How to Lower Your Legal Bills

Now that you’ve done your due diligence, and selected an attorney you think will do the best job representing you in a legal matter, you should concentrate on productively assisting in the litigation of your case, and keeping legal fees at a minimum. With lawyers charging hundreds of dollars an hour, legal fees can easily bankrupt you. Here is how to keep your attorney’s fees as low as possible, without sacrificing the quality of your legal representation.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Common sense
• Email
• File folders
• Ability to take notes
• Ability to do some online research

1. Speak candidly to your attorney, and formulate realistic goals and expectations as early as possible in the representation. You don’t want your attorney spending time discovering what you could have told him/her at the onset. Additionally, you don’t want the case to drag on, so be honest and forthcoming from the beginning about both the facts of your case, and your expectations.

2. Prepare well for all meetings and correspondence with your attorney. Every time you have a question, write it down on a notepad. Keep a concise list of all your questions, and before asking your attorney, especially if you have questions of a general legal nature, do a search on the internet. That’s right, just Google it, it’s free. Being as informed as possible can save you a lot of money. You don’t have to rival your attorney in legalese and knowledge of the law, but don’t allow yourself to be an ignoramus either.

3. Use email instead of the phone. Email is quicker than a phone conversation. Just keep in mind that you are probably not the only client your attorney has, that he or she may be receiving a ton of emails every day, and may not respond as quickly as you’d like. At any rate, keep your questions short and unambiguous. You don’t want to send a five page questionnaire, as you will be billed for each minute that it took your lawyer to formulate responses. Another reason email is so useful, is that it allows you to store your attorney’s answers or advice for future reference.

4. Schedule phone conferences with your attorney ahead of time, and write down all the questions you may have. Keep notes throughout the entire conversation so as to make sure you don’t ask the same questions over and over again. Always remember that your attorney will bill you for his/her time, so don’t waste it.

5. If applicable, establish a good rapport with your attorney’s paralegal. While a paralegal cannot give you legal advice, she can answer many procedural questions, and her billing rate is much lower than that of your attorney.

6. Be as organized as possible. Many documents will need to be reviewed during litigation. Compile as many as you can yourself, and keep them neatly organized either in folders or as PDFs on your computer. If acceptable, send soft copies of all the requested documents to your attorney’s paralegal or admin, (copy your attorney as well) via email. This will reduce both attorney and paralegal time spent working on your case.

7. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, respond to your attorney’s requests in a timely manner. Lawyers have deadlines they must meet and also need to be responsive to opposing counsel’s requests. You don’t want to pay extra for unnecessary appeals and motions. Respond to your attorney as quickly as possible, you don’t want to stall your own case; doing so can really damage your net worth. Good luck.

[amysmarts]

on 10/10/2009 Great article on how to lower your legal bills. This will help a lot of people. Thanks. 5*

[redar]

on 10/3/2009 Thank you for your 5* advise...