Lawyer Up Why It’s Always Important to Have Legal Counsel In Your Life
Like it or not, attorneys are one profession almost everyone will have to use at some point in their life. Whether it’s for something as common as divorce, drawing up a will to something more drastic, like hiring a criminal defense lawyer, an immigration attorney, or finding representation for a workers’ compensation case, we need the power of the law on our side from time to time. In truth, attorneys provide an important and necessary function to our society, offering their legal expertise to those who need it the most. Although many people complain about legal fees, they have to get paid just like anyone else, and some can be flexible in terms of a payment plan. Your chances of winning your case or being successful are exponentially raised when you hire an attorney — why wouldn’t you take advantage of the resources at your disposal?
What Are Common Uses for Attorneys?
- Worker’s Compensation Cases
- Divorce
- Criminal Cases
Only about 75% of states require every single business in the state to offer worker’s comp and it can still be tricky to get insurance companies to pay out that money. And for the 25% of states that don’t offer worker’s comp, workers can often find it tough to get the money they deserve after their accident. Since almost 85% of worker’s compensation cases are raised because employees slipped on slick floors at their workplace and over 20% of these slip/fall accidents took the employee out of work for more than a month, it’s often the company or business’s fault, but they don’t always want to necessarily take responsibility for it. This is where attorneys come in. They’ll help you recoup your compensation for being out of work and any medical bills that might have accrued. For example, the maximum average compensation for someone who damaged an arm at work was a little under $170,000 as of March 2015.
It’s estimated that between 40-50% of all first marriages and approximately 60% of second marriages in the United States will culminate in divorce — a depressing statistic, but one that keeps divorce lawyers in business! There’s about one divorce every 36 seconds — over 875,000 divorces a year! And sadly, the average length of a marriage that ultimately ends in divorce is around nine years, so length of time together is no indicator.
The longer a couple is together, the trickier separation can be, especially with joint bank accounts, property, vehicles, and other finances tied up in it. A divorce attorney can help sort out what each person in the divorce should get in a fair manner.
As popularized in crime shows, perhaps what we think of first when we hear “attorney” is “defense lawyers” or “prosecutors.” Many attorneys defend or prosecute criminals facing trial. Given that all over the United States, law enforcement arrested over 12,000,000 people in 2012, and many jails and prisons are at capacity, a criminal defense lawyer has plenty of work cut out for him or her.
Why Should You Hire an Attorney in the First Place?
Simply put, attorneys know more than you are. Chances are, you’re not well versed in the specifics of what you’re seeking legal help for. Hiring an attorney works in your best interests — ideally, they’ve worked on cases similar to yours, know that part of the law inside and out, and may even have insight on how this particular judge or courtroom tends to work. Attorneys also help with drafting of the paperwork, submitting the claim, and guiding you through the often confusing legal process. You have a counsel and an advocate in your attorney and he or she can prove to be a bulwark of calm and reassurance when you need it most. They can help coach you if you need to testify in court and will take up your case in a courtroom, should it come to that.
Attorneys are really woven into the fabric of our lives, whether or not we like it. They provide an incredibly useful service that our society simply could not afford to do without.