Imagine this scenario: you notice some sort of medical issue with yourself. You go online and find something that looks like your symptoms, so you pick a diagnosis, write out a prescription for what that website says will cure the condition, then take the prescription by your doctor's office and say, "Hi, I diagnosed myself and wrote my own prescription, so all I need is the doctor's signature and I'll be on my way. K? Thanks!" What do you think your doctor would say to that?
Now, change that to, "Hi, I'm forming a company with some buddies and we all know what we want, so I wrote up this contract. Just take a quick look at it and tell me it's okay. It shouldn't take long. K? Thanks!" Substitute "I wrote up wills for me and my wife"/ "I'm buying a house" / "I wanna sue this guy but don't wanna split the million bucks it's worth with a lawyer", and you have a scenario attorneys see every day. Here's the thing: the doc's not gonna write you a prescription until he's done his OWN examination on you and established a differential diagnosis, then reviewed the available treatments and chosen the one that fits you. In the same way, a lawyer who is willing to "just give it a quick look", without sitting down with you (it could be a virtual sit-down because COVID), asking questions about the background of the matter, and coming up with his or her OWN analysis of what you need (and, more important, what you HAVEN'T considered that could come back and bite you in the butt), is putting your welfare and the lawyer's license at risk. The adage, "You get what you pay for", is nowhere more true than in the process of protecting yourself from adverse legal consequences. I understand that legal fees are not something anybody really wants to pay, but consider the above scenarios before you judge us too harshly. And, by the way, this is how we feed our families, pay our staff so they can feed their families, and generally stay able to conduct our business, just like any other business. As always, the above is legal information, not legal advice, and it's based on Texas law because I'm a Texas lawyer. If you have a legal issue of any kind, do yourself a favor and invest in consulting an experienced lawyer who practices in that area of the law.
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Dana Jacobson
Musings, observations, the occasional whineage and some funny stuff. Archives
January 2021
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