Legal Info,
I see your Russian is suffering, probably because you're too Americanized, so I'll type in your "native" language. Have you ever heard the concept of a family physician? A general family doctor who knows enough to treat any non-serious condition? And in case the condition is out of his competence or specialty, he'll refer you to a specialist who only concentrates in that field, such as heart surgery.
Same thing with general practice lawyers. I know enough law (and follow any changes, including attending seminars) to provide legal services in 3-4 different fields to your average russian. For example I started out doing simple stuff like traffic tickets and real estate deals. Although I have done over 500 of each in my mere two yeas of practice, I have seen pretty much everything, as there's really not much to know in these fields. Next, I saw that in order to handle a simple divorce by agreement of both parties, or by default, all you have to do is fill out some forms and prove-up the case in front of a judge. After doing 2-3 divorces and reading up the basic law on it, I have since handled well over 50 divorces, and not ONE had any complications.
Now I don't advertise myself to be a full-service family law attorney. In fact, my newspaper advertisements specifically mention that I only handle divorces by agreement or by default. Clients do call in with questions about contested divorces, child support, division of property, exactly. I am no expert, but I have read the law, but nevertheless, I always refer them to another attorney, who specializes mostly in family law. I do know when to turn down a case.
After learning trafic tickets, real estate and simple divorces, I saw that most russian clients have immigration issues. I never wanted to become an immigration attorney, as the law can get somewhat complex and constantly changes and I have no time for it. Nevertheless, my clients kept asking me to help them, so I took a good month of night-time reading and speaking to other attoneys and watching seminars and calling Immigration with tons of questions, I learned how to do SOME things in immigration, which are pretty simple, such as getting your fiancee or a family member here. I don't do H1B work visas or any other fancy stuff. But it's very simple to fill out a few forms to get a green card, a travel document, an employment authorization document, and believe me, I do know the law behind it. However, when someone calls me with a complicated immigration case, such as deportation, political asylum, etc, I tell them that I want nothing to do with that and refer them to someone who only handles immigration.
I also don't advertise that I handle all types of bankruptcies. I only do Chapter 7, because that's where the market demand is, and again, it's time-consuming but relatively simple. And I have handled bankruptcies successfully and continue to, despite the myth that last year's bankruptcy reform eliminated bankruptcy.
I also don't take criminal cases to trial, but I do successfully plea bargain with the prosecution to minimize any fines and eliminate convictions on my clients' records.
You are a lay person. You know nothing about the practice of law and the everyday tasks a lawyer has to handle. Your opinion that a lawyer has to specialize in only 1-2 fields is wrong. Very few lawyers handle only 1-2 things, simply because there's not enough demand to make a living by handling only 1-2 fields of law.
Yes, it was time-consuming learning about all different areas of the law. But again, I don't handle everything. I don't do personal injury, I don't do worker's comp, I don't do tax law or corporate work, trusts, estates. But I'm very successful in what I do for my clients and they are happy with the result, and I get more and more referrals every day. This internet site is just for entetainment. All I do is give free advice on the phone from this site. Real clients who pay money, don't usually resort to the internet to find a lawyer. America is a competition-based economy, and if I wasn't good at what I do, I wouldn't have survived for the last year working for myself. It's quite the opposite, my client base grows and so does my experience. I make good money and I am my own boss. I set my salary, my work schedule, decide what I wanna do and what I don't. And trust me, I wouldn't want YOU as my client. If a potential client doubts my competency or gives me shit, let him go screw himself, I don't have time for attitude and don't much care for the pennies he won't pay me, because I can afford to. Now go get a life, stop surfing the internet and talking dirt, and stop taking away my precious time. |
