How to Make Law More Accessible
One of the most pressing challenges facing the legal profession is how to make the law more accessible.
For some people, the idea of ever hiring a lawyer is unthinkable--the cost of legal fees is just out of the question.
For a middle-class person, who might be able to afford a lawyer on a limited basis, buying advice for most everyday legal disputes--from a noisy neighbor to an intrusive landlord--is simply not cost-effective. It is not worth paying an attorney $500 to help understand and perhaps settle a dispute worth only $275.
Even those who can afford a lawyer often don’t understand how lawyers can help them solve their problems, and they realize they need legal counsel only when it is too late or they are being sued.
There are some obvious times when an attorney’s advice is both cost-effective and necessary. If you’ve been injured in an automobile accident or wrongfully fired from your job, you should find a lawyer to represent you on a contingency basis--paying the attorney only a percentage fee based on what you win in court or receive in a financial settlement.
If you’ve been sued, you’ll probably need to retain a lawyer to protect your assets, but you will not be happy when you find out how expensive litigation can be.
Before you hire a lawyer, you should talk to your insurance agent. A homeowner’s insurance policy will cover legal expenses if the suit arises from an accident in your home or yard, and automobile insurance serves the same purpose in a car accident.
If you need a will or a trust prepared, you may find a lawyer worthwhile. And lawyers are often effective in serious business disputes, such as obtaining a temporary restraining order against a competitor who hired away an employee with a valuable client list.
But if you just need basic legal information, a review of a simple contract, or help in negotiating or understanding a basic business lease, where can you go for help? Here are some suggestions.
* Contact the State Bar of California, which publishes a series of free information pamphlets about various consumer issues. From questions about landlord-tenant complications to what you should know about buying a home, these booklets offer understandable tips and summaries of black-letter law. (“Black-letter law” is a legal phrase that refers to basic legal rules and procedures.) For a list of topics or a particular pamphlet, write to: State Bar Pamphlets, 144 Townsend St., San Francisco 94107.
* Call Tel-Law. This free legal information telephone service, operated by the San Bernardino-Riverside Bar Assn., plays tape recordings of consumer information about basic legal problems; the number is (714) 824-2300. (Some other local bar associations offer different versions of the service.) Long-distance charges apply, but the service is free. (At the moment, the San Bernardino Tel-Law system, which is being updated and expanded, provides only limited service; however, it should be fully operational in about a month.)
* Check with the local bar association referral service. Obviously, their primary job is to direct you to a lawyer, but if your problem won’t fit a lawyer’s skills, or a lawyer won’t fit your pocketbook, they will refer you to government agencies, consumer groups and other services that can help. The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. Referral Service can be reached at (213) 622-6700.
* Use an independent paralegal. Storefront paralegals offer their services in helping to fill out basic legal forms.
* Sign up for a prepaid legal service plan. These programs offer limited legal counsel for a monthly fee. Telephone calls to a lawyer, letter writing and other basic legal services are often included. The National Resource Center for Consumers of Legal Services at (202) 842-3503 is a good source of information about these plans.
* Go to the law library. There are lots of basic legal texts in the library that may help you understand your legal problem, especially if you can find a friendly librarian to help you through the thicket of unfamiliar volumes and citations.
* Try a self-help legal book. These vary in quality from incomprehensible diatribes against the legal establishment, written and published by frustrated individuals, to in-depth and up-to-date understandable texts published by recognized leaders in the self-help movement, such as Nolo Press in Berkeley.
* If nothing else has worked, find a lawyer for a family member to marry. Then you can talk about your legal problems at holiday parties. But try to stay away from specialists in arcane areas such as patent law or antitrust. Those lawyers may not know more than you do about consumer law issues.
