When people I haven't spoken to for years send me a message on Facebook wanting me to help them w/ their legal issues.
1. The only area of law I actually know w/any level of proficiency is criminal. Not child support, not divorce, not real estate, not personal injury. I don't have any idea about other areas.
2. No, your five sentence summary of your problem is not nearly enough for me to help you, even if I could and/or wanted to.
3. When I go to work, I produce nothing. I make nothing, I create nothing, I have nothing tangible to sell, I do not produce goods of any kind. The only reason I get paid is to dispense legal advice. My advice and analysis of a case are my only commodity. As such, please don't expect me to do your case for free, especially when we haven't seen each other since middle school. I would guess you don't go up to your acquaintance who builds cabinets and ask him to make you a full set of cabinets for free. It's the same thing.
(Aside: #3 doesn't apply if you are my family).
1. The only area of law I actually know w/any level of proficiency is criminal. Not child support, not divorce, not real estate, not personal injury. I don't have any idea about other areas.
2. No, your five sentence summary of your problem is not nearly enough for me to help you, even if I could and/or wanted to.
3. When I go to work, I produce nothing. I make nothing, I create nothing, I have nothing tangible to sell, I do not produce goods of any kind. The only reason I get paid is to dispense legal advice. My advice and analysis of a case are my only commodity. As such, please don't expect me to do your case for free, especially when we haven't seen each other since middle school. I would guess you don't go up to your acquaintance who builds cabinets and ask him to make you a full set of cabinets for free. It's the same thing.
(Aside: #3 doesn't apply if you are my family).
As a recent graduate and (hopefully) soon-to-be lawyer, I was given some advice from a trusted friend who is a lawyer: Do not give any free legal advice to non-family. (And depending on your family, don't give them advice either.) They will come back anytime they have a problem, and because you didn't charge them the first time, they'll feel that you'll be happy to help them with their issues. They don't pay the malpractice insurance. They don't pay for your time, which is your commodity. They didn't pay for your education. And if you give free advice once, they often tell their friends and it gets worse.
ReplyDeleteI do, in addition to having the experience to offer a service/advice, also produce a tangible product. Unfortunately that doesn't stop people from expecting it for free. So I would like to sue those people for failure to pay their contract with me, what should I do? Ha Ha, just kidding.
ReplyDelete