Help! I Can't Afford An Attorney
So, you can’t afford an attorney? Don’t feel like the world had crashed before you! It won’t necessarily mean that your case will go down the drain. Don’t give up all hope! You’re not the only one experiencing this kind of financial woe linked with the legal burden you’re having! Besides, you can find inexpensive or even free legal help. You just have to know where and who to contact.
You could look up several nation networks of legal service offices that may receive federal funds in order to extend free legal help in civil cases to low income people. However, they do not cover criminal cases. Staff attorneys and paralegals with experience on certain legal areas may be enjoined for their legal services. Most areas they have expertise in handling may be divorce, landlord-tenant problems, subsidized housing, public assistance, social security and unemployment.
There are also non-legal help for your present problem that may be directed to you by a legal services lawyer. It could be temporary housing, domestic violence shelters and food banks. You can thumb in your local phone directory under “legal services” or “legal aid” for these networks.
Pro Bono, meaning “ for the good”, work are sometimes being offered by many state, local and country bar associations. There are several qualifications that you may have to make your case fit for their pro bono work. There are issues they are supporting like AIDS victims, domestic violence and the like which legal services they offer for victims. Sometimes, you have to prove your income level, the value of your assets and senior citizen age.
Free weekly or monthly self-help clinics are also put up by these local and country bar associations. Volunteer lawyers will be there for you to answer questions put down in the forms they distribute. Once you go to this kind of legal clinics, you may get the chance to speak to a lawyer individually or you may become part of a large group, addressing queries within others’ earshot.
County courthouses also have facilitators that may help you in processing legal claims. The extent of their help may be by figuring out where paper works can be filed or walk you through the process of having your paperwork be recognized by the right people within the court system. There are also public defender organizations that provide free or low-cost legal help to defendants in criminal cases. There are also some low-cost legal programs – telephone hotlines that charge by the minute to give you advice and representation at the lowest price.
What we’ve given you is a fairly long list of free and low-cost legal services that may help you in working out your legal matter and help in resolving it, if not totally, then, at least lessen it by enlightening you on several fairly important things. Just remember to have patience and undying hope and confidence that a time will come that you will be totally free of your legal burden! Think positive, always – remember its free!
