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Legal Services Discount Program
only $14.95 per month
plus $3.50 shipping - first month only
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offered by:
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All your legal needs, new or old, can now be attended to. Due to the volume of clients that Consumer Legal Network refers to its participating attorneys, these attorneys have agreed to abide by the discounted fee schedule and provide the free services described in this membership book to Legal Club members. If you encounter any problems accessing these services, please call the customer service number on the front of your membership card for assistance or reassignment if necessary.
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Your Plan Attorney:
Simply call the customer service number on the front of your membership card to find the right attorney in your area. Customer service representatives for the Consumer Legal Network are available on weekdays from 9am to 8pm EST excluding holidays to answer any Legal Club or Network Attorney related questions. Customer service representatives can also refer you to another attorney if you wish.
You will been assigned an attorney based upon your geographic location, language preference and specific legal need (if given). If you wish to use another attorney in the club, simply contact member services so they can refer you to another participating attorney. Attorneys are listed by location, area of practice and foreign language capability. When a new legal problem arises, call your participating attorney during normal business hours. All participating attorneys are pre-qualified, licensed and registered to practice law in your state. Only participating attorneys are obligated to provide our plan members with our low discounted fees. Personal and family legal situations are eligible for these fees. Law Areas Included:
Calling an Attorney for Legal Advise:
Please be sure to have your membership number handy when calling your plan attorney for the first time. You must notify the attorney's receptionist that you are a Legal Club member and give your membership number.
You will then be required to give a brief description of your legal situation so the attorney with the expertise required for your problem can receive your call. You and your attorney will then decide whether a face to face consultation is necessary. This is a personal decision between you and your attorney and may differ with each new legal situation. Your initial in-person consultation for new legal matters is a member's privilege with no additional charge. After the initial visit, your cost will never exceed the published rates outlined in this membership book. You and your attorney will discuss which payment option is applicable to your personal legal situation. You will pay your attorney directly for any legal expenses you may incur in accordance with this membership book. Each attorney may have different payment plans available, please ask your attorney for their specific requirements. Attorneys may charge a retainer fee at the discounted rates. Confidentiality:
You can rest assured that all of your legal matters are guaranteed to be exclusively between you and your plan attorney. The Consumer Legal Network will not interfere in any way with the attorney/client relationship that you have established. Participating attorneys are obligated by their State's Professional Code of Ethics to maintain the utmost confidentiality in their attorney/client relations.
For quality control purposes, you, as a plan member, agree that participating attorneys may furnish the Consumer Legal Network with anonymous information concerning billing, area of practice, and time spent. This statistical information allows us to make sure that you are receiving the full benefit from your membership. Family Eligibility:
Upon enrollment, you become a plan member of the Consumer Legal Network. Your immediate family may utilize your plan privileges in the same capacity. Immediate family members include your significant other and any unmarried dependent children who are under 23 years of age. Individuals that are living with you and are categorically dependent upon you for support are also included. These individuals include mentally challenged individuals or court appointed dependents. Unless requested by you as administrator or executor, services to an individual's estate are not available at plan rates.
Definitions:
Please read this section carefully to be sure of all of your benefits.
