There comes a time in all of our lives when we’ll need some legal advice for something. It might be in reference to purchasing a new home or settling a tax bill or starting a new business, or even making a will. The thing is, because most attorneys charge by the quarter hour (and it can be some pretty hefty rates, at that), it can often be difficult to find the kind of legal advice that your budget can afford.
This is your lucky day. Below, we have provided you a list of five ways to find low cost legal advice so that you can resolve your situation without spending a lot of your money in the process.
Get some referrals. If you know someone who knows a lawyer who would be willing to speak with you, that’s great. If not, the American Bar Association is a network that has a list of attorneys all over the country who specialize in different law practices. By reaching out to them, they might be able to point you in the direction of someone who can assist you within your price range. You can contact them at AmericanBar.org.
Call your local courthouse or county clerk. Something else that you might want to consider is calling your local courthouse or county clerk. Both of them usually have a list of attorneys within your area who are willing to provide assistance at a fraction of what lawyers traditionally charge. You can read more here about how a professional lawyer can help you provide legal assistance with your case.
Contact the Legal Aid Society. Those who come from a low-income family often reach out to the Legal Aid Society. They are a non-profit organization that offers free legal help to those in need, especially as it relates to issues with immigration or family law. They have many offices across the country, so to find the one in your area, go to your favorite search engine and put “Legal Aid Society” along with your city and state in the search field.
Speak with a law school graduate. If you’ve experienced an injury, you’ll want to speak with someone at a firm like the Clark Law Office. If you have some kind of criminal charges pending, then you definitely need an experienced criminal defense attorney. But, if you need something like a contract reviewed, a law school graduate can probably help you out. They have the basic knowledge needed to answer many questions surrounding minor legal issues and many of them are so eager to get started in the field that they’ll either do it free of charge or for next to nothing. (As a matter of fact, they technically aren’t supposed to charge anything until they pass the bar.)
Consider a paralegal. People who have already hired an attorney will sometimes request that a lot of the tasks related to their case be assigned to a paralegal within the firm in order to keep costs down. Based on the case that you have, your lawyer will be more than happy to honor that request and being that paralegals usually work very closely with attorneys, you’ll get the best of both worlds: good advice that is definitely within your budget.
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