QUESTION: What are Unbundled Services?
ANSWER: Unbundled legal services (Unbundled Services) are consultation services offered by an attorney to a person handling his or her own case, i.e., a party representing himself or herself "in Pro Per", to counsel and assist, but not to represent that person in the pending case.
Unbundled services are frequently sought and received in Family Law cases when a party seeks to obtain assistance with certain aspects of his or her case.
People who can't afford to pay an advance retainer to retain an attorney for ongoing representation, or who don't want the responsibility to pay the ongoing charges of a retained attorney, can obtain consultation and assistance from attorneys who offer unbundled services, on a "pay as you go" basis.
This form of assistance has become more prevalent in the past few years, following the downturn of the economy.
Unbundled services does not provide the sort of traditional full-service representation that a party would receive by retaining an attorney for all purposes in the case.
Unbundled services can consist of meeting with and interviewing the Pro Per, corresponding with the Pro Per and others, advising, guiding, making recommendations, strategizing, coaching and providing advice and procedural information to the Pro Per, performing legal research, drafting Pro Per documents, contacting or interviewing witnesses, obtaining third party declarations, reviewing and analyzing legal documents and correspondence, preparing discovery (Interrogatories, Requests for Admission, Inspection Demands) and/or discovery responses for the Pro Per, preparing Income and Expense Declarations, Schedules of Assets and Debts, Declarations of Disclosure, serving documents, filing documents, performing public record searches, referring the Pro Per to experts, preparing the Pro Per's testimony, witnesses and exhibits for hearings or trial, among other services, but not being the Pro Per's attorney of record, not receiving documents or correspondence from the opposing side or the court, and not appearing at hearings.
When an attorney is retained to provide traditional full-service representation in a case, the attorney is responsible to handle all tasks reasonably necessary to properly represent the client. The unbundled services provider does not represent the Pro Per, and performs only the piecework consultation services that the Pro Per brings to the unbundled services provider per their written agreement.
There are some benefits to unbundled services. They cost less than retained services. The Pro Pers do most of the work themselves, and visit the attorney only for assistance that they need. They stay in control of their own case instead of relinquishing control to a retained attorney. The other party may be less guarded when an unbundled services provider ghosts documents or correspondence for the Pro Per [California Rules of Court, Rule 5.70 provides that an attorney who ghosts documents is not required to disclose the ghosting] . Unbundling frequently results in more contact between the parties, enabling them to try to work out their issues instead of relying on an attorney, at substantial expense, to do it for them.
Since the Pro Per is the one "on the firing line", representing himself or herself in the case, the Pro Per needs to be diligent in being responsible, promptly opening mail, monitoring deadlines, knowing when to seek assistance, seeking assistance, contacting the unbundled services provider, setting appointments early enough to accommodate the needs of the case and the schedule of the unbundled services provider, seeking the advice of the unbundled services provider, and following the directions of the unbundled services Provider.
If a party should desire or need representation by an attorney for a specific hearing, whether a deposition, a Motion or OSC, or the trial of the case, the party may seek representation for a specific aspect of the case, or on a certain date, via limited scope representation, which would require a separate Limited Scope Retainer Agreement, and a filed and served Notice of Limited Scope Representation, to retain an attorney on a limited scope basis.
Substantial savings can be realized by Pro Pers receiving the benefit of unbundled services, by choosing the limited aspects of their case for which they seek such services, by not incurring the expense of a retained attorney "on the firing line" to receive and respond to correspondence and documents, and by not incurring the expense of a retained attorney present in court for hearings and the unavoidable waiting time for hearings.
This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, a Los Angeles Certified Family Law Specalist, owner of Warner Center Law Offices in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney
1 comment:
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