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Legal Aid in Seattle
Powerpuppies
drinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered User regular
drinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered User regular
I have a friend who lives in Seattle that is involved in a battery case after he grabbed his girlfriend. He makes a lot of money, but has a lot of expenses (he's renting a 3BR house that the girlfriend was living in rent-free), and is having trouble coming up with the money for legal fees. Is there any way to avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer money?
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Public defender?
Apparently PD is only for low income people. He asked and was told he makes too much money. He makes less than 100K/year, I know that much.
My buddy got a weed possession and paraphernalia charge and was told the same thing. He dropped out of school to pick up more hours at the gas station he was working at so he could fight the charge, and they said he couldn't have a public defender. :x
edit: Anyway, there's a reason they're called Public Pretenders. Borrow $500 from somebody and get real representation.
The bar association of King County might be able to refer him to a good domestic violence lawyer, but I wouldn't bank on them cutting him too much of a break on fees.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
No. Tell him to suck it up and pay for his lawyer.
Public Defender programs are for the truly desolate who really don't have any means in which to pay for legal services, not smucks who were not bright enough to save some of the "lots of money" he was/is making for an emergency.
Additionally, Improvolone is right: Most attorneys will work with clients with regards to financial issue. In terms of amounts, in PA, most firms would charge a base retainer of $500 for work on a family law matter. If he’s facing criminal charges (you just mention battery, that could go either way), he can expect to have to pay double that to retain a decent criminal attorney.
Uh. PDs are for people without income, not people with giant incomes who live beyond their means.
Furthermore, PDs are the only criminal defense attorneys who see a -lot- of experience in criminal matters early on. They're ideologically dedicated to criminal defense. Especially in jurisdictions where the pay is decent, PDs are some of your best bets for good criminal defense. Most good criminal defense attys are either PDs or ex-PDs, sometimes ex-DAs.