Azthor is now, like, 10 years older.
I am only 26.
while not habituated to USA law as a whole, I am by no means a layman (International Law PhD/Firm Owner).
?
I'm going to hazard a guess that things are incredibly different in your country, because 26 with a "PHD in law" would not happen here. Also the level above a
J.D. is usually called an
LLM. Few American Attorneys bother to go and get it, as it is seen having little practical value if any. I am aware things may be very different in other countries but am completely unfamiliar with the idea of a "PHD in law." I have not heard the term used among attorneys here. In any event I am a practitioner who openly and notoriously regards legal academics as they currently exist in the US as a waste. They don't teach students how to practice law, which is why they go to law school here in the first place. I was considered incredibly young when I graduated law school with a J.D. at 24.
sometimes
Anyone who promises certainty and results in the law is lying, period. This is especially true when making broad generalizations without specific facts. Moreover, while a lawyer can do it sometimes, your average person can't do it at all.
40,000 US$ USD isn't by any means a lot, but it isn't all that little a sum either
That's about the average person's yearly salary before taxes. That's a $20/hour job, which is incredibly good in this economy and rare. There are many people who don't make even that much, or close to it. $40,000 is most definitely a lot of money to people, especially when they have to pay it and can't. After all, they couldn't even manage their mortgage and got foreclosed upon.
whereas low earners wouldn't as much as consider hiring an attorney and those at the top would opt for a prestigious one or an specialized firm, your supposed target public could be interested in the service, but is either unaware of it or cannot afford the risk of having to cover the provider's fees.
"Top earners," don't have to deal with foreclosures often. You're right about people not knowing about needing the service though, until its over and the debt collectors call, which is too late. Moreover the pricing considerations are more complex and include but are not limited to buying time to live in the house rent/mortgage free, possibly saving the house via a modification of the mortgage etc. As for fearing payment, nobody wants to pay for anything in this country and that's why its falling apart. I've seen people pay far more for car repairs, certainly an attorney is worth as much as a mechanic, especially when so much more is at stake.
If I am not intruding (and I may well be), how would you evaluate your current situation in terms of personal repute and affiliation?
The police and some banks affectionately call me a son of a bitch for ruining their cases. They call me far worse too. Some local lawyers often ask me for advice, but never credit me for it. Otherwise, I have no fame, no titles. Most of what I have written over the years, has my boss' name at the bottom, though it is still on my computer and I have argued it in court.... I have nothing but talent, focus, and wrath.
The other thing you may not realize is that "repute and affiliation," effectively mean without exaggeration hundreds of dollars an hour extra.... It is no exaggeration to say that they can be several hundred if not thousands more than I am charging. They cannot afford such things as fame. Moreover, no one sees that younger lawyer or clerk behind the older attorney who does all the work, the research, the writing, etc, while the boss just brings in clients. He doesn't know the client's answers, says he will call them back, asks me, I research it and report to him. Then he calls them back. 
I believe you've misunderstood me, while not habituated to USA law as a whole, I am by no means a layman (International Law PhD/Firm Owner). Do correct my if I am mistaken, but, under the assumption of which you are junior lawyer under a liberal attorney, rather than a clerk, what are your considerations towards the senior party's influence? Remember local reputation accounts for more than overall prestige in the scale in which you allegedly operate. Also, are you the sole junior lawyer under him, and therefore his clientele's likely "inheritor", or are there others occupying a similar position?
On a side note, regarding your early mentions, while there is indeed no such a thing as absolute certainty in our field, both the ability to showcase confidence and a record where the successes far outdo the failures are cornerstones of the trade. Furthermore, counterfeit to your apparent prejudice, there is a significant number of well earning individuals who have been forced to deal with foreclosure due to the crisis, primarily executives who lost their apparent financial security between corporate budget cuts and the rise of interest rates. Still, I reckon the use of the term "top earners" may have been misleading, those earning upwards of 300,000 US$ USD, usually liberal workers, indeed rarely have to contend with foreclosure.
My boss is an immensely conservative, ancient practitioner who simply is so old he doesn't care anymore and hasn't for years. It is likely he will die in his office sooner or later, refusing to leave it and especially refusing to leave his position. He doesn't do very much and hasn't for quite some time. I don't think he's bothered to go to court in a month, and before that he didn't for nearly a year. He also hasn't written or researched anything for quite some time. He signs his name on people's work though. He hires law students and new attorneys
who due to the unprecedented downturn of the US legal industry, have no other jobs. There are no "junior lawyers," here, or in many smaller firms. There's the boss. Then there's every lawyer he hires to actually do things. Then there are some small number of clerks and a secretary. As for who gets his firm when he dies, he will allow it to crumble after he dies as if to allow his ghost to say, "See, it really was me keeping it together. It fell apart without me. I was important." There is no "inheritor" of his firm or clients. He paid to put his son through law school but that guy never even bothered to register to take the bar exam. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "killing time." The boss has been trying to get rid of me for quite some time and has given me all the worst cases or as the secretary said, "putting you on suicide runs." Somehow I manage to win a respectable amount of them, or otherwise come to a relatively favorable result. I attribute this to my having no life and pretty much spending all my time in forgotten law libraries or courting clients.
As for local reputation, these people can't afford it. They are backed into a corner and have no other option. We can't officially say so, but we're the lowest cost option and they figure that out through shopping around. Other lawyers charge at least twice what we do and I've seen them literally charge several times what we do. Respectfully, what you are saying does not apply to those who are so downtrodden that the thought of paying $200 or $300 per hour is unthinkable and not affordable at all.
both the ability to showcase confidence and a record where the successes far outdo the failures are cornerstones of the trade.
You and I operate under very different rules and regulations. I cannot promise or imply a result based upon past performance because each case is different and doing so would very possibly result in "misleading" advertising ethical issues. Moreover the judges don't follow the law all the time, especially in family and juvenile courts and you have no effective recourse because 80% of cases are lost on appeal, being as they are "within the trial court's sound discretion." That is of course assuming everyday people could afford to appeal. They can't.
Furthermore, counterfeit to your apparent prejudice...I reckon the use of the term "top earners" may have been misleading, those earning upwards of 300,000 US$ USD
You and I have vastly different ideas of who "top wage earners" are. Together with your statement about $40,000 not being a large or small amount of money, I assume this might be an innocent misunderstanding of the currency by a foreigner, which is understandable. I have no idea what reasonable sums of money are in Brazil, for example. I would not understand how much people made in salary or how much anything cost in that currency.
You are aware I don't generally like rich people. I am very jaded from my dealings with them. I tend to find the ones I have dealt with spoiled and not used to hard work or improvisation. They have never had to fend for themselves and pay others to do so, or have well off relatives.
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