Time for Flat Rate Attorney Fees?
Submitted by docjameson on Mon, 12/12/2011 - 9:34pm
I find it rather interesting that the self appointed governing body and regulators of the free world (lawyers) have been quite successful at placing set fees for medical procedures, medical tests, medical equipment, etc. Why then do they have no desire to have their own fees regulated? Are they afraid fleecing will become a thing of the past?
Let's face it ... a divorce is a divorce. Go sit in on any divorce case and they are all the same. Oh sure, the names, dates, and places change ... but the rest of it is boilerplate law. This one cheated on that one. The other one didn't bring the kids back when they were supposed to. Then one of them threatens the other ... and it is the same old story over and over.
Why not live by the regulations and fee structures the attorneys of this great land have placed on physicians. It's pretty simple stuff.
Simple Divorce $750
Child Support Worksheet/Order $250 (a fourth grader can fill in the blanks!!)
Restraining Order $250 (a fourth grader can fill in this template too!)
Instead, an attorney will tell you he can resolve the issues for $1,500 and then six months later hit you for another $1,500. The client can't afford to start all over and gets fleeced. The North Carolina State Bar simply looks the other way. The "Good Ole Boys Club" prevails.
I suggest ANYONE hiring an attorney find out the following -
Ask if they bill by the hour or 1/10 of an hour.
Are they willing to work for a flat fee - if not ... MOVE ON!!
Are they going to bill you for every phone call, phone message, e-mail, etc.
Ask them to put in writing what they expect the final bill to be ... GET IT IN WRITING!
If they are not willing to put it in writing ... MOVE ON!
How can you have an ethical legal system when the regulators are attorneys themselves (and friends and participants of the unethical clan)?
Doctors, business professionals, and clergy should be at the head of the North Carolina State Bar (and every other State Bar).
I mentioned that to an attorney friend of mine and his response was ...
"but doctors hate attorneys"
PRECISELY my Point!
Bar The Bar!
Doctors, business professionals, and clergy should be at the head of the North Carolina State Bar (and every other State Bar). *unknown lawyer
How about no Bar! It worked for 200 years [ ie 100 years before the American Revolution and another 100 years after it ..
More government regulation
It seems that when the government gets involved in price regulating, the efficiency of the market only decreases.
On the other hand, the free market eventually drives prices down.
More and more attorneys are moving to flat fee structures. The ever increasing number of attorneys is forcing this to happen. It will not be long before attorney rates will be very competitive, with few attorney firms still charging the exorbitant rates they have historically been able to charge.
More and more students decide to go to law school, while fewer and fewer legal jobs are available. This will solve the expensive legal services problem that exists out there.
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