That, in itself is nothing to worry about. I have often thought of court as a social event for lawyers, and in many ways, it is. For many lawyers, it’s the only time they see another lawyer who’s outside their office face to face. It’s a chance, while waiting for the case to be called, to sit down and have coffee with a law school classmate and tell war stories.

Clients want their lawyer to have the same feelings of resentment against their spouse as they do. If the spouse is up to no good, the client thinks,  then their lawyer must be up to no good either. However, it simply doesn’t work that way.

In small communities like Hattiesburg, almost every lawyer knows every other lawyer. You have to work together and get along or it’s going to be a long miserable existence as long as you practice law.

I’m not trying to deny there may be lawyers out there who take it too far and compromise their client’s interest on this case to get a favor returned on another. I don’t know of any, but anything’s possible.

I’ve also had some people express concerns that their lawyer didn’t pursue an angle of a case that they discussed with them. Cases are like battles in a war, and a lawyer is like a general. He has to decide a plan using the best intelligence he has on his opponent, but there must also be a backup plan. Sometimes, plans change instantly, without any time to inform the client why you’re doing it. So, again, the fact your lawyer is doing something other than was planned is not, in itself, a clause to worry.

Finally, I’ve heard a lot of frustration about communication with their lawyers. This is one that all lawyers are guilty of to some extent, including myself. The number one cause of bar complaints is an attorney failing to communicate to their client. This goes back to a natural feeling of every client that their case is the most important one their lawyer has. The reality is that most lawyers have dozens, if not over a hundred, of cases open at the same time. It is a real juggling act to allocate your limited amount of time to all the cases. Naturally, some cases, due to proximity of trial, complexity, or emergencies, take up more time. Attorneys usually have to ignore calls some times to get work done.

Do you feel that your lawyer is “cheating” on you? If so, leave a comment and maybe I can calm your fears.

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Are you or anyone you know avoiding a divorce because you can’t afford one? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Well, I’m not rich. If you think I am, I’ll show you my bank balance, and they you’ll agree. Are the fees outrageous? I don’t think so, and here’s why:

In Mississippi, lawyers govern themselves under the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct. These are our ethics rules. Rule 1.5 covers fees. According to that rule, “A lawyer’s fee shall be reasonable.” There are several factors that come into play when determining whether the fee is reasonable, and these are also set out in Rule 1.5.

The first factor to consider is the time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, and the skill requisite to perform the legal service properly. In other words, the more time spent, the more difficult the case, the higher the fee can be before being found unreasonable.

Next, is the likelihood, if apparent to the client, that the acceptance of the particular employment will preclude other employment by the lawyer. So, theoretically, if it should be obvious to the client that taking his case would keep the lawyer from working on any other case for an entire year, a higher fee is justified.

The third factor is the customary fee in that geographic area. The fees for  lawyers of similar skill and experience should be relatively similar.

The amount involved and the results obtained are looked at next. It makes no sense for a client to pay a $1,000 fee when the amount in controversy was only, say, $250.

Another factor is the time limitations imposed by the client or by the circumstances. If you find a lawyer the day before you need one, it’s reasonable for that lawyer to charge you more than he would have if you had found him earlier.

You should also consider the nature and length of the professional relationship with the client. This part of the rule gives the lawyer leeway to increase his fees over time during the relationship with a client.

The next-to-last factor is the experience, reputation,and ability of the lawyer or lawyers performing the services. Naturally, you would expect a more experienced lawyer to charge more, just as you would expect a more experienced builder to charge more to build you a house.

The final factor is whether the fee is fixed or contingent. You should note that Rule 1.5 goes on to forbid layers from  charging a contingent fee  in family law matters that is based on whether a divorce is obtained or the amount of the property settlement, alimony, or support. That’s why most family lawyers charge either a flat rate (for simple matters) or hourly.

As you can see, a lawyer has to consider a lot when determining their fee. Ultimately, though, a lawyer is like any other craftsman. You can expect that the more experienced, more senior, more renown craftsmen to charge more and you can expect to pay more for a complicated product than you can for something simple. Unlike, say , a carpenter, a plumber, welder, or painter, the end product of our skill and knowledge isn’t as tangible. However, that doesn’t make it any less valuable.

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If there’s one thing that my fellow lawyers do that really irritates me, it’s the use of “legalese” in documents. You know what that is, it’s all of those five-cent words that makes it hard for regular people to understand what’s written or said.

I’ve really tried to think of a good reason to use legalese, but I can’t find one. There are several, in my opinion, lame reasons. I’ll get to those in a moment. But first, some of my most despised legalese words and phrases:

“Hereinafter.” Example: “John Doe (hereinafter, ‘Doe’) …” I think anyone who cares enough to read what you wrote is smart enough to figure out “Doe” is John Doe. Is hereinafter even a real word?

“Notwithstanding.” Just use, “despite.”

“This Honorable Court.” If your case is so weak that you need to kiss up to the court in your pleadings, you’ve got bigger problems than legalese, so I’ll give you a little bit of a break.

“Wherefore, premises considered.” This ends every pleading I’ve ever read, and I’ve never seen a court rule require it. Does anyone even know what it means?

“Comes now.” If there’s a “premises considered” at the end, I can guarantee there’s a “Comes now” at the beginning. 

“Your [defendant, plaintiff, petitioner, etc].” I’m sure there are many parties the court does not want. I don’t think telling the court that the party belongs to them endures you.

As I said earlier, I can’t think of a good reason to use these words and phrases instead of ordinary English. I can, however, think of three not-so-good reasons:

1) It supposedly makes the writer sound smart. This is why I used these words and phrases my first year of law school. You know what, you’re a lawyer, and yes, you made it through law school. That requires some intelligence. You don’t need to show off. (this is closely related to the next reason)

2) Legalese justifies lawyers’ fees. I think this and the following reason are the two biggies. If you need to use fancy archaic writing to justify your fees, then I think you’re in trouble. While clients hire us for the knowledge we possess and somewhat for the words we know and use, I don’t think producing documents your client can’t understands helps your client.

3) That’s the way it’s always been done. Ah, yes—good ole operational inertia. For people who think this, I’ll refer you to  Zig Ziglar’s story of cutting the end off the ham. Google it; it’ll do you some good.

What’s my point and what does this have to do with family law? Simple. If you’re the client, make sure you always understand what’s going on, especially if it’s a document that’s confusing you. Don’t think you’re dumb because you don’t understand legalese; most lawyers don’t, but we’re afraid to admit it.

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