vendredi 24 mai 2013

Various Ways Of Getting Affordable Legal Assistance

By Vicki Diaz


Law is considered a very important profession. For one to be qualified as a lawyer, they must undergo intensive training and pass relevant exams. It is thus no surprise that their services are highly demanded. For the low-income earners, discussed below are some of the ways and places from where you can acquire affordable legal assistance.

The easiest form would be through the help of family members and relatives. If there is a lawyer in the family, you should seek their advice and ask if they would agree to represent you in court. Family members can easily offer their services at discounted rates. Close friends could also offer their advice for free. Due to the basis of the relationship between you and the lawyer, you are likely to get quality assistance and can even consult them in future about other matters relating to law.

The other way to acquire this help at low rates is through contacting legal aid agencies. These provide free services to people below a certain income level. It is therefore necessary for you to prove that you are below that income level before they can start representing you. These agencies also limit their services to cases related to issues that affect your daily life. These could be employment issues, domestic violence cases, evictions and immigration problems.

Law firms offer free help to charitable organisations, religious and non-profit entities. This is mostly as a result of the requirement by most bar Associations which provides that lawyers should offer pro bono services every year. These comprises of free legal services offered equal to a specified hours. One has to do some research for them to identify such lawyers.

Law schools provide another venue to help out low-income earners. They organize clinics for their students and during this period, the students can represent real clients in courts. This ensures that they get experience based on real cases and this helps them even in future when they become qualified lawyers. However, they can only do so under supervision of their lecturers or professional lawyers.

Some companies have prepaid plans that operate like insurance plans. They state the areas they cover and should you choose to purchase it, you make payments towards it. Such plans may provide advice through telephone conversations and office consultations that are brief. The main problem in this is that you may not be able to choose a lawyer personally.

Lawyer referral services have been started to help out anybody who may require the services of an attorney. These have listed contacts for both expensive and easily affordable lawyers. Some law firms are known to offer free first time consultation services. You can utilize such an opportunity to enquire further about your case or anything else touching on law.

There are other agencies set up to assist senior citizens who are sixty years and older. Non-profit programs have also been set up to help members in a community who cannot afford the legal fees. Affordable legal assistance can therefore be in any of the above mentioned forms forms.




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