From time to time I am approached by someone who comes to my office with a legal document that he or she got from a friend or downloaded from the Internet. Sometimes they are the fruits of a Google search and sometimes they are documents purchased from a vendor. Either way, the person wants me to work from that document in the hopes that it will save them money.
It doesn’t save them money, and it actually makes things cost more.
Here’s why:
- Every lawyer has a set of template documents that they work from when they are doing a job. These are templates that we have used before and that we know well. When working with clients, we are tailoring those documents to the clients’ particular needs. On the other hand, if someone brings me a random legal document from the Internet, I have to spend extra time getting familiar with that document and often modifying it into something usable (there’s a lot of crap out there). It’s sort of like asking an electrical contractor to work with a bunch of off-brand hardware that was gotten for cheap off of Ebay.
- It’s important to consider that when hiring an attorney, one isn’t paying for ink and paper but rather the advice on which ink and paper is appropriate and how to use it in the real world. That’s what lawyers are charging for.
- Many of the legal documents that are available online are low quality. And as a non-lawyer it can be hard to differentiate the good from the bad. Most attorneys have access to various practice guides and databases that include vetted and well-constructed documents that are generally going to be many times better than what can be found on the public Internet.
I offer this piece of advice because I understand that when hiring an attorney, cost is a real issue. My position is that the best way to control legal costs is to become educated on the law (at least at a basic level – The Creators’ Legal Guide is a solid place to start). Being an informed consumer means that we have to spend less time on the basics and move quickly to the valuable parts of our work together.
