Q: Hi. I have a friend, a 21 yr old single mother being tricked in family court and needs an atty pro bono if possible.
She has 2 kids and has been trying to handle a messy visitation agreement on her own. Shes being tricked by her babys fathers lawyer into signing things. She has a court date set for the end of this month and no representation as she cant afford to hire one. Shes scared shes going to lose her kids. One shes not being able to see at all. Im desperately trying to find her representation. I will do what i can to help her.
A: Raise money for her to hire an attorney. Do a fundraiser, post on GoFundMe, try Facebook donations, but trying to find a pro bono attorney is pretty much a non-starter. But you might be able to convince an attorney to take it on a flat fee of 2500 to 5000. Practicing law is an extremely competitive, and very expensive business, and most of us end up doing pro bono work because our clients can't pay us after we're already involved in the case. Another option is to find an attorney that will do what we call litigation assistance. That's a situation where she pays as she goes, meeting with the attorney before every hearing to prepare for the hearing, and to review any settlement offers And draft a counter offer. So she only pays for the attorney's time when she's in the attorney's office. the attorney does not go to court with her. But I think she would be better off if she can find an attorney that will take custody cases for a flat fee. That's usually going to be a brand new attorney since it's not a cost-effective way of practicing law.
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