Is Anyone Here a Lawyer or Member of Law Enforcement?

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by Yosef_Malkovitch

I am a lawyer. My first thought when I read the OP is that most lawyers don't want to bother with this because there's not much money in it for them.

Not saying you (OP) have done this, but the amount of people who call up and "just want to ask a few questions about [their] rights" but have no intent of paying for my time is staggering. And I'm usually not inclined to put much effort into talking to them unless and until the clock is running and I'm getting paid.

A lawyer doesn't get a salary. He is paid for his time. Put differently, his time is what he sells. Every 15 minutes he spends talking to a non-paying caller is 15 minutes he's not getting paid for. It's literally like taking money out of his pocket.

Combine that with a (probable) low dollar case, and you're going to have a hard time getting anyone to seriously look into the issues and discuss them because they already suspect you're not going to want to pay them what it will cost to litigate. Simply put, they don't want to waste their time.

If you really want to get a lawyer to take a serious look into it, you need to start off the conversation by telling them you will pay their hourly rate for their time discussing it with you--regardless of whether you ultimately litigate or not. That way, if they spend time investigating and dissecting your situation and you decide you don't want to sue (which, to be honest, is probably going to be the outcome unless it's an extremely valuable vehicle), they still get compensated.

Just my 2 cents.

Tl;dr juice isn’t worth the squeeze

[Yosef_Malkovitch]

Originally Posted by DenverChief

Tl;dr juice isn’t worth the squeeze

Exactly this. And if you want someone to actually dig into it, you need to offer some juice up front.

[TimeForWasp]

Originally Posted by Yosef_Malkovitch

Exactly this. And if you want someone to actually dig into it, you need to offer some juice up front.

Ok Yosef, you can have the antique flower fabric couch as a retainer.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DenverChief

Tl;dr juice isn’t worth the squeeze

I read it, but only because I'm going to bill him $75 for it now.

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I read it, but only because I'm going to bill him $75 for it now.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Yosef_Malkovitch

I am a lawyer. My first thought when I read the OP is that most lawyers don't want to bother with this because there's not much money in it for them.

Not saying you (OP) have done this, but the amount of people who call up and "just want to ask a few questions about [their] rights" but have no intent of paying for my time is staggering. And I'm usually not inclined to put much effort into talking to them unless and until the clock is running and I'm getting paid.

A lawyer doesn't get a salary. He is paid for his time. Put differently, his time is what he sells. Every 15 minutes he spends talking to a non-paying caller is 15 minutes he's not getting paid for. It's literally like taking money out of his pocket.

Combine that with a (probable) low dollar case, and you're going to have a hard time getting anyone to seriously look into the issues and discuss them because they already suspect you're not going to want to pay them what it will cost to litigate. Simply put, they don't want to waste their time.

If you really want to get a lawyer to take a serious look into it, you need to start off the conversation by telling them you will pay their hourly rate for their time discussing it with you--regardless of whether you ultimately litigate or not. That way, if they spend time investigating and dissecting your situation and you decide you don't want to sue (which, to be honest, is probably going to be the outcome unless it's an extremely valuable vehicle), they still get compensated.

Just my 2 cents.

This is, almost without exception, the correct answer.