Our Unique Approach to Legal Services
When it comes to shopping for legal services, it is hard to know what to expect, or even what to look for. Different attorneys will often handle similar matters in ways that vary widely when it comes to the level of detail, complexity, price, and time. For example, one attorney might draft a will for a person that is 10 pages long and costs $900. Another attorney might, for the exact same situation, draft a will that is three pages long and costs $400. But the price and length of legal documents is not necessarily a good indicator of their quality. So which of these attorneys should a person choose to draft a will?
Moreover, some attorneys are quick to recommend litigation as a means of settling a dispute or claim, while others may recommend alternative dispute resolution. Some attorneys frequently push the boundaries of what is legal and ethical, while others prefer to take a very clear and safe (but sometimes less convenient) approach to legal and ethical issues. These types of issues can make selecting an attorney difficult and confusing, and results in some people choosing their attorney based solely on price or convenience.
While we are not able to provide direct comparisons of our services to other law firms, we want to help you know, as much as possible, what to expect if you choose to hire us. To do that, we have explained below our approach to personalized service, legal fees, document drafting, and dispute resolution.
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Personalized Service
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In the legal profession it can be tempting to try to increase revenue by providing a "cookie cutter" approach that tries to apply the same solution (for example, the same will or business agreement template) to every client. Any reputable law firm knows that failing to first understand the needs of a client will likely end in a poor result for the client. Therefore, our goal is to provide personalized service that meets your needs and values, while helping you think through the important decisions that need to be made. As we do this, we strive to integrate Biblical principles and values into our counsel that will keep us and our clients walking in spiritual and personal integrity.
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Legal Fees
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Our goal is to operate efficiently while maintaining a high standard of quality, so that we can deliver the best possible value to our clients. Sometimes delivering value might mean spending extra time with a client that has a complex situation, resulting in higher fees but also a better outcome. For a client with very limited financial means, delivering value might mean focusing on efficiency and simplicity. We realize that the cost of legal services is a reason why some people delay or avoid visiting an attorney. By operating efficiently and keeping overhead at a reasonable level we hope to price our services at the middle to low end of the legal services market, thus making our services affordable for more people. We also strive to avoid surprising our clients with higher-than-expected legal bills. Whenever possible, we will quote a flat fee to provide the legal services you need so you can understand the cost before you commit.
Document Drafting
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If you have noticed that legal documents are generally long, filled with difficult words, and just overall hard to understand, you are not the only one. The truth is, there are very few instances when this type of "legalese" is necessary or desirable. Often, attorneys simply continue writing this way because that is how they were trained to do it, or maybe they are using templates that were drafted long ago, or maybe they think that clients are impressed with many pages filled with words like "whereas," "heretofore," or "party of the first part." We are not impressed by words like this, and if you will be disappointed if your documents do not contain them, you might want to consider hiring a different attorney.
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Because extra length often means that a document will probably only be skimmed, and using difficult words often means a document will not be understood, our approach when writing documents is to keep them as simple and as short as possible, while still being sufficiently detailed to meet the needs of our clients. We believe that writing documents that clients can read and understand adds significant value to our services, and that is our goal. That being said, there are some parts of legal documents that we cannot expect everyone will understand, simply because some legal provisions require advanced legal or accounting knowledge for them to make sense. And, sometimes documents need to be long, such as when there are multiple or complicated aspects of an estate plan or business agreement that need to be addressed. Just know that it is our goal to write simply, clearly, and with only the length necessary to protect our clients and accomplish their objectives.
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Dispute Resolution
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We believe that avoiding litigation when settling a dispute or claim is almost always the best option. The costs, emotional strain, and harm to relationships caused by litigation can be very significant, and the Bible wisely warns against engaging in lawsuits. For this reason, one of our Core Values is peacemaking. Our goal is to help our clients and their families avoid harmful disputes by planning effectively for times of transition when disagreements are more likely to arise (like death, incapacity, or business transitions), and by writing legal agreements that emphasize peaceful resolution of disagreements. Also, we offer Mediation services to assist our clients in achieving peaceful resolutions to conflict.