There will be situations where you definitely need the advice of an attorney or
you need to retain an attorney to represent you in the traditional manner,
either in court or in a transaction which is too complex for you to represent
yourself.
Once you have decided you need a lawyer, it is a good idea to shop around. The
first step is to compile a list of names. The recommendation of someone whose
judgment you trust is an excellent place to start your search. You may want to
begin by asking relatives, friends, clergy, social workers, or your doctor for
recommendations. Often those persons can refer you to someone who has provided
similar legal services for them. Remember that you need to know more about the
lawyer than simply that the person is a good attorney. Ask the persons making
the recommendation for specific information about the type of legal help the
lawyer provided them and how their case was handled.
You now have more choices than ever in locating an attorney who will be able
to represent you for a reasonable rate.
Another resource to check is the American Bar Association's On-Line
Guide to Finding Legal Help on the Internet.
 Another
choice is the the Attorney
Finder Network at ARAGDIRECT.COM
. This Directory is very consumer-oriented and doesn't depend on
advertising revenues from attorneys. Created by the ARAG
Group, ARAGDIRECT.COM
is backed by more than 25 years' experience in the legal services market.
ARAG Group markets professional advisory plans to corporate clients across the
United States and has been developing and administering legal service plans
since 1973. No fee is charged to access this Directory.
The American
Associated of Retired Persons (AARP) has established a new AARP
Legal Services Network who specialize in elder law and in the legal needs of
those who are over 50 years of age. If you are an AARP member you can receive a
free 30 minute consultation, 20% off of the attorney's standard rates, and you
pay a fixed price for certain standardized tasks such as preparation of a Will.
See Tips for Consumers
If you are looking for a plaintiff's
litigation attorney also try the American Trial
Lawyer's Association, the bar association whose members are the leading
plaintiff's attorneys in the nation.
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IS FREE OR REDUCED-COST LEGAL HELP AVAILABLE?
There are a number of options for finding affordable legal help.
The ______________is the federally-funded state wide legal services program
in Hawaii.
For general information about legal services in Hawaii
checkout the ------------------- and links to these legal
services organizations.
Free Legal Help for Older People
The Older Americans Act (OAA) requires your state
office on aging to fund a local Area Agency on Aging (AAA) program that
provides free legal help on non-criminal matters to people age 60 and
over. Each of the over 644 local AAAs sets aside funds to provide free
legal assistance for those older persons who are in the greatest social
and economic need. In many states, the AAAs contract with the Legal
Services Corporation (LSC) funded programs described below. They may also
set up their own programs or contract with private attorneys to provide
legal services to older persons.
OAA legal services advocates provide representation in
court or at administrative hearings, community education, and self-help
publications. The OAA programs offer other types of assistance and
services as well. For example, an advocate may assist an older person with
a food stamp appeal and arrange for transportation to a nutrition site.
The OAA legal services programs do a great deal of outreach to the
community. Some attorneys spend as much as half of their time speaking at
senior centers or visiting people in their own homes.
There are no income guidelines that clients must meet
in order to qualify for services. However, the legal services provider and
the Area Agency on Aging may set priorities about the preferred type of
representation, such as obtaining government benefits, and may not be able
to provide help in cases the agency considers to be a lower priority.
Cost: No cost to eligible clients.
Eligibility & Access to Service: OAA legal services
providers handle civil (not criminal) matters for persons age 60 or older
regardless of income. Local offices set priorities for the types of cases
they will handle. Not all cases can be handled.
Locating Local Agencies: Agencies providing free legal
help to older persons can be identified by calling your local Area Agency
on Aging listed in the government section of the telephone directory.
A national directory of OAA legal services providers
(entitled Law & Aging Resource Guide) lists a state-by-state breakdown
of the addresses and phone numbers of each office and is available from
the American Bar Association Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly,
1800 M Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 331-2297. Single
state profiles are free. A complete copy of all state profiles is $20.
Pro Bono
or Reduced-Fee Attorney Panels
Hawaii has a network
of pro bono and reduced fee panels that can be very helpful. A pro
bono panels refers to free legal help that private attorneys provide as a
public service. In addition, some private attorneys are willing to reduce
their fees if a client's income is low.
Cost: Reduced-fee panels provide legal help at a
cost less than the fee that the private attorney "usually"
charges for a case of the same type. The exact fee varies based on locale
and the individual attorney's fee schedule. Attorneys who agree to handle
a case pro bono will not charge for their services although there may be
court costs and other costs associated with the case.
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We provides this link to the "Ask an Attorney" service offered by
ARAGDIRECT.
The service is provided by ARAGDIRECT, a company that provides prepaid legal insurance to hundreds of thousands of employees in Fortune 500 companies. Attorneys who answer questions are affiliated with
ARAG, not HawaiiLegalAssist.com We do not share in any revenue
from this service. We provide this link as a service to our customers.
The cost of this service is $39.95 per phone call with no limit on the amount of
time that you can talk to your attorney about the same problem. Your attorney
will be a member of the Hawaii Bar. We chose to offer ARAG's phone advice service
because we believe it's an excellent and much needed service. If you one of
our legal document to handle your own legal matters, you may want
some expert help or advice -- but without turning over the entire legal matter to a lawyer. For the first time, we know
an easy way to buy just the legal services you need.We've been impressed with the integrity, as well as the affordability, of the service. The attorneys who staff the phones for the
"Ask an Attorney" network are screened (they must be licensed and in good standing with their state bar association) and monitored by
ARAGDIRECT. They are also forbidden from offering to sell you more services -- which means that they have no incentive to recommend more lawyer's services than you need. Finally, there's a money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied.
Additional information on how this unique service
works.
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