Attorneys help clients establish contracts, acquire property, settle disputes among individuals or companies, and draw up wills. They also represent clients in court. After passing the bar exam, attorneys must undergo a character evaluation or background check to become licensed.
The terms attorney, lawyer, and counsel are often used interchangeably. The main difference between them is that attorneys have passed the bar exam and can practice law in court, while lawyers may or may not do so. Click the Attorney Big Al to know more.
Legal advice is guidance about the law and how it might be applied to specific cases. It’s generally only available from a licensed attorney and affects the rights of individuals. It’s different from legal information, which is more general knowledge about the law and how it applies to a situation.
Legal information is easy to get, especially since many lawyers have created websites with basic legal advice for clients. However, it’s important for an individual to distinguish when they need information versus when they need legal advice. If they don’t know the difference, it can lead to costly mistakes in court cases.
Often, an attorney will ask questions about the circumstances surrounding a client’s case to determine if they need legal advice or just information. During this initial consultation, the lawyer will be frank with the client and tell them if they need to hire them or if the problem can be solved without a legal professional involved.
It’s important for a person to be aware of the difference between legal advice and legal information so they don’t accidentally waste money on a legal case or even worse, make a bad decision that can have serious consequences for them or their business. If someone offers legal advice that’s not their own, it’s considered the unauthorized practice of law and can have harsh penalties. These penalties vary from state to state, but can include fines and incarceration in some cases.
In addition, individuals should never rely on legal information provided by their employer. While most reputable companies have HR experts on staff, this isn’t the same as having an attorney as they are not licensed attorneys. It’s important for employees to seek out the help of an attorney to ensure they are getting accurate and up-to-date information about a particular issue.
If an individual feels that they’ve received ill-advised legal advice, they can file a complaint against the attorney. This is also true if they feel that the attorney has violated their ethics. To learn more about how you can file a complaint against an attorney, visit the website of the bar association in your jurisdiction.
Representation in Court
If a person does not want to hire an attorney for their case, they can represent themselves in court. This is called proceeding pro se. A person who represents themselves is a litigant in propria persona (latin for “in one’s own behalf”). The courts discourage pro se litigation, because legal practice requires special skills and knowledge of the law. Even attorneys who specialize in a particular area of law are well advised to consult with other attorneys for advice on complicated or complex cases.
Attorneys can be hired to provide representation in a court case for a flat fee, hourly rate, contingency, or retainer. The client should carefully consider the different fees and payment arrangements available before choosing an attorney. The client should also consider the attorney’s experience, reputation, and personal chemistry.
Many people are concerned about the cost of an attorney, but there are ways to obtain free or low-cost legal assistance. For example, the Court offers a program to assist qualified individuals who are filing a civil suit without an attorney. The court also publishes booklets and other informational materials on the topic of self-representation. These publications are available in the Court Clerk’s Office, at the courthouse law library, and online.
When an attorney provides legal advice to a client, the attorney-client relationship is created. The communications between the attorney and client are privileged. However, the attorney must abide by ethical constraints and may not harass a client or disclose confidential information to third parties. The attorney should also not engage in a romantic relationship with a client during the representation of that client’s lawsuit, as this violates the ethical rules of the profession.
Research
Legal research is one of the cornerstones of informed legal practice, offering the means to navigate a constantly evolving legal landscape. It involves searching for and analyzing primary and secondary sources, including statutes and regulations, case law and legal dictionaries and treatises. This process can be daunting for beginners, but learning to effectively conduct legal research will help you in your career and improve the quality of your work.
To start, identify the legal question or issue you’re trying to answer. This will help you determine the proper search terms to use in your research. Once you have the question or issue clearly defined, you’ll need to locate relevant statutes and regulations. You can do this through legal databases, like LexisNexis and Westlaw, or public databases, such as the Legal Information Institute (LII). After you’ve located the appropriate laws, find applicable case law. Then, review that case law and identify the relevant facts.
Once you’ve completed your research, it’s time to write your legal memo. You’ll need to explain the legal questions or issues identified, provide your analysis and suggest next steps. Your legal memo should be organized and easy to read. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your strong written communication skills, as well as your ability to think critically and solve problems.
Before you submit your legal research memo to the assigning attorney, you’ll want to verify that the case law and other legal sources you’ve cited are still valid and accurate. Bloomberg Law’s litigation tools, such as BCite, can help you work smarter and faster in this regard by allowing you to quickly analyze whether a particular case has been overruled or is no longer applicable to the current situation.
In addition, it’s important to note that your legal research should be relevant to the jurisdiction in which you’re operating. Casting your net too wide can result in an overwhelming amount of information that may not be pertinent to your case. For example, a case from Washington state supreme court won’t hold up in Montana state court. By taking a focused approach to legal research, you can save yourself time and effort and enhance the quality of your work.
Writing
Writing legal briefs takes a lot of time. It can be helpful to outline before you write, but formatting is often where law students waste the most time. Consider joining a study group and comparing your outlines to those of other students, which can help you find the gaps in your writing.
Object to requests that you reveal advice you have given a client if the information is protected by attorney-client privilege or another type of privileged communication. Also, do not disclose work product, which are documents, reports or other writings prepared by the attorney for a specific case in anticipation of litigation.