CONSULTATIONS

From Alexandra’s interview for the Masters of Family Law series on ReelLawyers.com

The consultations that Atticus Family Law offers to potential clients are a practice arising from Abraham Lincoln’s statement, “A lawyer’s time and advice are his stock in trade.” The consultation is crafted to make sure that the client gets valuable information and witnesses the lawyer in action. Click here to schedule a consultation.

Compare Types of Consultations

Here is how our consultations work:

• During the consultation the client controls the agenda. The attorney hears out your concerns, asks questions, and reviews documents as well as gives you earnest legal advice based on the facts presented. In the consultation, real legal counseling is performed – under this model the attorney does not tell the potential client just what the client wants to hear, does not “sell” the client, and does not try to impress with legalese or law knowledge. Rather the consultation permits the attorney to demonstrate to the client how they practice law, spot issues, analyze facts and communicate with the client.
• There is a fee for the consultation. This payment ensures that attorney’s time is respected, and it alleviates the pressure for the attorney to convince the client to retain the firm. The client recognizes a greater net gain from a paid consultation than a “free consultation” – the client truly gets what they pay for.
• Client gets a reduced retainer towards any future work. The advantage for the client is that if the client needs further legal services for their concern, the fee is credited towards their retainer. In the end either the client has the answers they need (and goes off without any further contact with the firm) or they have a lawyer who has started to get to know them & their case facts, who has demonstrated their lawyering style, and who’s services the client can retain for a discounted fee.
• The consultation is amongst the potential client, whomever the client also wants there, and the AFL attorney.This permits the potential client to have with them the people they need to understand the advice, ask needed questions, and help them remember it afterwards. For some matters, a 2-hour consultation will be needed but 1 hour usually suffices.
• The firm’s consultation includes follow-up questions that arise in the days afterwards. In our experience the client inevitably thinks of some other questions and/or talks with someone who has other relevant, important questions. This model makes sure ALL of the client’s questions are answered.

The quality of the firm’s legal consultations offered to potential clients can be attributed to this nation’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. If you would like to schedule a consultation, be it to get your questions answered or get to know the firm for legal representation, please click here.

FEES

How You Will be Charged for our Services

Atticus Family Law charges on hourly and flat rate basis. The hourly fee is available for all cases, while the flat fee is available for our work on certain amicable divorces, contested divorces, child support, orders for protection, harassment restraining orders, and other cases in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. We use a written fee agreement to set the hourly rates for our work.

As work is completed and billed to you the earned funds are transferred from a trust account to our firm’s account. Upon completion of our firm’s work any remaining retainer funds in the trust account are returned to you. Retainer payments can be paid with cash, a personal check, a bank or cashier’s check, or a credit card or debit card.

Clients who opt for the flat fee appreciate the peace of mind that comes from the certainty of a fixed-sum for the services received and can be comforted knowing that their costs are contained. This is especially true for clients with litigious cases — when the actions and demands of the other spouse or other parent require greater time and attention, clients appreciate knowing they won’t be billed for it.

FACE TO FACE MEETINGS 

We have several opportunities for face-to-face meetings with our clients, both in-person and online.

It’s helpful if you write down your questions before the meeting. That way, you can ensure all of your questions and concerned are addressed.

Our attorneys and staff meet with clients at each of our three office locations. The Stillwater and Saint Paul offices are staffed from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday; the Minneapolis office is by appointment only.

ONLINE VIDEO CONFERENCING

Many times, it is crucial that we have an important discussion but there are complications. Its clear that meeting face-to-face is better for the discussion than talking on the telephone, but the availability and logistics make an in-person meeting difficult or impossible. Hence we offer our clients online video conferencing through Zoom and Skype. For your convenience, our connection information is below.

Zoom Domain: https://zoom.us/j/7209340342

Passcode: 6303

Skype Domain: https://web.skype.com/en/    (however note that it works better with app/software)

Our Skype Name: atticus.family.law

For those people interested in our legal services, we schedule in-person face-to-face meetings. When those people live abroad or outside of Minnesota (or they have very particular other circumstances) we will schedule an online consultation with them.