I've been reading with great interest a controversial series of diaries on "do it yourself lawyering." I won't link, because I happen to agree that the advice being given is suspect at best and potentially highly dangerous at worst. In the words of the old joke, "He who represents himself in court has an idiot for a lawyer and a fool for a client."
Reading the comments, though, has raised a number of questions in my mind about the legal process and how to best navigate it when one has need to do so. Chief among those questions: How do you know when you need a lawyer? And when you do, how in the world do you find a good one?
This seems similar to the practice of medicine. There are everyday things I can do to help protect my own health and some things I can do to care for minor illnesses. However, there are a number of instances where I will need a doctor because I don't know enough and might make it worse by failing to treat the illness or injury properly.
Similarly, most of the time I can do small things to protect my own legal "health," like reading contracts carefully or being aware of certain laws and not setting out to deliberately defy them, even in small ways. I'd be very interested in learning about resources analagous to home care for minor illnesses -- something that would let me know with confidence that a certain matter isn't necessarily one that requires a lawyer and here's what to do if you choose not to hire one. (I don't even know enough to offer an example of such an incident, though.)
There have been a few times when I knew I needed to take legal advice.
Establishing a corporation for my small business. My accountant suggested that this could potentially save a good bit on taxes. Just as he knows the tax law so well that he can spot when I haven't taken a deduction I'm entitled to take, an attorney with the proper training can make short work of papers that would take me agonizing hours to figure out. I'd rather spend the time doing billable work for my clients. (Medical analogy: Do I have a really bad cold, or has it progressed into bronchitis or walking pneumonia? Do I need antibiotics, or can I just take an expectorant to get rid of the cough and wait for it to go away?)
Filing an application for a trademark. I did this once by myself, because it seemed pretty straightforward. Ha! I ended up having the application rejected because I had no idea what they wanted in terms of proof that I had been using the mark back to 1992. $325 filing fee and six months of backing-and-forthing wasted.
A serious family disagreement over my father's living will and medical power of attorney when he was in a coma and it looked like a Terri Schiavo situtation was looming. Did the documents give me the right to decide to continue life-supporting treatment until the coma resolved and we knew whether we were looking at persistent vegetative state, or did they give a sibling the right to insist on removal of that life support right now? (We had two attorneys involved in that one -- mine and hers. Both agreed that the decision was mine.)
So. There are times when clearly one needs an attorney, and times when the need isn't so clear. One commenter in the controversial diary suggested quite reasonably that the time to find an attorney is before you need one -- establish a relationship, find someone you can trust and can work with to handle most everyday matters, the way you'd find a family practice physician to take care of routine health care.
How do you find that person? I myself don't know any such attorneys and don't know anyone who has an attorney like this. I am acquainted with one pretty high-powered criminal attorney who works in one very specialized niche of criminal cases. Do I ask him for a reference? Do I call up the attorney who handled the medical matter for me six years ago and ask for a referral? (I'm assuming that those guys who advertise on TV that they can get any complaint dismissed are probably not the ones I want to deal with.) Once I find a name or two, how do I proceed? "Hi, there, I'm Kate and I just need an appointment for a routine physical? Er, legal?" How much would one expect to pay for such a thing?
Second question, equally important: My family has a number of members with chronic health problems. I can read about these diseases, read about diagnostic tests and treatments, and go into a medical appointment fairly well informed about what this test means and what the doctor is suggesting. I don't substitute my judgment for hers, let me say quickly -- it's just so I will understand what's going on if she says "Well, this test shows that the creatinine levels are a little high and I think we need to take a closer look at your kidney functioning." What are some similar resources for the law? How can I read enough to know what an attorney is saying to me, to understand and be a partner in handling legal matters efficiently instead of angrily assuming (because I don't understand) that the attorney is out to take me for every dollar he can wring out?
So there are some questions that this series of diaries has sparked in my mind. Thoughts or comments? Particularly welcome would be discussion from the attorneys among us.