Legal Services

Hey do you know any law firm that offering low rates for its legal services? I want to sale my home and want to buy a new one and don't have enough money to pay the solicitor because of unemployment.

:lol

Why do you need an attorney? Real estate agents can handle all that.

Um, no they can't. As a real estate agent, I would never suggest that I represent the client in drawing up a contract, etc. No way, no how. My job is to market the property, negotiate price and terms, then put together a "meeting of the minds" which outlines the agreement. Then it's up to the seller's attorney to draw up a contract based upon those terms.

I think it varies by state. When we bought homes in NJ, we were required to be represented by our own lawyer at the closing. When we bought in AZ, the realtor handled the closing. No sweat either way.

Our family sold a house in CA, we just needed a relator at closing. Boy that south bay area market is really moving again.

Of course I've never purchased a mansion or an island or anything like that. However, the few homes I've purchased in my life, both here in CA and in MI have been thru a realtor. I've never been required to contact a lawyer. Then again I'm sure, as real estate goes, my purchases were pretty basic/straight-forward.



TIS

In reply to Nicky's post above, I agree. Homes here in SoCal are really moving again compared to even a year ago. I am so please that my property value is going in the upward direction.

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that this thread is a precursor to spam.

Ha ha ha...I didn't even pay attention to the opening post. Well, it's a real estate thread now. LOL

Btw, can I have a dollar AND a donut?



TIS

You get a quarter and a doughnut hole.

Sidebar:

How many people today would know that expression? Today in class I used "2 bit opinion". Surprisingly, one of my young students knew what it meant.

So Oli, in other words you're saying we are old????

One time when my kids were young (about 10/12 or so) I was watching the news and tho I don't even know what the story was, I said to my husband.."What a Mickey Mouse Outfit." Both my kids, who were playing in the other room heard and ran to the tv to see what this "mickey mouse outfit" looked like. I'll never forget it. Cracked me up.

Back to real estate....I have sound great swamp land in Florida if anyone is interested.


TIS

No. I'm sayin' ya'll are old!!

That's a real surprise, Oli.

A couple of years ago, a friend who's a professer at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University here asked me to give my lecture on the U2 spy plane crisis of 1960 to one of his undergraduate classes. I doubt that half the students knew who Eisenhower and Khrushchev were.

I once called an old girlfriend a two bit whore. She hit me with a bag of quarters.

That's what I was thinking.

I bet a lot of people don't realize that they themselves can bring some Attorney fees down on certain cases. For example in a bodily injury case if it is a serious injury which can result in a large settlement or jury verdict (And thus a big contingency fee) you can shop around to various Attorneys to take the case. They are mainly concerned with the size of the fee and won't want to lose out on it for a few percent. See if they will handle it for say 20% or 25% instead or the usual 33% or more especially a great deal of the work is done by their secretaries or paralegals anyway

Every law firm charge their own rates and also it depend on the state where you are living.Most of the solicitors offering online services try one of them because they charge you cheap rates for their services.

Just don't let the contingency fee be a primary guide to selecting counsel. The difference between the size of a settlement/award or whether there is any recovery at all is much greater than the differences among the contingency fees. Most attorneys have a sliding scale like 33% on anything up to $1 million, 20% for the next four million, etc.

In Florida all contingency fee contracts must also have a "Statement of Clients Rights" signed contemporaneously. This statement makes it clear that there are no set rates for contoingency fees, and they are negotiable. There is also a rule here that the contingency goes down on a siiding scale after the first million Personally I NEVER take full contingency fee cases. I always chard a flat retainer and a lower contingency fee on whatever fee exceeds the retainer.

Also people should know that hourly rates are going by the wayside. Anyone worth his salt knows what a case will cost. A good way to do this is to put in the contract that the case will be tried for a flat rate, and that the client may make reasonable requests for information. If the calls and e mails are excessive, on notification by the lawyer, the client has to pay $100 a call or e mail for repetritive or excessive hand holding. Also good to put in the flat fee is for the matter at hand only. If client brings up collateral issues there is an hourly charge. Many people hire lawyers to, say ,enforce a contract, and then once they paid the fee they thnk it is their right to call and ask about all kinds of things... their kid got busted for pot, they need to do a closing on a house, etc, and they dont get this is outside the scope of the representation.

Maybe in shit lawville Don. I work with transactional lawyers who handle real estate transactions, buy sells, purchase agreements, tax matters, estate issues who charge by the hour and the clients pay it. Dont confuse low level PI and dui's with the upper level practice of law. Not everyone does shit law buddy.
An email bro? You know what that is? Thats .1 billed.

Man you just succinctly and unintentionally defined "shitlaw" in two paragraphs. Hourly billing is not falling by the wayside for anyone but those seriously lacking in either skills, experience or demand. There isn't a reputable firm I know that doesnt do mostly hourly work. I guess there are and have always been exceptions for those doing garbage work like ch 7 deadbeat law, dui fuckups law or bad estate law.

One thing that I have noticed is that sometimes thee Attorneys who do the most advertising are the last ones I would want to be representing me. The really good lawyers don't need to advertise. They get lots of referrals. Just my opinion

True. Beware of regional periodicals, like Best Lawyers in _______, or Who's Who. The attorneys, selected to appear as the best in their fields, are only there because they've paid money. These periodicals suggest that they were selected by merit. But the truth is that they have to pay to be included. That's not to say that they aren't competent, but you have to beware of the selection process.,

Does that include that SuperLawyers publication ??

Not sure about SuperLawyers, but I think that is also something one can buy. I get calls every year from these various publications, Who's Who etc/. to get listed. Some of them even have different rates.. i.e. you can be one of the best lawyers in your metro area for one price, the State for another, the region for another and Nationally for another. Also you can pay for longer articles , prominent placement.. you name it. It is a total scam.

The good ones live on word of mouth and referrals from other lawyers, its that simple.

When I want to find a good lawyer, I check with the Devil. He keeps a list of those who have sold him their souls.

I didn't know you and Scalia were friends!

Paisani.

Yes.

If there were such a thing as devils, you can bet they'd run an effective lawyer referral service.

See. A perfect example of a lawyer trying to sow doubt and confusion.