Bankruptcy Chapter 7 includes preparation of the petition, documents, and schedules. Filing fees, court appearances and costs are additional. Attorneys may charge one fixed rate which would include the basic fixed fee plus costs, court time and expenses. Corporation (Regular) includes preparation of the incorporation documents, articles of incorporation, by laws, and the minutes. Does not include filing fees, costs or the corporate kit. Any extended work for the new corporation is not eligible for Legal Club discounts. Divorce (Simple) is when the plan member's spouse is not represented by separate counsel, there are no minor children under age 18, marital assets are less than $70,000 and all issues are agreed to without aid of counsel. This does not include court appearances, the filing or preparation of documents affecting property or costs, or separation agreements. Plan Member is any person who has contracted with the Consumer Legal Network for a membership in the plan and has a current paid membership. Eligible Family Members are the plan member's significant other and unmarried dependent children household who are under the age of 23 and any categorically dependent individuals living in the plan member's home. Name Change obtaining name change for plan members and eligible family members where it is not contested or challenged. This includes preparation and filing of documents only. Court representation, filing fees and costs additional. . Non-Commercial Real Estate Closing includes reviewing purchase or sale agreements, one hour of telephone counseling, and a one hour appearance at closing for the purchase or sale of residential real estate not used for business or investment purposes. Title policy, other documentation and extended counseling (if any) is an additional charge Non-Support (Spouse/Child) includes the preparation for and the attendance at a single hearing for judgments or contempt citations for non-payment of alimony, child support or maintenance and one hour of collection efforts after the hearing. Preparation does not include obtaining or discovering evidence, extended court time, and extended collections work. Plan/Participating Attorneys are licensed and qualified to practice law in your state, are required by the company to maintain professional liability insurance, and have contracted with Legal Club to provide legal services to plan members as outlined in this Plan member Guidebook for the law areas that they handle and the cases that they accept. Simple Will (No Charge Will) a will distributing personal property and homestead generally and not involving trusts, specific bequests, real estate, tax matters, guardianships, living wills, health care proxy, or partitions. Traffic Defense generally includes the preparation of court documents and attendance at a one-time only court hearing to settle the issue. This does not include court costs, fines, additional hearings or other related expenses. Does not applyin jurisdictions that consider traffic offenses to be criminal matters. Will with Simple Minor's Trust a simple will with a minor's trust for the surviving minor children of the plan member. This will is eligible for the guaranteed low fixed fee. It does not cover other kinds of trusts, complex tax matters, administration or estate planning. These additional estate planning matters can be handled under the guaranteed low hourly rate. Definitions:
The following matters are excluded from your plan privileges:
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Free Services:
The following services are available at no charge from your plan attorney. Please read this section carefully.
Advice on New Legal Matters During normal business hours, you may call your plan attorney with any new legal matter. A new legal matter is one about which you have never spoken to the attorney before. Your attorney will listen to your problem, advise you about your legal rights, and help you find a solution to your problem. In some cases further legal advice may be unnecessary. If not, you may be advised on how to solve your problem by yourself. If further representation is necessary, then you and your attorney will decide the next step. You may be responsible for long distance toll charges for telephone calls made by your attorney on your behalf. Review of Legal Documents Before you sign on the dotted line, bring your legal documents to your plan attorney for review. Legal documents include: loan agreements, leases, residential real estate, contracts, employment agreements, etc. Your plan attorney will review up to 6 pages at no charge. Additional pages may be reviewed or the entire document may be rewritten at the guaranteed low hourly rate of $75 plus costs. Documents that are part of an on-going case, require extended legal service or require third party negotiation are not included in this section. Initial Letter or Phone Call on Your Behalf Phone calls and legal letters, often help resolve legal matters. When necessary, your plan member attorney will write an initial letter or make an initial phone call on your behalf. Letters, or legal situations which need further negotiation with third parties, are part of an ongoing case, and letters related to collection matters will accrue additional charges. These charges are not to exceed the guaranteed low hourly rate. In-Person Consultations for any New Legal Problem When further meetings concerning the same matter are necessary, your attorney will inform you that additional charges will accrue at a rate of no more than the guaranteed low hourly rate. Simple Will Preparation or Update If a simple will fits your needs, your plan attorney will prepare a simple will or update an existing simple will for you and eligible family members at no charge. You are also entitled to have the simple will updated at no additional cost. A simple will covers the distribution of personal property and homestead generally and does not include specific bequests, guardianships, complex tax matters, trusts, or estate planning. If your financial or legal situation requires you to have a more complex will, your attorney can draft the will at a fee no more than the guaranteed low hourly rate or guaranteed fixed fee if your will qualifies. Fixed fees are reviewed later in this membership book. Advice on Representing Yourself in Small Claims Court Before you represent yourself in small claims court, contact your plan attorney for advice and strategy on how to plan and prepare your case at no cost. Your attorney will counsel you over the phone during this initial consultation about how to prepare the necessary paperwork to represent yourself. If necessary, your plan attorney may prepare the paperwork for you at an additional fee in accordance with the discounted rates. Advice on Government Programs When government red tape has you going around in circles, your plan attorney will assist you during an initial consultation in locating the proper agency. They will counsel you in how to cut through the red tape of government programs like Social Security and Medicare at no cost. Your plan attorney can formally file for services and represent you at no more than the guaranteed low hourly rate. Guranteed low hourly rate:
After the initial no cost consultation, you and your attorney may decide that further legal work or representation may be required. If this is the case, you and your attorney may agree to handle the matter at an hourly rate. The attorney can often estimate how many hours any given case may take. All costs and filing fees are additional.
