Affordable Legal Aid
Most legal institutions and Law Firms have legal aid branches in place to help those who need legal representation or some other form of legal aid but cannot afford to receive it. In addition, most local governments, and even some city and state governments have legal aid branches dedicated to providing affordable legal aid.Obtaining Affordable Legal Aid. It is a Constitutional right for each and every person to have access to proper legal counsel. What this means is that it is illegal for a person to be denied the right to an attorney based on their inability to pay for one. The fact remains that even someone who cannot pay for one out of their own pocket should still have access to lawyers.
Retaining an Affordable Lawyer
No one can deny that any run in with the law, criminal or civil, is a very expensive thing for the average person to deal with. It all starts the moment they are arrested. They have to come up with money to pay their bail or else remain in jail awaiting their trail. After that, the individual must then look at getting an attorney which can be costly. Many attorneys charge high hourly rates, money that you need to pay, even if your case is decided against you. This is not to mention the fact that they may well have lost their job as a result of what has happened, or be forced to pay damages to the other party. Even those who can afford a lawyer admit that legal troubles are a nightmare. It is even worse for those who cannot find affordable legal aid. This means that many people never get the legal help they deserve. Unless they find low cost help, or an attorney to take their case on a pro bono basis.
Legal Aid Assistance Programs
Pro bono attorneys are the best answer to the problem of someone's inability to afford legal council. These are attorneys who take up the case for free. They are the very definition of low cost. However, one might wonder why any attorney would agree to work for free. There are three possible answers to that question:
- Publicity And Fame
- Sympathy For The Defendant
- Court Order
There are some cases that are just too juicy and headline generating for publicity hungry attorneys to turn down. They can work on a particular hot case for free knowing that it will generate a lot of business for them moving forward.
Sometimes attorneys have genuine sympathy for the person they are defending, and they are willing to make their services low cost or even free.
Finally, the courts will step in and require attorneys to take certain cases for defendants who are unable to pay in order to maintain the Constitutional right to an attorney. The American Bar Association provides a great resource here for those who need assistance finding low cost lawyers in their state.
The bottom line is that while there is a lot of expense related to dealing with the law, there are also many programs available to those who are willing to seek them out.