How do I get legal advice without upfront legal costs?

Practically every area of life requires some form of legal advice; taking up a new job, going through a divorce, planning to write a will, selling a property, these are some of the activities of everyday life that are intertwined in law.

While there might not be a need for legal action, most contracts are written in jargon that only a lawyer could make sense of. The need for legal advice is obviously crucial but lawyers can be costly. Personal injury lawyers are known to only charge when a settlement has been awarded and that is within reach for most people. When you are dealing with other matters where upfront payments apply, does that mean that low-income earners cannot get legal representation? Based on Foyle Legal Perth work accident lawyers, here are some ways of finding legal help.

Government funded programs

Did you know that the government and other agencies employ lawyers to offer free services to the public? Since they are already paid, the client is not asked to pay for any fees. Legal aid programs are great venues to find help when you are faced with tenancy disputes, employment disputes, divorce cases and a whole lot of other social injustice cases. Free legal aids funded programs are however not available to everyone, resources are limited and therefore the criteria is very strict. The first qualification is that the income is below a certain amount.

Pro-bono programs

Pro-bono in legal terms may mean departments within a law firm that offer legal assistance for free or non-profit organizations run by lawyers who offer free services to the community around them. Since some programs are dedicated to specific causes it is often difficult to find a lawyer to offer assistance pro-bono unless it is a higher profile legal cause.

Dial a legal hotline

With the rise in social injustice in many areas of society, the number of law practitioners in relation to the people who need their services is low. Legal hotlines are established to offer advice and direction in pursuit of legal advice. Some hotlines are free to dial but others charge a minimal fee to finance the administrative costs of the program. It is important to know that these services are dependent on what the person with the legal problem tells them – as the legal practitioner is not actually able to review any documents regarding the case the quality of legal advice can be very low.

Take advantage of No win No Fee arrangements

If you have made a personal injury claim such as a workers compensation claim, motor vehicle accident claim, public liability claim, criminal injuries claim or medical negligence claim or any other cases where the outcome of the case is financial compensation then it is common for top personal injury lawyersto takeon these claims on a no win no fee basis.It is standard practice in other areas of law to pay a lawyer a down payment before they take on your case but in Western Australiasome of the top no win no fee lawyersanalyze cases and the most likely to result in a win are handled without a downpayment. Many personal injury lawyers operate this way; depending on the nature of the injuries suffered and the establishment that their client was not the liable party, they will take up a case without asking for upfront fees.

The next time you are in need of legal representation, consider all the above options first before you resign to the fact that your low income is the obstacle to finding legal assistance.