If services have already been incurred on the guaranteed low fixed fee schedule outlined in this section, a matter may thereafter become too complex than originally anticipated. If a matter is no longer qualified under the guaranteed low fixed fee schedule, you may switch to the hourly rate of no more than $75 for attorney services. For example, a simple uncontested divorce may suddenly become a contested nightmare. If the attorney had already worked for many hours on the divorce, you would pay the guaranteed low fixed rate in the schedule of $210 as agreed and then no more than $75 per hour for the remainder of the work needed to resolve the matter. Of course, you and your attorney must be in full agreement of these fees. Guaranteed Discounted Contingency Fee Percentages:
Attorneys often work on a contingency fee basis in matters dealing with personal injury damages and collections. In these cases as well as others, the attorney agrees to be paid a percentage of the recovery or award rather than a set rate or hourly fee.
In some cases, contingency fee maximums are set by state law. In these matters, your fee will be the lower of either 10% less than the maximum fee set by state law or the attorney's usual fee. For example, if your state has a fee maximum of 30%, you would pay the lower of either 27% or the attorney's usual fee. If the attorney would normally charge 25%, you would pay this percentage because it is the lower rate. Where state law does not set maximum levels for contingency fees, your guaranteed discounted rate will not exceed 29% if settled before trial, 36% if awarded during or after trial, or 40% if settled or awarded after an appellate brief is prepared. Guaranteed Low Fixed Fees:
On the following selected services, the Legal Club Plan member attorneys have agreed to charge the following guaranteed low fixed fees. Please read the definitions section on pages 16-17 of this membership book carefully to see whether your legal problem will qualify for the guaranteed low fixed fees. These prices are for the legal fees only and do not include any applicable filing fees or costs.
If your problem does not qualify for the fixed fee rate, you and your attorney can agree to the guaranteed low hourly fee. Your attorney can even estimate the amount of hours it will take to resolve your problem. Criminal law matters are usually handled by attorneys at fixed rates. The rates quoted to members by participating attorneys vary due to the differing facts and circumstances of each case. The attorneys base these fixed fees upon an estimate of how many hours of work and expenses that any given case may consume in conjunction with the low hourly plan rate. Retainer fees may also vary depending upon the severity of the case at hand and the jurisdiction where the case is located.
* The fees listed above do not include additional filing fees, costs, or administrative expenses. They are only for legal services rendered. See definitions section. Miscellaneous:
Participating attorneys are bound by their state's professional code of ethics. They will advise you if they have a conflict of interest in taking your case. Attorneys have the inherent right to decline a case for any reason. If this occurs, you may be referred to another attorney on the plan by calling the customer service center of Consumer Legal Network for assistance.
The penalty for deceiving the Legal Club or any plan attorney for the purpose of utilizing the plan for a non-eligible family member is automatic termination of plan privileges and immediate notification to the plan attorney about the termination. Consumer Legal Network, its subsidiaries, State Bar Associations and other regulatory agencies do not guarantee the quality or quantity of legal services that are provided by plan attorneys. However, all participating attorneys are checked by the Legal Club with the attorney's respective Bar Associations periodically, not less than annually, to verify that they are in good standing. The plan attorneys in their attorney/client relationship have the sole responsibility for providing legal services to the plan member. The Consumer Legal Network, is not a law firm, insurance carrier or a provider of legal services. Plan members have the right to file a grievance concerning any attorney's professional conduct with the proper regulatory authority in their state. Attorney fees are paid directly to your plan attorney. Participating attorneys are not employees of the Consumer Legal Network and have no financial obligation to the company. The Consumer Legal Network is not liable to indemnify or reimburse any plan member or participating attorney for any attorney fees or costs generated by the plan member.The plan member is to use the plan for personal and family legal services only and not for businesses owned by the plan member or for investment matters. The term "guarantee" as used in this guidebook refers to the guarantee that Consumer Legal Network will find and refer its members to an attorney that will abide by the fee schedule outlined herein. If Consumer Legal Network cannot find such an attorney for a member, the memberŐs only recourse is a refund of their membership fee. Court filing fees, expert witness fees, court costs, court reporter fees, transcript expenses, photocopying costs, postage, telephone toll charges and any other incidental expenses incurred by the plan member are excluded from discounted rates under any of the three pricing formulas described in this membership book. Travel expenses are not eligible at discounted rates when the attorney must travel to represent a plan member's interests. |
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