I was reading an article on CNN today. The link for it is here.
The opinion was that lawyers needed to make room for non-lawyers in the courtroom. The author said that too many people, when in need of legal assistance do not have $200-$300 an hour to pay for an attorney. So they end up representing themselves in a legal system that they know nothing about the procedures, forms etc.
My first issue with this post is associated with the fact that my husband is an attorney at a mid-sized firm in Iowa. His firm charges quite a bit less than $200 an hour for legal work.
The problem is that when I think of Morgan and his work, I compare it to doctors and their work, or plumbers and their work (both of whom I have had to see recently). The plumber charged us just over $100 an hour for the work they did on our home. The doctor charge me $200 for an office visit where I saw him for 10 minutes, which would be $600.00 per hour.
The author of this article was not saying that we need to find other unprofessional plumbers to fix our broken pipes, or to visit unlicensed medical professionals for our health needs. There are some professions that do cost more money for their services, but that is because they have had to go to school for a long time to learn the ins and outs of that job.
Now, I recognize that people don't have the money to pay for a lawyer when they need one. But, I didn't 'have the money' to pay for the plumber, or the doctor when I needed them this fall. But I did make it work because I realized that I couldn't fix those problems by myself.
I guess the big picture is you have to decide what it is worth to you. If you are going through a divorce, a foreclosure, or a contract dispute do you want to chance it by yourself, or pay an attorney to be on your side, or at least give you advice about what to do.
As with many problems, paying a professional to give you a diagnostic is oftentimes worth the cost.
