How to Hire a Lawyer When You Have Low Income

Steps

1. Ask around your family. While most people believe they know their families quite well, most do not. You never know when a distant cousin or uncle may have ended up becoming a lawyer, which you, of course, can use to your advantage financially. If you are sure you aren't related to a lawyer, though, it wouldn't hurt to ask your family all the same. Connections never hurt, and it is possible that one of your relatives knows someone.
2. Talk to your friends. This is another way you can get lawyers to work for you for less- the "friend rate" is something some lawyers implement for when a close friend or collegue needs aid in the lawyer-ly sense. If you are not aware of a friend that is a lawyer, though, you two probably aren't very close, and so the "friend rate" may be a bit too much to ask.
3. Find a volunteer lawyer. Most areas have volunteer lawyer organizations or Legal Aid associations, but keep in mind that these organizations have many eligibility requirements for their services. Also, there is a huge demand for a finite number of attorneys.
4. Check a local law school to see if they have a law clinic or similar program that allows law students (under supervision of a licensed attorney) to work on behalf of low income clients. This is actually a very good way to snap up very promising law students- while they may not have much experience, the law students that would be allowed to participate in this type of program are normally about the top of the class. It's a good chance, so if you have it, you shouldn't throw it out the window immediately.
5. Ask local lawyers for a "payment plan" of sorts. Explain your situation to the lawyer in question, give him/her your financial statement, and discuss what you need done. If they believe they can lower their rate, or make it so you pay a certain amount over a certain amount of time, you may be in luck.
6. Get a loan. This may be the only thing you can do in some cases, especially if your life literally rests upon getting off the charge. Try and ask family members for money, and then branch off from there- only go to a professional money lender if no one has a cent to spare anywhere at all. Keep in mind that this may lead to more legal troubles if you have bad credit and know you cannot pay the lenders back any time soon. Be clear and upfront, and hopefully you'll get the money you need to get the attorney you desire.
7. Hold a yard sale. A slightly obvious one, selling off your unused furniture and junk may be the best way to afford a lawyer. Don't have enough junk to sell? Ask a friend if they have anything that you could sell, but be clear as to why you want the items, otherwise they may give you something as a gift, not realizing you are going to sell it off to whomever has twenty bucks upfront.
8. Offer a trade. This is a rather fun one- do you manage a restaurant, or own a small business that you know the attorney you want frequents? Offer free food or service at your business in return for helping you out with your legal problem. While many lawyers may be offended by such an offer, others will delight in the idea. If you don't own the business in which you work, ask the person who does if this plan could be permitted. It may be a stretch, and the attorney may have to also do some extra work for the business, but it is a rather simple way to get a lawyer for no actual cash. This also works if you have a semi-valuable item that you don't really want in your home; just skip the yard sale, and offer a trade. This is a bit more difficult to do with no cash, but you may very well get a very good discount if you give the lawyer the semi-valuable item.
9. Hire on Contingency. Depending on what legal work you need done, you may be able to get a lawyer to work on a contingency basis. This means that you will not owe a lawyer fees for services unless they win your case. Generally trial lawyers for Plaintiffs are willing to work with this arrangement.

Tips

• Offer to do as much of the necessary footwork as you can for your volunteer attorney (e.g. filing papers in court, obtaining documents, performing large copy jobs, etc.).
• If you live in the United States, LawHelp can help you find information websites run by a nonprofit legal services provider in your state.
• If you live in Australia try [1] it is an information service that lets you compare lawyers from all over Australia.
• Do not go to a lawyer that promises that, if you don't win your case, you won't have to pay anything. The way that those lawyers make a profit is by, when they do win something, anything at all, even if it is just a tiny fraction of what you were asking for, they charge you extremely high rates to make up for the money they've lost through other clients.
• Try and get a set rate with your lawyer in the beginning, so you can know what you'll have to pay, and by when. It's best to have a plan, especially when you are short on money.
• If you are provided a lawyer by the courts, even if you are short on money, you may want to look elsewhere. It may seem like a swell deal at the time, but court-appointed lawyers have absolutely nothing to gain from being attentive in court, and so, more often than not, they underprepare.

Warnings

• Going cheap when looking for a lawyer is only a good idea if the issue isn't life threatening, or has prison as a consequence of poor work. If that isn't the case, though, you may be in a jam.

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