UNBUNDLED LEGAL

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You may decide you do not need or want an attorney to represent you in every single aspect of your legal matter.

We can offer “Unbundled Legal Services,” meaning you can choose to have us handle only one part or several limited parts of your case.

Advantages of Unbundling

Increasing access to professional legal assistance

A study by the American Bar Association concluded that "fewer than three in ten of the legal problems of low-income households are brought to the justice system and only four in ten for moderate income households. Unbundling increases access to professional legal assistance for lower- and middle-income consumers.

You may not be able to retain an attorney for full-service representation, because retainer fees can often cost thousands. However, you can likely afford to have an attorney (or paralegal) help you with individual tasks, which may be even able to completely resolve your minor legal issues.

This can include: preparing paperwork, representing you at a court hearing, negotiating on your behalf, making phone calls, writing letters, or even simply sitting with you to answer your questions and provide you with guidance and legal advice.

We complete only those tasks you choose, and you pay only for those services

Cost Control

“Unbundled Legal Services” are offered to lower costs for the client by reducing the amount of time an attorney or law firm spend - and bills- on their case.

As a full-service client, your attorney or legal team will regularly complete work on your case as may be required of them by statute, or by their law firm policies. Work will be done on your file whether or not you ask them to complete any tasks at all. You will then be billed for all of the work that is done. Most often, you are billed a regular hourly rate; this can cost hundreds of dollars per hour for an attorney. (Paralegal hourly rates vary greatly- they can range from less than $50 to over $175 per hour.) In this type of arrangement, it is very difficult to estimate what your total attorney’s fees are going to be, simply due to the nature of the legal system.

Conversely, when you “unbundle,” you decide precisely what work you want the law firm to do for you, we specifically complete only that work, and that is all that you pay for.

Since you are choosing individual tasks rather than asking us to handle all aspects of your case as needed, we can give you solid cost quotes up-front, and offer flat-fee pricing for almost any unbundled service we offer. This way, you will always know how much your legal fees are going to be, and you will never receive a surprise bill.

More Control Over your Case

All types of clients find unbundling attractive because it gives them more control over the process and strategy decisions. Often times, under a full-service representation arrangement, you may feel that you are not in charge of your case, because your legal team will be creating and implementing most or all of the legal strategies. This might be desirable for some, because they want to have the professionals that they hired do all of the work. However, other people might wish to make all of the strategic decisions themselves, and dictate what steps to take.

Under an “unbundled services” arrangement, you can create your own legal plan and then have our firm help you with the more legally technical aspects through consultations, paperwork preparation, hearing representation, etc., at your own discretion.

Unbundling Services We Offer

Legal Document Preparation

(All paralegal services are provided under attorney supervision.)

If you feel that you can go to court and speak to the judge and the opposing party on your own, you might choose to just have our paralegals prepare your paperwork for you. We will discuss with you what requests you would like to make of the court, prepare and file the required forms for you.

Our experienced paralegal staff can prepare a variety of legal documents for you at very affordable flat rates, including: Requests for Order, Domestic Violence Restraining Orders, Complaints, Answers, Petitions, Responses, Declarations of Disclosure, motions, declarations, briefs, points and authorities, discovery requests, discovery responses, subpoenas, orders, stipulations, judgments, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDRO), Wage Garnishments (Order to Withhold Income), Power of Attorney, Quitclaim Deed, Lis Pendens, and more.

Limited Scope Appearance Attorney

You may be able to prepare all of the paperwork on your own, but want a lawyer to accompany you to court to make arguments and speak on your behalf. In that case, you can hire an attorney to make a “Limited Scope Appearance.”

The attorney will meet with you to discuss the arguments and points you want to make clear in court, review your paperwork and establish your desired outcome. Then he will attend your court hearing with you on a one-time basis.

If you would like the attorney to go with you again to your next hearing (if another one is scheduled), then you hire him again when your next hearing is scheduled.

Consultation & Advice

In some cases, you might just want an attorney to give you information and advice on how to handle your legal issues yourself. Our attorney can offer you valuable guidance to assist you in taking care of your smaller legal matters without the need for retaining full legal representation.

You may want an attorney to simply help you to negotiate on your behalf. We can help you with this by attending a settlement meeting, making a phone call, or writing a letter on for you.

Having a knowledgeable attorney from our office negotiate on your behalf can put you in a better position, because they have are readily familiar with the applicable laws and have also developed skilled advocacy and negotiation tactics. Often, you can resolve smaller legal matters through properly-conducted negotiations, so that costly litigation is avoided entirely.

If you think Unbundled Legal Services might be right for you, please call us today at (909) 913-0065 or e-mail us at info@metalawgroup.com, to schedule a free consultation.