The Legal Services Economy

One of my greatest challenges of working in the Legal Services Industry is that I have been blessed to have been able to help so many people with their Pro Se legal documents where they thought all hope of filing their legal documents in court was gone. As we continue to move forward in 2009 and deal with the reality of our economy which is in chaos, one question seems to come up time and time again regarding the affordability of legal services. I am not an attorney but as a paralegal I am in the position to help educate people about their options regarding Pro Se representation on Non-Contested matters that they can handle themselves without having to pay traditional high attorneys fees. Many people are losing their jobs or are being laid off from their jobs on a daily basis and a lot of them will be looking at ways to save money. I am constantly being asked questions by the general public and Pro Se Litigants in regards to representing themselves in court, and I always explain to people that it is their constitutional right and their own personal decision to decide whether or not they need an attorney to represent them in court on Non-Contested matters.

I know a lot of attorneys because I have worked in the Criminal Justice System for over 25 years and I also believe that people who what to represent themselves in court need to have the information available to them in order to make the right decision. I have spent years in almost every court house in the State of Colorado and I have watched people leave the court house frustrated on just needing to have a question or two answered. In the State of Colorado none of the State employees are allowed to answer basic questions without being accused of "Unauthorized Practice of Law" (UPL) or giving legal advice to people that have simple questions, as a matter of fact signs are posted all over the court house stating "We Are Not Allowed To Give Legal Advice". I have seen consumers so angry and mad at the courts that they just throw their hands up in the air and blame the entire Legal System for failure. I am in business to help all Pro Se Litigants, I am not in the business to take advantage of anyone who is going to represent themselves in court. I have always believed that when people are given good customer service and treated with respect and compassion from any industry you will always have repeat customers because people are loyal to those companies that take care of them. We are in an economy that is causing people to look at alternatives when it comes to representing themselves in court without an attorney.

Paralegals are in the legal profession to help people save money and consumers are using paralegals because they are smarter in their decision making when it comes to saving money. When you use a paralegal you are not compromising quality, you are in fact gaining a better sense of how to save thousands of dollars on legal fees because 99% of all attorneys have or will use a paralegal to draft legal documents for their law firm or private practice this is not practicing law in anyway. As quite as it is kept attorneys would not be able to charge what they charge if it were not for paralegals, I am not saying this to be cocky I know this to be true and guess what attorneys know that this is true also. The Legal Services Economy is not going anywhere, anytime soon, it will only get larger, it will only become more expensive but the key to it all is the consumer has other options. If consumers decide to represent themselves in court with these options comes the responsibility of doing your research and homework so that at the end of the day you get what you pay for. Pro Se Litigants should never sacrifice quality because they donot know where to go and get help, always do your research and homework before making a decision and trust me if you are a Pro Se Litigant you will more than likly end up using the services of a paralegal for your Non-Contested matters.