It is important to address a perception among many individuals, and a reality of some, that they cannot afford to hire a lawyer. I see this most often in divorce cases, but this can arise in many different areas of law. In today’s economy everyone is feeling the pinch of tightening budgets. And when you are faced with legal issues finding representation can become nearly impossible if you have little money even though many lawyers have been significantly reducing their traditional fees. Now there is another option: Unbundled legal services.
Unbundled legal services have actually always been allowed under the law and legal ethical rules that govern lawyers in Missouri, but most lawyers don’t offer this option to their clients. But due to increasing popularity in this type of service lawyers are beginning to rethink the options they provide.
Unbundled legal services is limited scope representation. To illustrate, imagine you are going through a divorce. You don’t know what to do but you cannot afford $1500 to retain a lawyer. You can enter into a limited scope representation agreement with a lawyer who will be hired to complete only a particular task, say to draft the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, and you may only end up paying a few hundred dollars. Or if you don’t have that much money, you can do even more of the work and draft the petition yourself using free court forms and just hire a lawyer to analyze what you have drafted to make sure it conforms with the law and to local court rules. The more work you can do on your own the more money you save. The lawyer will only provide services when you need help that way you are in control of how much you spend.
The Missouri Supreme Court issued Rule 4-1.2(c) to provide ethical guidelines which lawyers must follow when taking on this type of representation. The rule states that the client must give “informed consent in a writing signed by the client”. And to assure that both parties understand the specifics about the agreement for limited services, the writing should also spell out what the attorney will do and what the attorney will not do. The lawyer undertaking representation should also explain to the client the risks and benefits of limited representation during consultation on limiting the scope of representation.
If you are in need of a lawyer but cannot afford representation, a lawyer who offers unbundled services will take on a limited scope representation for a much lower fee. This is possible because the lawyer won’t be handling your whole case, only the portion of the case you need help with. So really, it’s a win-win situation. You get the help you need and pay a much lower cost. My firm offers these services so feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss this option.
For more information, please contact an attorney directly at (314) 894-7900 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (314) 894-7900 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
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