How to identify an unreliable lawyer

There are a number of beacons that should alert the client when choosing a lawyer. This will help you avoid a situation similar to what happened to Michael Kyriakides. 

  • A lawyer who was advised by a law enforcement officer. As a rule, such lawyers are working in conjunction with the police, and all that they advise the principals – to admit guilt.
  • The lawyer who promises a hundred percent result. It should be understood that the result depends on many factors, so the lawyer can not guarantee it.
  • The lawyer who offers to solve the issue by giving a bribe. It’s illegal, which means that sooner or later such a lawyer may become a criminal case, and with him and the principal. 
  • The lawyer who charges too much or too little money for his services. A person who has a mediocre relation to the law, should take it as an axiom that the work of a lawyer is actually more complicated than it seems to the client. Therefore, it cannot a priori cost very cheap. A very low cost of services should raise suspicion whether the service will end up being performed by a law school student. A lawyer, whose work is not limited to the presentation of bits of phrase and general considerations, will not give advice for free. Moreover, he has no right to do it in principle, because by law he can give consultations only after a fee has been agreed upon and an agreement has been made. The promise of such consultations is nothing more than an advertising ploy to lure an inexperienced client to provide services that are far from free and, as practice shows, often of poor quality. And it is especially worth remembering that defense lawyers agree to work for free only with very interesting and high-profile cases.

Excessively high fees should also be alert, of course, if we are not talking about a famous lawyer or a case, the complexity of which is evident to the client or convincingly justified by the lawyer.

How to conclude an agreement with a lawyer?

The agreement between the lawyer and the client is a legal contract for the provision of legal assistance to the client himself or to a person appointed by him. It is concluded in a simple written form and must necessarily contain the following conditions:

  1. Indication of the lawyer, his affiliation with the Bar Association and the Bar Chamber.
  2. Subject of the assignment – what the advocate is obliged to do for the client. The subject of the assignment may be limited by the stage of the proceedings, number of sittings, number of documents which the lawyer undertakes to prepare.
  3. The amount of remuneration. Payment systems can be different. As a rule, an advance is provided, which can be justified by the need for an initial immersion in the issue. The payment can then be made contingent on the completion of individual phases of work. The payment itself may be fixed or calculated on the basis of hourly rates and the time spent by the consultant, but not more than a certain amount. Success fees are not precluded for representation in court. Payment can be made both in cash and by wire transfer, with mandatory reference to the details of the concluded agreement. With the consent of the principal, payment may be made by a third party. All payments to the lawyer are subject to compulsory payment to the cash desk of the relevant lawyer’s office. It is not recommended passing money to the lawyer without receiving payment documents.
  4. The procedure and amount of compensation for the lawyer’s expenses related to the performance of the assignment – for example, travel, transportation, postage and other expenses. 

The lawyer will be a party to the agreement between the client and the lawyer personally, not the law firm. Use our advice, and you will be able to avoid such a situation http://www.mkyriakides.wordpress.com/.