Disclaimer: This article is in response to questions frequently asked of Mr. Cobb and is an unedited dictation transcript. Just like talk to text on your smartphone, there may be misspelled words or sentence fragments.
The cost to hire a DUI or a criminal defense lawyer is going to vary based on many factors. Does the person have a prior record? Is this a first offense that the person wants to avoid courthouse surprise or the subtleties of the criminal justice system? Diversion programs? Does this person have a hidden landmine within their case that they are not aware of? These are all questions, which affect the legal fees. What kind of results are they expecting? What kind of effort is going to be required by the lawyer? What is that lawyer’s reputation within the local community? I am a board certified specialist in criminal trial law, and I am the only one within a radius of over forty miles if you look at the courthouse in Fort Walton Beach Florida, people want the best legal defense they can possibly get.
It can make all the difference in the world and it needs to be affordable. So the answer is, yes there are payment plans available. When you are talking about the cost, I cannot tell you what the total cost will be, because I do not have enough information about the case. That is one of the reasons why we do what is called an intake interview before I speak to anyone. I cannot quote a fee in the dark. If someone calls us and says how much does it cost for a DUI? The correct answer is I do not know a thing about your case, so I cannot tell you, so I do not know. I do not know what your goals of representation are. All of these things are going to determine how much the total cost is in terms of the legal fee.
Nevertheless, one thing I can say with certainty is that no matter what the legal fee is, it will be affordable and we can send a hyperlink to people that will allow them access to non-traditional finance that did not exist just a few years ago. In fact, just a few years ago, we had a great recession in the United States that impacted everyone. One of the impacts was in the financial services industry. People who could get a loan in 2007 maybe at the same job, and even earning more of an income than they were before the recession, yet they find that they cannot get a loan, because credit requirements have been up so strict. For other people this is not a problem.
For someone that desperately needs legal services for a DUI case, or other criminal case, this is a very critical and important thing. The legal fee has to be affordable and that means monthly payments, because monthly payments are $150 to $250, a month and they can be made over twelve to sixty months instead of three to six. That makes an incredible difference to someone, and a board certified expert such as myself suddenly becomes available for them whereas in the old days, my level of expertise, skill, and reputation would not be available unless somebody would pay a full fee upfront. Some law firms offer different payment plans with fifty percent of the total legal fee down, and then crushing payments between three to five months. That is not what legal services consumers need.
Legal service consumers need affordable fees when they are arrested or prosecuted for a DUI, or any other type of crime. The way we do it in non-traditional finance is if someone can obtain a loan of $40,000 at a very fair interest rate with an approval that literally takes seconds. Under the old style of funding, such DUI defense cases, that person would have to come up with $2500 on the spot, minimum. Some lawyers even require more. In addition, they would also have to pay the balance of that within three to five months. It is not too hard to figure out the math. If someone has to pay $500 a month, that is a very different thing than paying $150 to $250 a month, especially after having put $2500 down. With the kind of non-traditional financing model we have, the consumer does not have to put a thing down, because they simply make monthly payments in the range I previously laid out.
It is a good deal for the law firm, because they get their fee upfront, and they do not have a caseload that resembles the office of the public defender. More importantly this is an extremely good deal for the legal services consumer who has been arrested and charged with a DUI, felony or misdemeanor. They are able to hire the best counsel to help them in their time. Many lawyers do take payment plans, and charge cheap fees with cases falling out of their ears; this makes the whole system cut the amount of time and effort into someone’s case.
When someone is paying good money in a criminal, or a DUI defense case then they deserve the best representation that they can get. Finding the best representation and the best criminal defense lawyer is already a difficult prospect because of fake reviews on lawyer websites that are not even recognized by the Florida Bar. In the local area, there is exactly one board certified specialist within a forty-mile radius of Fort Walton Beach, and that is I. I am the only one. However, if I were to require every person who gets charged with a third DUI offense, would cost, say $5000 or more, and have them pay that fee upfront, my services would be unaffordable.
At the same time, if I would require them to make down payment, and then I charge crushing payments each month that would be just as unaffordable. Therefore, the best way to handle this is to use non-traditional finance, where we send the hyperlink, the person answers a few financial questions, and they are approved literally within seconds. Once they are approved, we spring into action and begin defending them. Time is a critical factor when someone has been arrested. The most clear example is a DUI case. Everybody knows they have only ten days to defend their license if they have been arrested and charged with a DUI. Ten days may sound like a lot of time until you factor in the weekend, and then suddenly, those ten days evaporates quickly.
In this particular non-traditional finance method, we can spring into action early and prevent a lot of damage. While is obvious in a DUI case, the time and the effort, it is critically important to remember that time is of the essence in other cases as well. Another classic example is a domestic violence case, where somebody ends up being kicked out of his or her house because of a no contact order, and they are paying daily rates at a hotel just to have some place to live. This is extremely expensive, and requires the person to put up a lot of money upfront. It is something that does not work for most people while at the same time, time is of the essence. Each day that they are out of the house, even if your partner is begging to have them back, is going to be money that is lit on fire, and never to be used for anything helpful on their case.
Our method of non-traditional finance allows us to give people flexible payment arrangements anywhere from one to five years, and lowers the status significantly, because they have the best possible representation at the most affordable fees available.
Disclaimer: This article is in response to questions frequently asked of Mr. Cobb and is an unedited dictation transcript. Just like talk to text on your smartphone, there may be misspelled words or sentence fragments.
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