Did You Pay Too Much for Your Tennessee Divorce?
You may have thought that retaining an attorney to handle your Tennessee divorce case would save you money in the long run. That is usually the case, unless an attorney overcharges for their services. Divorce attorneys can save their clients money by helping them to reach divorce settlements instead of incurring the expenses of a trial. In the event that a case does go to trial, a good attorney can help their clients to choose their battles wisely in order to keep litigation costs to a minimum.
There are a few ways in which some Tennessee divorce attorneys overcharge their clients. The first is perhaps the most obvious – the excessive hourly rate. The hourly rate that an attorney charges is usually related to the amount of experience that they have in handling a particular type of case, like divorces. However, no matter how much experience an attorney has and how good they are, they are required by law to charge a reasonable fee. If you consulted with a few attorneys before retaining one for your divorce, you may have noticed that their fees were mostly within a certain range. If the attorney that you hired charged an hourly rate that was well above the typical range of what area attorneys charge, it is possible that their fee may have been excessive, and not reasonable.
If more than one attorney worked on your case, it is possible that their work may have overlapped. Duplication of services is another way in which some Tennessee family law attorneys and law firms overcharge their clients. For example, if one lawyer spent time preparing your case for a status conference and another attorney actually attended the status conference with you, the second attorney probably spent time reviewing your case file prior to the status conference in order to get familiar with your case. If the attorney who had prepared you case for the status conference then attended the status conference with you, they would not have had to review the case file beforehand because they would already be familiar with the case. If it took the second attorney an hour to review the file for this particular status conference, just think about how many other times unnecessary expenses were incurred each time your file changed hands.
One of the reasons that experienced attorneys can charge higher hourly rates is that they take less time to do each of the things that they do than a less experienced attorney would. This explains why it might take a lawyer with little family law experience three hours to draft a set of pleadings that would have taken a more experienced lawyer only an hour and a half. Differences in experience may account for some of the time that an attorney spends on a case, but, again, there is a point at which an attorney takes longer than is reasonably necessary to complete a task. Whether your attorney is a recent addition to the Tennessee bar or a seasoned practitioner, they are required to do the work on your case in an efficient manner. Failing to perform work efficiently is the third way that some Tennessee divorce lawyers overcharge their clients.
If you feel as though the attorney who handled your Tennessee divorce case may have overcharged you, you may have a case against them. The experienced Tennessee legal malpractice attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC are here to help you. We will answer all of your questions, explain your options, and help you decide how to proceed. To learn more, call us at 901-680-9777 to schedule a time to discuss your case. At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.
Since graduating magna cum laude in 2005 from the University of Memphis School of Law, Thomas has helped make a difference in the lives of victims of serious personal injury, wrongful death, and professional negligence. Thomas has extensive trial experience in both state and federal court. Among other victories in the courtroom, Thomas obtained several impressive jury verdicts and settlements
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