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Do You Need A Lawyer

Just about any lawyer can tell you a half a dozen horror stories about people who tried to represent themselves in important court matters and ended up getting hung out to dry. In my humble opinion, anyone who tries to represent them self in court in order to save money has a fool for a client. If your doctor told you that you had a brain tumor, would you run down to the local medical supply store and by a scalpel and a mirror?

It is true that there is no absolute law to have any attorney in court. I would venture to say that in the large majority of traffic and domestic violence cases I have seen, most people come to court without an attorney. Sometimes they don't seem to hurt themselves, but other times they cause themselves major headaches.

As a general rule, anyone who is involved in an important legal dispute should hire an attorney if they can afford one. Does an attorney really make a difference? You bet. Lawyers learn important concepts and legal rules when they go to law school. Their education and later experience in court over the years gives them a tremendous advantage over someone who has not had this experience.

You can initially just buy an hour or two of an attorney's time to consult with. Some attorneys give an initial free consultation (I do in family law cases). If after your consultation you want the attorney to represent you, you then "retain" (hire) the attorney.

I would advise anyone involved in the following legal matters to consult or retain a lawyer: divorce, paternity (parentage cases), adoption, any lawsuit where they are named as a plaintiff or defendant, any case in which they are arrested or charged with a crime, any serious personal injury, any important financial or tax matter, preparation of a will or trust, any proceeding in a court or before a government agency, and excessive debts or bankruptcy.

If you are involved in one of these situations, how can you make sure that you get a good attorney? Skilled attorneys are not always available when you need them. Those attorneys who are always available when you need them are not necessarily the best, and the best attorney in any given situation is not necessarily the cheapest. If you had to find a doctor to remove a lung tumor, you wouldn't start calling all of the surgeons in the Yellow Pages to find the cheapest one.

The best way to find a good attorney is to follow the recommendation of friends, family or co-workers, or to call a lawyer you have used in the past.

One way to find a good attorney is to go to the reference section of the library and look at the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. Martindale-Hubbell is an independent company which has a system for listing attorneys in each city by area of practice, and then rating them. Martindale-Hubbell provides questionnaires to judges and reputable attorneys, and then asks them to rate other attorneys in town. The highest rating an attorney can get is "A" (for competence) - "V" (for very high ethics). The lowest rating for competence is a "C". Any attorney whose competence is rated below a "C" or who fails to get a "V" for ethics, is not listed in Martindale-Hubbell. If an attorney is embarrassed by a "B" or "C", they can ask that the rating not be listed.

The various county bar associations have their own lists of attorneys by specialty and will refer you to an attorney on this list at no charge. There is, however, a small fee usually charged at the time of your initial consultation with the lawyer. This fee is collected by the lawyer and then paid to the bar association to help fund the referral system. Here are some phone numbers: King County (206) 623-2551, Pierce County (253) 383-3432.

It is very rare that an attorney who has no valid license to practice actually attempts to do so. However, if you wish to check on the status of any attorney's license, you can call the Washington State Bar Association at (206) 727-8200.

In certain situations, you may be able to get a free attorney to represent you. There are agencies called Legal Aid Services which provide free or low cost legal assistance to people with low income and no assets. They do not provide free legal services in all situations, even for those who are genuinely poor. For example, they do not represent people in criminal cases or personal injury cases where the client should be able to obtain an attorney on a contingency fee basis.

Minors and citizens with low incomes can be represented in criminal cases by a public defender. In such a case, the judge will appoint a public defender (or sometimes a private attorney at state expense) to represent the defendant free of charge.

People who are seriously injured, for example, in a car wreck, can consult a personal injury attorney and usually will be represented on a contingency fee basis. In those cases, the lawyer will be paid out of the proceeds recovered on behalf of the client; there is no attorney fee paid if there is no monetary recovery. Very often, the contingency fee will be 25% or more of the amount of settlement or judgment.

There are a few groups of private lawyers who agree to represent clients on a low or no-cost basis in specified types of cases. One such group is the Northwest Women's Law Center, which represents women in a number of subject areas.

The Washington State Bar Association also has a "pro bono" program for people who don't have enough money to hire an attorney, but have too much income or assets (like a house) to qualify for free legal services. Lawyers in the pro bono program are from all types of law firms, including some of the best and most highly paid. These law firms donate a certain amount of attorney time to the Bar Association each year for the pro bono program. More information can be obtained by calling the Washington State Bar Association at (206) 727-8200.

Do you need a lawyer? Follow the above advice. A court of law is no place to do it yourself. When it comes to lawsuits, "a penny saved is a dollar burned."