Are there lawyers that would agree only to go with me to the hearing?

azwildcat74 · 2023-07-24T16:53:01+00:00

You can hire lawyers on a limited scope. None of them are just going to show up in court with you, how would they know if you're fucking up if they know nothing about your case?

AudreyTooTwo · 2023-07-24T17:51:41+00:00

I'm no lawyer, but I'm going to guess the answer is no. There is a word you sometimes hear: unbundled. If a lawyer offers unbundled services (not all do), it means they'll do work, bit-by-bit, but they don't represent you formally. If you're using unbundled services, you can't ever say, "Talk to my lawyer!"

But, really, in my experience, unbundled services consist mostly of speaking to you privately and maybe ghostwriting a few motions. They can't accept service or send motions, and they can't argue on your behalf in court. Only RETAINED lawyers can do that.

And here's where it gets ugly (for those on a budget). I had a lawyer explain to me that lawyers are ethically duty-bound to understand your case completely before they can appear in court in your behalf. That means they need to review every piece of paper and every aspect of your case. It's their way of saying there will be a lot of billable hours.

One idea for you is find a lawyer offering unbundled services, and spend an hour asking them about the court procedures, and what to say and how to act, and have them review your paperwork, and give you some idea of what questions to anticipate.

FUMoney · 2023-07-24T20:30:22+00:00

This won’t work. If a lawyer shows up to court, and is actually going to appear with you and sit in the court well during your hearing — the court is going to expect that lawyer is fully versed in the case. The judge will expect that lawyer is ready to proceed, knows the facts of the case, has read all the submissions by both sides, and can respond intelligently to questions.

Indeed, that’s why when lawyers appear in court on a matter, that’s exactly what it’s called: an “appearance“ on your behalf. Anyone sitting at a plaintiff or defense table is a member of that team and is expected to proceed, period. That’s why, before every single hearing, the court clerk will “call the roll,” meaning every person appearing must identify themselves on the record. Either you are in — on the roll — or you’re out.

Anyone and everyone else? They sit in the observation chairs behind the court well, i.e. in the area for the public. If you’re not on the team and not fully versed in the case, either the public area or outside the courtroom is where you belong.

Hence, I think a lawyer would be out of her or his mind to just “drop in” on an important hearing without having spent many hours reading and preparing. Just imagine the judge turning to your drop-in lawyer, ask your lawyer questions, and hear things like, “I don’t know.“ It has incompetence and malpractice all over it — and an official court transcript that will read/sound utterly horrendous.

Finally, how could the lawyer properly advise you without knowing your case, your facts, the other side’s positions, legal authorities to challenge the other side’s arguments? Every case is unique.

pk2at · 2023-07-24T20:32:04+00:00

What exactly are you trying to do here with a lawyer? Most cases in family court involve $$ and all the judges do is take the midpoint of financial numbers from both sides

Title	Are there lawyers that would agree only to go with me to the hearing?
Author	Disastrous_Network46
Upvotes	5
Comments	6
Date	July 24, 2023 4:27 PM UTC (2 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Divorce_Men
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/158fga9/are_there_lawyers_that_would_agree_only_to_go/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Divorce_Men/are-there-lawyers-that-would-agree-only-to-go-with.1226368 https://theredarchive.com/post/1226368

Comments