Legal Hotline
Ever hesitated picking up the phone to a lawyer for fear of the fee? How to get trusted advice without the 6 minute billable unit
A lawyer died and arrived at the pearly gates. To his dismay, there were thousands of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter. But, to his surprise, St. Peter left his desk at the gate and came down the long line to where the lawyer was standing. St. Peter greeted him warmly. Then St. Peter and one of his assistants took the lawyer by the hands and guided him up to the front of the line into a comfortable chair by his desk.The lawyer said, "I don't mind all this attention, but what makes me so special?"
St. Peter replied, "Well, I've added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you must be about 150 years old!"
Lawyers can have a bad reputation because they can charge a lot for what appears to be simple advice. You've heard the stories and the jokes. These stories have caused lawyers to be unapproachable to most business owners. The Legal Hotline is designed to change all that and is central to the Approachable Lawyer philosophy.
Our philosophy
At Approachable Lawyer we work on a simply philosophy: proactive advice at an affordable cost, not reactive advice at an extortionate cost. I'll explain what I mean...Imagine your business is a house, a house which you have built from scratch. If you don't build it with the proper foundations and materials and maintain it every year, then sooner or later it is going to fall down and cost you a fortune to rebuild. Similarly, if you don't construct your business properly and maintain it along the way then problems occur. Very often, those problems occur in the form of litigation. I used to be a litigation lawyer when I worked in London and believe me, it costs a fortune and there are no real winners. However, the one thing I noticed as a litigation lawyer was that about 90% of the problems could have been avoided had the parties got proper legal advice before the problem arose.
That's where the Legal Hotline comes in
There are two reasons business owners don't get proactive legal advice:- They don't know they need it - the old adage, you don't know what you don't know; and
- Cost - which, as I have explained above, is actually a little short-sighted.
When you become a Member of the Legal Hotline you will get educated on what you need to know and you won't have to worry about cost. This is because the Legal Hotline provides you with the following:
- Access to the Approachable Lawyer Secret Library: you may have seen reference to this elsewhere on the website. In simple terms it is a library of template documents, checklists, e-learning videos, and pdf reports. It is the equivalent of a law firm's in-house precedent library except that it is tailored for the business owner.
- A set amount of legal advice per year at a reduced cost: by becoming a Hotline Member you get a set amount of legal advice per year at a significantly reduced cost to paying an hourly rate. The amount of legal advice you get depends on the Hotline package which you choose. You also have the ability to spread your membership payments over the whole year thereby preserving the cash flow in your business. By having this legal advice always available to you then you have the confidence that you can call at any time and won't get stung for a huge bill. Don't worry if you think you may not use your allocated time in any given year because you can roll it over to the following year up to preset limits.
- Reduced consultancy fees: my standard consultancy fee is $300 + GST per hour. That is pretty standard for a lawyer of my experience. If you are a Hotline Member you pay reduced rates if you exceed the set number hours you receive with the Hotline package you have chosen. I challenge you to find lower hourly rates for a lawyer with my experience.
What does membership cost?
The membership cost depends on which package you choose - Bronze, Silver of Gold. Whilst the Gold package is more expensive, you get more hours and it is the best value for money.Click on this link to download information on the packages currently available and for more detail on how the Hotline works.
If you are still unsure of whether the Legal Hotline is right for your business then I would be happy to answer any questions: just use the contact form on this website to set out your query and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Regards,
Michael Smyth LLb.
ApproachableLawyer.Com
Will you always be available?
I don't work 365 days a year (who does?!). I take a few holidays throughout the year during which I can be out of action for consultancy work. However, the Secret Library is open 24/7 and usually I am available for email or telephone consults even if I am away - you may just have to wait a little while longer for an answer. So what's the catch?The catch: not anyone can become a Member
If you do the maths, you'll work out that there is a limit to the number of Members who can join because I cannot look after everyone within the time available each day. I keep this under review constantly, but at the moment there are vacancies. As membership gets nearer to capacity I will put the price up for those joining - the economics of supply and demand. That's why it is best to get in now while the cost is low.The application process
If you want to become a Member then click here to be taken to the application form. I will then contact you to get the application process moving.If you are still unsure of whether the Legal Hotline is right for your business then I would be happy to answer any questions: just use the contact form on this website to set out your query and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Regards,
Michael Smyth LLb.
ApproachableLawyer.Com
"The Legal Hotline is cost effective and provides value for money"
The whole area of employment law is disconcerting at the best of times for a novice and engaging someone in this area is generally a costly exercise. However, I have found the Legal Hotline to be very cost effective service providing good value for money. The service is confidential and backed up with timely and accurate advice. Refreshingly, Michael uses non jargonistic language which demystifies otherwise difficult to understand legal terms. Most recently we had a redundancy situation and by using Michael I am confident that we followed an informed process and got the right result for all concerned. Overall, we get a speedy service and I would, and frequently do, recommend the Approachable Lawyer to other businesses we deal with.
Lynlee Wilson, The People Group, Auckland
The whole area of employment law is disconcerting at the best of times for a novice and engaging someone in this area is generally a costly exercise. However, I have found the Legal Hotline to be very cost effective service providing good value for money. The service is confidential and backed up with timely and accurate advice. Refreshingly, Michael uses non jargonistic language which demystifies otherwise difficult to understand legal terms. Most recently we had a redundancy situation and by using Michael I am confident that we followed an informed process and got the right result for all concerned. Overall, we get a speedy service and I would, and frequently do, recommend the Approachable Lawyer to other businesses we deal with.
Lynlee Wilson, The People Group, Auckland
