My friend Brian Tannebaum has a great post about the cheapening of the legal profession here. He says that we as criminal defense lawyers have turned the profession into a commodity.
When you go shopping for a car, you look for the lowest price. After all, they are all the same.
That’s the same thing that idiots think about lawyers. Oh. You are a lawyer? OK. You can handle my case.
The astute clients (not many) know that you get what you pay for. They understand that if convicted, their entire future is on the line. Their career, family and their freedom.
Brian opines that the culprit is advertising. I have tried yellow pages, bus stop ads, tv ads, and the palm beach post. I have stopped throwing my money away advertising in all those publications. What I found was they don’t work. Not really. You are lucky if you get your money back in advertising.
Part of it is the self-worth/self esteem that a lawyer has. Many have no idea what they are doing. They know they are bad lawyers. And they charge accordingly. There are so many hacks out there it’s pathetic.
Hint: If you are getting charged $1000 (or less) for a DUI or $2500 (or less) for a felony you are better off going with the public defender. Save your money.
It doesn’t cost to hire the best. It pays.
What about the people who can’t afford those fees but want a real lawyer? What do they do?