Comments on: 8 Frugal Tips for Legal Matters

By: Fethiye

Fethiye — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:17:48 +0000

This was really helpful! Keep posting funding opportunities if you can! Many Thanks!

By: Retirement Plan Tampa

Retirement Plan Tampa — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:58:16 +0000

All the tips useful for legal matters but for me i most consider is 2 and 4 no tips rally common people required tips related to legal matters.

By: property solicitors

property solicitors — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:19:24 +0000

Nice post I like it so much.

By: Deals

Deals — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:19:22 +0000

Great post.thanks for useful tips.

By: Mobile Broadband

Mobile Broadband — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:31:20 +0000

Really very nice post and very informative as well.

By: Rahul Jadhav

Rahul Jadhav — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:33:10 +0000

Its a good post. Will surely use the tips in case of some Legal problem

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Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:05:06 +0000

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By: Have Coffee Will Write » Blog Archive » MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:32:00 +0000

[...] the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 8 Frugal Tips for Legal Matters. Posted in [...]

By: Minnesota Attorney

Minnesota Attorney — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:52:07 +0000

As an attorney, I think this is great advice. People need to know how to save money on legal fees, so they only use an attorney when it is in their best interests. Besides, as an attorney, I don’t want to waste people’s money on legal fees unless I am providing them value. Thanks for the great tips!

By: Shanel Yang

Shanel Yang — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:16:11 +0000

All good tips! I’d like to add a few that might help based on my own 10 years of litigation experience in Los Angeles.

1. Make friends with a lawyer. Believe it or not, we lawyers love to give advice, even for free! And, many do. For example, many do volunteer legal work, bounce ideas off one another and other professionals all the time without billing for it. Not only does it build networks and goodwill, but it’s also fun and a welcome break from the usual drudge work of the day. As long as you don’t abuse it by, say, only calling your lawyer friend when you have a legal issue to ask for some free advice, most lawyers would be glad for the chance to help out their friends in this way. Of course, this kind of assist is a two-way street; so, be willing to return the favor if they need it and you can.

2. Interview your lawyer. If you do think you need a lawyer, you can save a lot of time and money in the long run by making sure you pick a good one. That’s not necessarily the most expensive or most experienced one. In my article “Broken Promises or Breaches of Contracts,” I list 20 questions that you should ask when you are meeting your lawyer face to face for the first time to interview him/her. Don’t be intimidated into not asking all the questions you need to feel confident in your attorney. Although you can always fire your attorney, you still have to pay for all the services and expenses he/she already provided, and the new lawyer has to start over to learn the facts of your case, etc., essentially resulting in you getting billed twice for the same work — legally! So pick wisely the first time.

3. Help your lawyer help you. Provide as much information as you can up front and update with any additional information as soon as it becomes available to you. If your lawyer thinks it won’t hurt, conduct your investigation into further facts. Note: Never try to contact any parties or witnesses who have lawyers representing them in the case! In a few of my cases, my clients provided me with critical information that basically forced the other side to settle very cheaply but not until we were getting ready for trial. When I asked them why they didn’t bring these things to my attention before, they shrugged their shoulders and said they didn’t think it was important.

There’s so much more I could add, but this comment is long enough. Check out my blog for more free legal advice if you’re interested.

Thanks for the great post, Leo!