There are times when lawyers are indispensible. They can save you from making costly legal mistakes or, in the criminal context, save you from a lengthy jail sentence.
But there are other times when lawyers are completely useless. In fact, they’re worse than useless. They are a massive waste of money.
Today, for instance, I represented a criminal defendant in district court. The case was not serious. But the alleged victim appeared with her private attorney. (I’ve never met this lawyer, though one of the court officers told me that he was a reputable litigator.)
My client was tendering a plea to the court and the alleged victim hired private counsel to ensure the prosecutor added certain standard provisions to the defendant’s probation. The provisions required the defendant to “stay away” and have “no contact” with the alleged victim. These provisions are included in nearly every plea involving a “crime against the person.” So the lawyer’s presence at the hearing was completely pointless. His client would have gotten the exact same outcome if she just saved her money and let the prosecutor do his job.
I have practiced law since 2010, and I can assure you, there are times when a lawyer has no impact at all on the legal matter he’s “handling.”
Here are some scenarios where you’re likely wasting your money on a lawyer.
Hiring a lawyer to oversee another lawyer – This is almost always pointless. It seems to occur most often in the business/transactional world. For instance, someone buying real estate may hire his own lawyer to look over the closing attorney’s work. Typically (though not always) the lawyer who’s actually doing the closing is far more competent and knowledgeable about real estate law than the superfluous lawyer. Additionally, the added lawyer almost always needs to justify his role in the transaction by finding meaningless “problems” with the principal attorney’s work.
Firing your court-appointed criminal defense attorney and hiring private counsel – There are some excellent court-appointed criminal defense attorneys. Yet I have seen many defendants thoughtlessly fire these free lawyers and hire some unheard-of private counsel from god-knows where. Needless to say, the defendant rarely (if ever) gets more favorable results. I should note that every case is different and there certainly are times when a defendant has good reason to seek private counsel. Such cases, however, are not common.
Restraining order and harassment prevention order hearings – I have watched innumerable RO and HPO hearings. These hearings are really designed for laypeople. Petitioners file a one-page affidavit and are usually brought before the judge on the same day. Most judges want to simply read the affidavit and speak directly to the petitioner and the defendant (if present). When lawyers are brought in, they try to turn the hearing into a miniature trial which no one wants, especially the judge. Almost invariably, at some point, the judge will disregard the lawyer or lawyers and speak directly to the parties.
There are innumerable other scenarios where you may be wasting your money on legal counsel. If you are considering hiring a lawyer, please check out my earlier post Questions to Ask When Hiring a Lawyer.