Saving Money on Your Divorce

I had a client who actually read the letter I send with the other side's discovery requests.  I know, to you, that statement is not shocking.  To anyone who toils here in the Trenches, that statement is worth framing.  It gets better.  Not only did this client actually read the darn letter, that I have spent years revising and honing, but she did as I asked.  I requested her draft responses and documents in 20 days; she got them to me in 19.  I requested that she answer all the interrogatories in Word and send them to me in electronic form; she did it.  I asked that she go through the request for documents and let me know what she was providing and what didn't exist; she did it.  I asked that she provide me all her documents according to request number, in chronological order and save it electronically; she did it - there was not one additional document I needed to get. I almost fell off my chair. She didn't tell me it was too hard to find or ask for the documents.  She didn't argue with my about why what was requested was necessary to produce.  She didn't moan and groan about how busy her life was (it is) and how she just didn't have the time to do what I requested.  She couldn't believe I was amazed, because isn't that what I asked?  Well, yes, but almost no one does it.  She was shocked, because she couldn't fathom why anyone would want to pay hundreds of dollars an hour just to have someone else do what she did.  Me either.

Lawyers and their paralegals are expensive.  Clients are always asking how they can save money on legal fees.  I always tell them that the best way is to do as much of the things that they are able to do as possible, and save the lawyer for things that only a lawyer or a paralegal can do.  Organizing documents by date, scanning paper and typing complete answers to questions in a format that is easily transferrable to another document are not things that only legal personnel can do - they are things most people can manage.  This client probably saved herself $1,000 or more by doing what I asked.  Sometimes, your lawyer really is trying to save you money, if only you put in the effort.  Here in the Trenches.