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.
Whether or not a payment plan will be offered is the number one question that lawyers in this particular field of law are asked. While the team at Florida Defense Legal Group totally understands that money does not grow on trees, it is true that high-quality, good criminal defense lawyers will want a full fee upfront. This is something that the client is actually best served by. For example, if a certain amount of money were to be placed in a trust fund and billed against hourly, and if a particular case ended up requiring more work than initially expected, then the client would end up with a never-ending legal bill. The client would frequently receive letters, emails, and phone calls about filling up the retainer account when more work is needed. Thus, for the consumer of legal services, a flat fee paid upfront is the best deal they can get, even if they are shocked by the sticker price.
The reason is simple; the legal team is going to perform the necessary work, and when the client calls for an update, they are not going to check whether or not the payments are up to date before answering. Some people may not realize this, but when some lawyers offer a payment plan on a criminal case, the first question they ask when a staff member says that they have a payment plan client on the phone is whether or not the client is current on their account.
In addition, lawyers generally don’t get paid when they offer payment plans. Although lawyers are required by the rules of ethics to continue zealous representation of the client’s legal interest, the reality is that if the client falls behind on payments, the lawyer will only complete the legal minimum amount of work. This can be disastrous for a defendant. Better criminal defense lawyers, including the ones we work with, would much prefer to let MasterCard and Visa take the risk of non-payment rather than the legal team. For this reason, Florida Defense Legal Group does not offer payment plans at this time and does not foresee offering them in the future. Payment plans routinely result in lawyers running breathlessly from courtroom to courtroom with continuing cases, hoping that they will get paid. If someone is going to pay good money to hire a private criminal defense legal team, they should pick the best one they possibly can and pay the full fee upfront.
There may be other expenses that come up in a case, such as the cost of serving subpoenas, taking depositions, or hiring expert witnesses. These are things that are discussed during an initial consultation and when discussing the next course of action. Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm relies on a lot of internal staffing so that by the time a client’s representation has commenced, the lawyer who is representing them will follow a sequence of events in order to produce the best outcome possible.
If I Hire Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm, Will The Lawyers Representing Me Be Top Criminal Defense Lawyers?
If someone hires Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm, they will absolutely receive representation from top criminal defense lawyers. I have been a board certified criminal trial specialist since August of 2002, and my co-counsel has a deep reservoir of experience including the presidency of the Society of the Criminal Defense Bar. In addition, they have received numerous awards and citations for both criminal defense work and activism on behalf of clients in the local community. Every lawyer who works as part of Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm was hand-selected. As a board certified specialist in criminal trial law with extensive jury trial experience on different types of cases ranging from DUI to sexual battery to first-degree murder, I feel very confident in my abilities to pick the right teammates for a particular case and so does co-counsel.
We do this routinely and have a system of internal staffing, keeping our clients informed, coping with stress during the criminal prosecution, the gathering of factual information, availability by email, text message, phone, and in person. In short, we have a system for everything, and while a client’s connection with the individual attorneys is very important, the reality is that it’s important to have an attorney who will deliver them the best possible outcome. The same is true when someone goes to a doctor; when a person is sick, their goal is not to find a friendly and chatty doctor who acts like their best friend, but a doctor who will deliver them the best possible care. In criminal law, we are certainly polite and we treat our clients with respect at all times, but first and foremost, we are counselors at law and our duty is to provide the best service possible to our clients.
I personally supervise every case that is handled by our office, not because the other lawyers who I work with are less competent, but simply because doing so contributes to the overall maximum quality of our program. It’s very important that quality is not just maintained, but improved over time. That is one of the key functions that I fulfill within this legal group because quality control is essential. We don’t want things slipping through the cracks, we don’t want important factual information lost, and we don’t want court dates to be missed. We want to make it as stress-free and easy as possible for clients and their families because we know that it will be one of the most stressful times of their lives.
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.
For more information on Payment Plans & Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling today.
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