, or what everybody needs, but it is a starting point. I have grouped these, but an item can address more than one area in practice. Try not to be overwhelmed by the length of the list – some will only need to be short, but a bit of careful thought now can save major problems later. New organizations shouldn’t try to achieve perfection too quickly (unless you’ve got loads of resources) – identify the most important for your situation and get those right first.
The difference between Policy and Procedure, and quite what goes where, gets a lot of people confused. We would say that procedures follow on from policy – how you do it in practice – and can be a separate document or a section of the same. It is often worth trying to be clear, as a policy change may or may not alter the procedure, while a necessary change in procedure should not be allowed to change the policy by default. It should be clear in a procedure which policy or policies it relates to.
Basic requirements
- Health and Safety Policy and Procedure. Could include:
- Workstation assessment procedure
- Fire safety
- Equal Opportunities Statement of Intent. Could include:
- Harassment
- reference to Recruitment procedure
- Confidentiality Policy (including Data Protection
- Risk Assessment. This was under H&S, but the current charity SORP (accounting standard) requires trustees to consider risks and review the steps needed to mitigate them much more widely.
Personnel
- Volunteers.
- Basic Policy (when you would use volunteers, how to recruit/assess suitability, management, two-way ‘contract’).
- Expenses Policy.
- Volunteer Charter, Exit Interview Questionnaire
- Staff Disciplinary procedure.
- Staff Grievance procedure.
- Staff Appraisal procedure.
- Supervision.
- Staff expenses
- Staff loans (travel, cycle, car).
- Union recognition Policy.
- Sick Leave Policy and procedure.
- Leave policy and procedure.
- Time off in Lieu Policy and procedure.
- Public Duties.
- Recruitment Procedure.
- Redundancy policy.
- Induction Procedure and Checklist.
- Exit interviews.
- Job evaluation.
- Retirement policy.
People management issues – relevant areas currently include Development/Training Needs Assessment, Appraisal, Supervision.
Office Management
- Green Office Policy/Environmental Impact.
- E-mail/internet use policy.
- Personal, or associated group, use of office facilities.
- Security.
Ethics, Empowerment, Improvement
- Complaints Procedure (for members, service users, public).
- Service user/member involvement.
- Training policy (staff, volunteers and committee members).
- Quality/monitoring policy .
- Staff involvement policy.
- (A learning organization policy makes little sense in isolation
- Ethical Investment Policy.
- Whistleblowing.
- Child/vulnerable adult protection (if working in these areas).
- Umbrella bodies for relevant sectors should be able to provide advice.
External
- Sponsorship or Fundraising Policy.
- Partnership working.
- Campaigning Policy. Methods, issues, co-operation?
- Media Handling – who is authorized to say what, how to handle probing questions. Think about before a sensitive issue hits!
- Online Communications Strategy
- Supplier selection (fairness or reasons for preferences such as environmental or social, value for money, reference to Finance Procedures).
Finance
- Insurances (possibly for events, volunteers, trustees etc. as well legal requirements).
- Reserves Policy (required under Charity SORP).
- Other accounting policies often part of audit process (eg valuation of assets).
- Financial Policies and Procedures.
Governance
- AGM procedures.
- Committee Procedures (standing orders). What to do in the absence of the chair, voting, declarations of interest, expenses.
- Management Committee/Board (and sub-committee) Terms of Reference. Could be part of standing orders. Constitution may give the legal framework, but not usually easy to refer to. Can help to clarify where policy is made, where responsibility for key areas lies (with sub-committee, main committee, chair, senior staff, outside consultant etc). If a registered charity or company, make sure that ‘lines of responsibility’ back to the Board are clear.
- Job descriptions for officers – chair, treasurer, secretary and any others.
- Conflicts of Interest.
If anyone reading this knows of something missing or have additional resources, please share!!
I’d appreciate the consideration!
Leads Leap
