No, True, that's the other bar association.
Unfortunately they are one and the same. They really do meet in a tavern.
Truean, what can a person do to get legal services if they can't /afford/ a lawyer, though?
Not to say that's usually the case, of course, many people are just skinflints, but its certainly not uncommon to be essentially bankrupted by elgal proceedings...
Well I know there are public defenders for when you've been accused of a crime, but I'm more talking about situations where you've just spent the last four years and all your cash creating a product and some company comes along and yanks it out from under your feet, sells it themselves, and then sues you when you complain about it.
Not actually sure how common that is, but I know at least a couple companies, for example, that ended up winning their cases but losing the battle because it bankrupted them.
Comes down to one question, did you patent the product?
Actually, it's more complex than just patenting it, but meh.
My grief was more, "they didn't want to pay me jack...." Like literally zero, zip, zilch, nada. Also, Ohio has 88 counties and many of them do not even have a Public Defender's Office. Even then, you often "make too much," to qualify for the public defender or court appointed counsel where the state pays for it, yet you are broke. This means you're screwed/have to find one yourself.... Even then, the public appointment counsel gets like $225 for a misd. or $500 for a felony MAX before expenses. Good luck.
As for affordable legal services, I've started a few threads on them long ago. In simple sum, a few people/businesses pay a lawyer a relatively small flat retainer fee and magically they have representation and the lawyer has cases and doesn't starve for work. I'd work for a business on retainer for less than they pay a minimum wage employee actually.
For a business:
$7.85 x 2080 = $16,328 <--- what someone makes on minimum wage (roughly, without payroll tax etc)
I'd happily work retainer for a business charging them about $8,000/year to do any and all legal work they have and throw in some excellent record keeping and business counseling. It'd be like the business having its own general corporate counsel without having to pay six figures for it, cause the business is relatively small. I get a few accounts like that and suddenly I have a practice.
Given that $8,000/year is less than half what you pay a minimum wage employee, I find it hard to believe that a lawyer's guarantee to represent you come whatever may isn't worth that for a business.
For an individual, I'd do it for about $600/year, which is $50/month, less than the cable bill.... This also covers that kid of yours who according to ABC has a 1 in 3 chance of being arrested at least once before he's 18. The only problem here is if you get divorced from your wife, cause then I can't represent both of you or either really (conflict of interest).
Your point is well taken though, the current model of legal services is unsustainable. Given how much it costs to BECOME and BE a lawyer, it can't be free, but a minimum of $200/hour can't work forever.
Usually you can strike a deal with the prosecutor depending on the crime and leniency of your lifeworth. My buddy gotten away with alot more shit by just admitting hes guilty.
Eh, careful about this. The prosecutor works for the state and his
job career is to convict you. I've seen a lot of people come by my office after they made a pro se plea deal like this begging me to void the damn thing when it was too late....
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Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9703844 times)