Common Services Offered by Pre-paid legal Plans

Have you heard of a pre-paid legal plan? Have you considered signing up for one? This article aims to inform the reader about the details of what services you are probably going to get and what legal documents that you will probably need to sign before enrollment.

TELEPHONE AND OFFICE CONSULTATION:

With this service you would have limitless telephonic or in-office access to a variety of lawyers who would be able to help you with any legal matter that you may be facing. Note however, that this is much more likely to be in a "consultative capacity," or a general advice. For more in-depth legal counsel, you are more likely to be assigned a specific lawyer to handle the case in it's entirety. So for instance, a Manhattan based business owner who has signed up to a pre-paid legal plan at a New York law firm will have access to a New York business lawyer who would have been assigned to him by the law firm to help him resolve whatever business issue he is facing. However, these phone or in-office consultations would normally last a maximum of 30 minutes per consult per day. 

This coverage provided in the pre-paid plan can be seen as the aspect with the most benefits. This is because preventative law is being promoted, i.e. you get help to always be on the right side of the law. Preventative law has a similar approach to that of preventative medicine as it identifies potential problems before they happen, which allows one to take the appropriate legal measures in order to avoid unnecessary legal risks or problems further down the line. By picking up the telephone and speaking to a lawyer who can recommend the right legal steps so that one does not have to deal with nightmarish legal troubles. This has another benefit as the attorney will inform you of the legal rights that you have and probably didn’t know about.

FOLLOW-UP SERVICE:

This variety of attorneys will call or write legal letters for you, such as a cease and desist, to third parties with whom you are entangled in one legal issue or the other. A simple letter from an attorney, if necessary threatening legal action, can often solve whatever problem exists between the parties, and prevents it from escalating to an all out court battle.

LEGAL DOCUMENT REVIEW:

Most large law firms who offer these ore-paid legal plans will often have several departments that specialize in specific branches of the law. This group of lawyers, probably those who specialize in several aspects of the law, and consequently have lawyers who deal with that area of law. So any of their clients who has been involved in a car accident will have access to a car accident lawyer to help them through the process of filing a car accident claim.

DRAFTING OF WILLS:

A will, also known as the last will and testimony, is a written document that discusses how a deceased person wanted their property distributed. Different geographical areas have different laws and an attorney will help you write it so that it is valid upon your death. The attorney would also be able to advise you regarding any provisions that you should include in the will; such things include the appointment of a guardian or the establishment of a trust. 

DISCOUNT ON REGULAR FEES:

There is also a discount on any additional services you may require, which were not included in the pre-paid plan’s written fee agreement; this would either be billed at an hourly rate or a flat rate with discounts ranging from 20% to 30%. Such additional services normally pertain to divorce and children’s custody, other family matters, and court representations for such things like traffic fines and lawsuits. 

The legal paperwork needs to be read carefully (even looked over by a contract lawyer who is not involved) and one needs to agree on certain aspects before signing; these aspects include:

  • WRITTEN-FEE AGREEMENT: this will give an outline of the plan’s provided services, the cost of this agreement and how one will pay.
  • GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE: this is a document that describes what procedures would be taken in the event of any complaints regarding lawyers or service fee disputes.

Five Non-Negotiable Features a Business Lawyer
Must Have Before Hiring Them

Hiring a business lawyer is important for any business that strives to be successful in this day and age, but hiring one is not always an easy thing to do. There are a bunch of things that need to be factored in, in your final decision to hire one attorney instead of another. An individual’s  education and experience are important, but these can only take you so far in this day and age.. There are a few other things that a business lawyer must have in order to be the best fit for your company and the specific purposes that you need him or her.

  • Communication Skills

Good communication skills is one of the first and most important things that any lawyer, and in fact, any professional must have. It is therefore very important to make ensure that the lawyer or law firm that you are considering hiring shows that they have the ability to properly communicate with their clients. This is not only limited to speaking, but it also includes all aspects of writing, reading and listening.

Listening is oftentimes more important than speaking just because of the fact that, this is the way that most people get information. Therefore your lawyer must be a good listener and should be good at extracting information from the words spoken to them, and even from non-spoken words. Communication skills should also include any languages that the lawyer knows other than English because in this international climate it is easy to misunderstand each other because of the different languages that we speak, or the different accents within a language that exist out there in the business world.

  • Commercial Awareness and Research Skills

The business  environment is an ever changing one, and in this very fast-paced world we live in, there is an influx of new information practically every day. It is therefore a necessary feature for the business lawyer that you are considering hiring to be aware of, and in tune with the business environment you operate in, and just as importantly to thrive in it. What they need and what legal practice will yield the most benefit to both sides so that both can reach a quick and acceptable resolution.

Commercial awareness, on the other hand, is something that needs to be done in the background. It is an ongoing practice that keeps you up to date with the stories that form around any partners that the hiring company may have. This way the lawyer can be prepared for any outcome and any development that might force the represented company to go into negotiations or even the court of law.

  • Self-Confidence

When hiring a lawyer, it is important to know how confident they are in their abilities. An easy way to check that is presenting them with a scenario during the interview. Even if they give the wrong answer, it should be seen with how much confidence they gave that answer. Self-confidence is important, but over-confidence is the opposite of good. During the interview phase, it is up to you to decide if the lawyer can accept ignorance or are they too proud to admit that they do not know something.

That will help you know if the lawyer is receptive to new information or is too confident in his abilities to be able to accept information that they themselves have no idea about. It is important for a lawyer to accept new information without any bias and put it to work, so it is important for the company to know whether the lawyer will accept new information or will the lawyer let themselves be blinded by their own confidence.

  • Personal Skills

Being a lawyer is one of the professions that deals a lot with other people. It is therefore important for a lawyer to have good personal skills. When hiring a lawyer, it is important to keep in mind how well they address other people. Personal skills also include how likable they are as a person because if people like you they are more likely to listen to what you have to say and accept it. When you hire a business lawyer you should keep in mind that it helps if they have taken part in any extra-curricular activities that involved leading people or being part of a society because that way you know that they belonged to a group and can work effectively with other people and can resolve any problems that arise between them.

  • Suitability

In the end, it is up to you to decide if they are a good fit for you and that can only be gauged by you. This is important because this feature is dependent on you and your firm; therefore, you need to assess whether the business lawyer you hire is a good fit for the policies and the people in your company or not. This can be tough to figure out in just one meeting; therefore, it is best to be open with the person that you are hiring so that you both can come to a conclusion whether you fit each other or not.