One of the major issues that people have with attorney consultations is the fact that they are expensive. People avoid consultation with attorneys because they want to avoid paying for a service that may or may not lead to their problem being solved. Consultation with attorneys is seen as a method of getting advice, and advice is seen as something that should be free. This leads to a perception that paying for consultation with attorneys is a bad thing, and free legal advice should be more widely available.
However, paying for a consultation with attorneys is actually a good thing. There are many reasons for this, but the primary reason is that an attorney with a financial incentive would be more motivated to give sound advice than an attorney working for free, or pro bono, as they would be burdened with cases and would have a packed schedule.
Paid consultation with attorneys results in sound advice
- Paid consultation with attorneys would motivate the attorney to work harder as there is a financial incentive in it for them. Without this, the client would have to depend on their morality for them to focus properly on the case,
- Free consultation with attorneys is very rare, and as a result, attorneys that offer this service are often overburdened with cases. Their schedules would be very packed, making it hard for them to devote the necessary time to each individual case.
Paid consultation with attorneys is subject to oversight and allows for redressal
- Paid consultation with attorneys ensures that the service you are receiving is authentic and subject to legal oversight. Once you pay for consultation with attorneys, you can hold them accountable for deficiency of service if they fail to perform their duties properly.
- Free consultation with attorneys may close off this avenue. Moreover, many free legal consultations are sales gimmicks to attract new customers. A paid consultation with attorneys is a sign of an authentic consultation, aimed at providing solutions for your issues.
Paid consultation is necessary for attorneys to keep their business afloat
- At the end of the day, attorneys are also running a business to earn a livelihood. Getting paid for consultations is necessary to keep their business running. Most legal disputes end before they reach the courtroom, and consultations and negotiations are essential to reaching mutually beneficial outcomes.
- If attorneys operated by offering free consultations, they would have to drastically increase their prices for other services. This may seem beneficial at first, but it would quickly result in the burden on clients increasing manifold.
Paid consultation with attorneys promotes equal opportunity for clients and attorneys
- An attorney who has had a consultation with one party in a case cannot also offer advice to the opposing party. Take, for instance, a divorce case. If one party avails free consultations with all the top divorce lawyers in the area, the other party would be unable to approach them to represent them regardless of how strong their case is.
- This would result in unequal access to legal aid for one party, and render the legal system ineffective.
- On the other hand, only those attorneys who do not require additional sources of income can afford to provide free consultations. Independent attorneys, or firms offering services at lower prices in an effort to help people, would not be able to continue operating as people would flock to larger firms with free consultations.
- This would consolidate the clientbase in the hands of the larger firm and severely harm independent lawyers and small firms.
Paid consultation with attorneys reduces costs in the long run
- As attorneys offering paid consultations are more motivated, and have access to more resources due to the payment, they may be able to offer solutions that would not be suggested during a free consultation. These solutions could lead to savings during later stages in the consequent legal proceedings.
- An attorney giving a free consultation may not have the time or resources to look into all possible ways to proceed, which might result in a cheaper, yet more effective, avenue being ignored in favour of a more obvious way to proceed.
- In this way, paid consultation with attorneys might actually turn out to be cheaper than a free consultation.
Paid consultation with attorneys ensures that the attorney’s time is not wasted
- ree consultations can be abused very easily to overburden lawyers. Unnecessarily arranging a free consultation with attorneys that are engaged in a complicated legal battle can harm their side of the case, and this strategy can be misused by people to tilt the case in their favour.
- A paid consultation with attorneys ensures that the client is bona fide and is actually in need of legal advice, and is not just arranging a consultation to overburden the lawyer.
- Paid consultations discourage flippant consultations, or “lawyer shopping”, where people consult many lawyers in quick succession to decide upon a lawyer before actually discussing their issues with them.
- If the attorney’s time is used wisely, then all of the attorney’s clients benefit. Therefore, ensuring that the attorney’s time is not wasted is also in the best interest of the clients.
Conclusion
Consultation with attorneys are often expensive, but this is necessary to ensure the best possible experience for both the attorney, and the client. Basic legal advice is available all over the internet, but the only way to ensure that it is authentic, verified and suited for a particular situation is to have a consultation with an attorney who has the time and resources to look into your issues.
ezyLegal can help you arrange a consultation with attorneys, and our service also ensures that the attorney you are consulting is a verified professional with a background in the relevant area of law. These consultations are paid to make sure that the services that are being provided to you are the best that they can be. The attorney consultations that are arranged through ezyLegal will definitely give you more clarity on your issues, and our team of professional lawyers will do their best to guide you through the issues that you are facing.