In early September, I attended training for unbundled legal services trainers. I am so excited to be one of the new trainers in this area of the law!
In a conference room in our beautiful Supreme Court building, the Ralph Carr Judicial Center in downtown Denver, I met with three judges, a representative from the Colorado Bar Association and six other attorneys who practice unbundled legal services.
A fellow trainer is attorney Lauren Lester who sometimes works for Andersen Law PC as a contract attorney, in addition to having her own firm. Everyone there was recommended by word of mouth to be an unbundled legal services trainer. I am honored to be selected as one of them.
We will join the unbundled legal services “road show,” which travels around Colorado training judges, court personnel and fellow attorneys on unbundled legal services. Each road show presentation includes one attorney and one judge. We provide handouts and beneficial information including a book, and commentary on practicing unbundled legal services.
Unbundled legal services is a wonderful form of representation that brings access to legal representation to the majority of litigants who cannot otherwise afford counsel. While most of the trainers practice family law, I believe I was the only attorney at the training who also practices elder law, estate administration and probate litigation on an unbundled basis.
I have been practicing unbundled legal services for about seven years, including appearing in court on an unbundled basis. While this area of practice is growing, I was an early adopter and therefore have experience knowing how to handle this type of representation effectively and affordably, maximizing the benefit to our clients.
For example, we use contract attorneys and staff, minimize office rental costs, communicate with our legal team online through programs like Clio, Trello, Slack and Outlook. These cutting-edge reductions in overhead matter because they enable us to keep service costs affordable to moderate-income clients.
I also make myself available by cell phone and text, answering questions on the fly when my clients need answers most. I have spent years teaching clients to do a lot of the work on their own, thereby savings hundreds of dollars in legal fees. And every client gets a free consult to get started in the right direction.
Stay tuned for scheduling of the unbundled legal services road show including my first appearance as trainer. I would love to see clients, friends and colleagues show up and learn more about unbundled legal services.