Unfortunately, there are times in life when things don’t go the way you planned. Somebody is hiring a lawyer, writing a letter threatening you, demanding something of you. They could take those options and apply them against you. But if you can’t afford an attorney to represent you. Do you have any options? Do you know how to hire an attorney with no money?

I Have No Money, How to Hire an Attorney with No Money?

It’s not just that you don’t have the funds. There are times you’re being sued for a nominal amount of money. So we will explain actions that you can take when you can’t afford an attorney.

Everyone knows about the public defender. We have a constitutional right to get legal counsel when we are being charged with a crime. That is to avoid someone being denied their due process because an individual can’t possibly know everything the lawyer knows.

• You might be locked up in jail if you can’t afford an attorney. One will be appointed for you by the court, So that is a criminal situation. We do not have the same protections when it is a civil matter.

Trial lawyer Stephanie Vyas speaks at Rally in Robes – Funding needed for Legal Aid to serve the most vulnerable in Vancouver and BC by Sally T. Buck (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Someone is suing you, or you want to sue someone else to enforce an obligation, get equity or fairness. Those are all civil actions. You don’t automatically get an attorney provided for you. However, there are ways to get representation when you have limited or no money to pay for it. Here some of those suggestions for how to hire an attorney with no money.

There may be additional ones based on where you live.

I Can’t Afford a Lawyer, But I need Some Legal Aid

• Legal aid is similar to the public defender’s office. But it just for civil matters. They will inquire about your income to verify being able to pay. They consider the difference between “I don’t want to pay for an attorney” versus “I really can’t afford it.”

If you can’t afford an attorney, you can get legal aid by just googling “civil legal aid” + because it depends on your country and state.

• Citizen of USA – CIVIL LEGAL AID 101
• Citizen of Ontario – Civil legal assistance

Legal aid office in Georgia by United Nations Development Programme (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Can’t afford an attorney ? You represent yourself

That’s call pro se representation. Most courts have websites that are pretty decent and have a lot of pro se forms on them. If you follow them and read the instructions, it will help you prepare a response to whatever legal issue you’re facing. The courts generally have broad-based information to provide you with some support

There are times when you know you could be the most educated person, and you’re reading the website, and you don’t understand some of the nuances of legalese, or you’re not able to get what you want.

You still don’t have the money to hire an attorney but looking for an attorney?

Paid Attorney Consultations

Suppose you can’t afford an attorney to take on your case and fully represent you. We recommend that you at minimum consult with an attorney. It is not about free consultation that you can talk to an attorney very briefly and get some ideas from them. Because in the majority of cases, when you have a consultation with the attorney, the free consultation is to determine what exactly is going on and if that attorney can help you. For an attorney to give you legal advice, that’s good for your situation.

The attorney needs to at least sit with you or discuss with you for a more extensive time. So they can get the complete picture of what’s going on with your case.

Most attorneys are not sitting down with you for an hour or two to find all the facts about your case to find out all of the evidence you have. They go through your documents to look through all of these things to help you with your case.

Legal aid office in Georgia by United Nations Development Programme (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

• There are a lot of attorneys who do offer consultation services for a fee. However, that fee is significantly lower than the fee that you would pay if you were hiring them as your attorney.

If you Can’t Afford an Attorney Then Hire a Ghostwriter

You can hire an attorney who will write documents for you will prepare legal arguments. Do the legal research, put it together brief, and then you still represent yourself. When you go to court, you have the attorney ghostwriter documents for you.

Benefits of paying attorney consultants and ghostwriting.

We recommend that you at minimum consult with an attorney. Paying attorney consultants and ghostwriting gives you access to an attorney. You will be spending less for an attorney to draft a motion or draft a document. So those are a variation of the process model. You are representing yourself, but you are getting assistant from attorneys in these two primary ways.

You can hire an attorney to proofread your work or give you suggestions. Most pro se litigants find an attorney to tighten already written motions or add legal research.

Visit a Law School – Hiring an up-and-coming Law Student to Give you Advice.

If you have a university in your state with a law school, you could check with it. Many law schools have legal clinic. That is where students and the supervision of a professor who was a lawyer will take on certain types of cases. If too far away for a student to get to you, they might not offer this service to your area.

They will choose the cases by subject matter, and they would take new topics every year. So if you can’t afford an attorney and have a particular issue that you want to bring to court, go ahead and ask about it because you might have several years that you’re able to pursue this.

Many law schools have pro bono programs in which law students can offer free legal advice.

• American University
• Howard University
• Arizona State University

They Will Select Cases with Different Varieties

If it doesn’t come up this time, it might come up next term, and they will take it on with the supervision of their professor who’s. An attorney and the student would do the work for you. They also choose the cases to have a variety.

They won’t do all of the same kinds of cases, but they will do a different variety so that you might ask them.

Are they full? What availability do they have? When will they be able to start it, and what types of cases are there? Are they looking for, and if they already have one or two of your kind? Can you leave it there to get first to make sure that you’ll get picked next time?

Scales Of Justice by Clyde Robinson (CC BY 2.0)

Can’t Afford an Attorney Try to Find Very Young Lawyer

Keep in mind new lawyer may be perfect. Because they are very excited about the case and they research the law. So they are up to speed on what they are supposed to be doing. They will have some alternative payment arrangements. We prefer to find more experienced attorneys who know what they are in a specific area if your case is critical.

Contact Your County or State Bar Association.

It is not easy to get a public attorney or public defender. They are primarily restricted to a criminal case. You’re not going to be able to get a public defender to help you with civil matters. Legal aid societies and volunteer lawyers are typically involved in divorces and immigration, and custody. They are not in a civil defense suit.