Society faces a major dilemma today in the legal field. This dilemma is particularly evidence when it comes to family law matters, e.g., divorce, custody, support and restraining order cases. The basic dilemma can be outlined as follows: 1) the law is becoming increasingly complex, 2) this increases the average person’s need for an attorney, 3) attorney fees are increasingly high, and 4) unemployment is historically high while income is historically low.
Above is the dilemma, and unbundled legal services are at least part of the solution. In many courts across the country judges are pleading for lawyers to offer unbundled legal services. Unbundled legal Trademark Registration services can be understood quite literally. The lawyer simply offers legal services separately instead of as a bundle.
Under the traditional arrangement, the client hires the attorney to do everything related to the case. The lawyer will counsel the client, negotiate with opposing party or counsel, draft all the documents and pleadings, and make all of the court appearances. All of this is part of the standard bundle. This bundle is very expensive. At $250 or more per hour, all of these services combined can easily reach into thousands and thousands of dollars even for the simplest of cases.
In the unbundled arrangement, the client and attorney reach a different more flexible agreement. Depending on what the client can afford, the attorney and client will determine what part of that bundle will be handled by the client and what part by the attorney. It may be the case that a client can only afford to pay for the attorney’s time to draft the pleadings.
This is still very helpful to the client and to the courts because the forms and papers that need to be filed in family law cases can be complicated, especially for the uninitiated member of the general public. The client saves gobs of money by counseling himself and appearing in court on his own, but he has the benefit of presenting professionally prepared and quality documents. While judges may not like to admit it, when they see documents drafted by non-attorneys they often cringe. Judges read mountains of papers and are more likely to grant the requests of those whose papers are not a pain to read and understand.
These agreements can take on many forms. If lawyers will increasingly offer these types of arrangements, the courts will run smoother, and justice will prevail as legal services become accessible to people with lower income brackets.
The author of this article is a divorce attorney and certified Domestic Violence Counselor in Fremont, California. His office offers unbundled legal services in family law cases which enables them to reach out and help those with lower incomes. Professional legal services should not be beyond the reach of the average individual.
