I retained the Lawyer I was working for when a drunken driver ran my two youngest daughters and first granddaughter off the road and into a deep ditch on their way home. I did not have to pay a retainer and my Lawyer accepted only a small fee for winning our case since I did all the paperwork involved. I also retained a Lawyer when I divorced. Again I paid nothing because my ex had not allowed me to take a paying job while married to him. So he had to pay all the legal fees for our divorce.
Only simple things involving buying property, title searches, transferring deeds. Pretty standard fees.
My ex did when we split up. No fault in Virginia at the time took a year and cost $2,000. She moved to Florida, lived there for 6 months, and paid a lawyer $500. I've worked with plenty of staff attorneys in my career of contract negotiations. When my mother was selling the two adjoining properties she had for many decades, we found our own buyers (developers), structured our own deals (flipping of a rental property and a personal residence) and negotiated the details. We hired a real estate attorney to put our agreements into proper format. I forget what the charge was.
I sued a towing company that I worked for after breaking my hand on the job. I wouldn't have sued but there was a longer story. I settled the case, against the wishes of my attorney, because I got the job with the paper company and couldn't afford to miss work. I hired an attorney to sue for custody of the neighbor's kid and won. Without letting me know in advance, he did most of the work for free. We hired a bankruptcy attorney after our Internet cafe failed. We hired an attorney to draw up LLC papers. In none of these cases did I consider the attorney costs to be excessive.
As I see it and Believe it, Lawyers Lie the Most....it's their bread and butter. And politics is FULL of Lawyers........... I dated a retired attorney many yrs ago and he told me he had 2 children.....We dated for a year or so and I found his obit and it states he had 9 Children.....Not 2, but 9.... It was an Interesting and Very Tumultuous Time In my Life.....more learning lessons... He did work on the O.J. trial.... Not sure where to place this so put it here..
Retaining a lawyer is not the same as using a lawyer. I could be wrong . Have consulted a few, used one for the Will, but no need to retain one on a permanent basis .
Lawyers are useful sometimes. I have had several friends who were/are lawyers, and consulted one when I purchased our house and property because an oil company had a mineral rights lease on the property that had been signed by the previous owner from whom we were purchasing the property. I think we saw him twice; first visit was free and the second cost $30. Not bad, and he set my mind at ease.
That's a interesting distinction. I think retaining one is different than having one on retainer. I guess if you have had a small business, or have engaged in real estate speculation, then you might have a lawyer on retainer.
You are absolutely correct. re·tain [rəˈtān] keep keep back maintain continue preserve reserve conserve perpetuate cherish give up lose abolish discontinue alter not abolish or alter; maintain: maintain keep continue preserve reserve conserve perpetuate cherish OPPOSITE: abolish discontinue alter keep in one's memory: remember memorize learn recall recollect think of con keep in one's mind forget keep (someone) engaged in one's service: employ commission contract pay hire engage appoint recruit sign on sign up dismiss
I used the best lawyer ever and he became a friend. He was not on a retainer, he charged by the hour and took pity on me often without charging me when I had to fight an A**hole flooding my farm because he didn't have egress for a water feature he put in, north of my property, for his subdivision. The guy knew I didn't have a lot of money. He never thought I would get a LAWYER. But, when a 2x4 won't work, a lawyer can be good.
I encourage people to consult a lawyer if they have a problem or potential problem they cannot resolve. Usually an initial consultation doesn't cost much and a simple letter from an attorney can often resolve an issue quickly.