About 5.5 percent of Colombians needed to hire a lawyer in the last year, according to statistics from the judicial branch presented to the Congress of the Republic in 2017. This percentage is a very high number of people (more of 2,711,831 Colombians) may be much higher given that the statistics of the judicial branch do not consider the multiple notarial procedures such as divorces by mutual agreement, inheritances, contracts, etc., which could require the hiring of a divorce attorney huntersville.
With these figures in mind and understanding that you, a family member or a friend could need to hire the services of a lawyer about five times throughout your life, these five tips have been created that all Colombians should take into account. Time to hire the right lawyer for your case.
- Validate the professional card and the background of the lawyer to be hired: It is important that you always corroborate with the competent authorities the validity of the professional card, as well as the disciplinary background in order to guarantee the competence of the hired lawyer.
This advice is not optional given that as of 2018 there are more than 1,425 lawyers sanctioned, according to the president of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, Pedro Alonso Sanabria, not to mention the thousands of lawyers investigated.
- Choose a specialized and/or experienced lawyer: To explain this advice, the following analogy will be used: If you suffered from heart problems, which one do you think would be the most suitable specialist? A general practitioner or a doctor specializing in cardiology? It is clear that the most accurate response would be that of a cardiologist. Well, the same thing happens when you are hiring the services of a lawyer, given that, as in any career, the more experience and knowledge the professional has on a topic (specialty), the more likely he is to achieve better results in a shorter time and at a lower cost. cost.
- Compare several proposals from different lawyers: The high demand for lawyer services has led to a high supply of legal services that range from supposedly free advice to advice with exorbitant costs. Ideally, you should compare the cost/benefit of several proposals and select the one that best suits you based on the specialty, experience, cost, added values of the service, location of the lawyer to be hired, among others.
Additionally, it is important to understand that no honest professional with experience and specialties is going to give away their work, or in other words, doubt the supposed free legal advice, since there is not much sense for someone to study for five or more years to go out and give away. his work and the years of preparation.
Finally, do not forget that lawyers are like wine, if you do not make an informed decision and hire the cheapest one or a friend you know without verifying their studies, experience and validity of their professional card, the next day do not complain about the lawyer. headache and the time and money it caused you to waste.
- Clarify the payment method from the beginning: Below we will explain the advantages and disadvantages of the three most used payment methods in Colombia when hiring the services of a lawyer.
A. Fixed rate:It is when the value of the lawyer’s fees is negotiated in advance, either for carrying out a process or providing legal advice. You can agree to a payment of 50 percent at the beginning and the other 50 percent at the end, or you could also negotiate 50 percent at the beginning, 30 percent during the process and the remaining 20 percent at the end.
- Advantages: Know in advance the total cost of the legal procedure or process. Additionally, this form of contracting could allow you to negotiate and why not have a lower cost. At this point, it is worth mentioning that many lawyers are already modernizing and some receive payments with debit and/or credit cards over the internet, allowing you to have financing through your credit card.
- Disadvantages: You must have the money or space on the credit card at the time of hiring the lawyer.
B. Litis Fee (by results): With this form of payment, you can agree with the lawyer that the payment for his services is based on the positive results that he obtains, that is, if the lawyer wins the process he charges and if he loses the lawyer DOES NOT charge. Within the practice, it is customary to charge between 30 percent and 50 percent of the economic result of the process.
- Advantages: You can hire the services of a lawyer without having the resources to pay in advance.
- Disadvantages: For the lawyer to assume all the risk of losing months or even years of work, in addition to travel expenses, notifications, copies, etc., the amount you pay at the end of the process will be much higher than that of your counterpart. fixed rate.
C. Mixed system: It consists of a mix between a fixed rate and a percentage of the economic result of the process.
- Advantages and disadvantages: It is the midpoint between the advantages and disadvantages of the previous payment methods, since it allows you to have a lower first payment and a lower success fee.
- Use the benefits of technology and the Internet: As with air tickets where there are several platforms that allow you to compare different airlines so that you can select the one that best suits your needs, there are platforms like Tus Abogados and Accountants that allow you to compare and obtain up to 3 quotes from different law firms and/or independent attorneys.
Investigating a little more about this platform, it was seen that they offer the following advantages when hiring a lawyer safely, easily and quickly:
- Being able to find in one place more than 700 independent lawyers or law firms specialized in all areas. branches of law and for all budgets.
- Possibility of comparing up to three quotes from different law firms and independent lawyers, in order to be able to select the one that best suits your needs. Remember to evaluate specialties, experience, cost, location, added values offered by each law firm, etc.
- They save you the work of validating professional cards and background information before the competent authorities and, if they find everything in order, they certify it in the public profiles of each lawyer.
- Once you compare and select the firm or lawyer that best meets your requirements, you can meet in person or online and thus formalize the hiring of the selected lawyer.