How good is free legal advice?
Legal advice is expensive. Lawyers earn a law degree and practical training course and then gain experience as they help clients. They also attend professional development courses. Your advice is your product. His income is obtained by giving advice to people in exchange for money. When a person wants free legal advice, he wants the lawyer to give him his product without receiving payment in return. There aren’t many people who are willing to do this.
A person can get “free” advice from a public defender or community legal center. Advice is not “free”, it is paid for by someone else. The lawyer charges, but the client does not pay. However, if the client’s legal issue is not simple, then legal aid attorneys and community legal service attorneys cannot do much because they do not have the time or resources to devote to one person’s issue, when there are so many others. . demanding your time and attention.
Some attorneys advertise a “free first interview.” This can make the consumer think they are getting free legal help. This is not necessarily true. A lawyer made sure that no legal help was provided during the “free” interview. The name and details of the consumer were taken and the story was heard from him. Then a second interview was held and this had to be paid for. Another attorney said the first 20 minutes were free, but every minute after that was $2.00. Again, that lawyer didn’t give any advice in the first 20 minutes. The “free first interview” is just a marketing ploy to attract customers.
Occasionally you will find a lawyer who cares about people and their problems and will really give them good legal advice at no cost. But even in this case, not much good advice will be given. Any lawyer who gives away their product for free will be out of a job. The money the lawyer receives pays for his office and his staff. There may not be much left after the costs have been deducted.
People will almost always get better legal help when they pay for it. It’s like a bakery. Fresh products are sold at full price, but day-old products at half price, and almost stale products are given away. The old adage is true: “You get what you pay for”.