Legal Advice Services
Legal advice is simply the providing of a formal opinion about the substance or procedure of the law by an officer of the court (an attorney) in exchange for some form of compensation.
There are also sources of free legal advice by way of attorneys who do some percentage of pro bono (free) work, as well as from groups such as the Legal Aid Society who serve the poor and indigent. Legal advice can be differentiated from legal information that is little more than the reiteration of legal fact. Legal information in its simplest form can be found on signs, parking meters, parking tickets, websites, as well as in how-to manuals and other printed materials. When advice is provided about how to respond legally to legal information that constitutes legal advice.
There are many important reasons to seek legal advice
There are hundreds, if not thousands of reasons to seek legal advice and a nearly unlimited number of attorneys who can provide it. We live in an increasingly complex society that generates new laws and modifies existing laws very frequently. Sometimes, they are difficult to understand even for attorneys and legal interpretations of laws are heavily debated in the courts. The average citizen, therefore, is well advised to seek out and secure the services of a good lawyer to protect him or herself from making mistakes that can be costly or even criminal.
Many attorneys ‘specialize’ in specific areas of the law
The law today is so complex that many lawyers limit their professional services to specific areas. There are bankruptcy lawyers, tax lawyers, criminal lawyers, real estate lawyers, family law specialists, intellectual property lawyers, accident & injury lawyers and many, many more. It is an excellent idea to select an attorney whose specialty matches your legal need in order to gain their expertise in your behalf. This is especially true in all areas of criminal law where inadequate representation can cost you your freedom.
Naturally, the fees charged by specialist attorneys vary with their prominence. With the highest-end attorneys, fees for legal advice can be $200-$350/hour and this includes research time, letter writing and telephone calls as well as work performed on your case by the attorney’s legal secretary and paralegals, although staff services are not normally billed at as high an hourly rate as the attorney himself commands.
Suppose you can’t afford a top-notch attorney?
This is one of the biggest problems with our legal system today. The average citizen simply can’t afford the costs of a ‘dream team’ of high-priced attorneys. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t mount a winning case without one. Good legal advice can still be obtained at a reasonable cost provided that you don’t have to go through a lengthy trial. For simpler, non-criminal legal needs, there are many attorneys and attorney’s groups both online and off that can help you. Online legal services also offer some free legal advice and a long list of low-cost legal forms that you can utilize to facilitate simple legal matters.
