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Comment by ethbro | Hacker News Reader

My experience with using online legal services (including some recommended here) for simple matters was that you're hiring the bottom of the barrel / oversubscribed intern time.

Being a lawyer seems kind of like being a doctor -- you can easily solicit more work than you can do, if you're good at your job.

Consequently, if you're good, why would you accept internet clients? And all the problems they entail. Quantity is not a problem you have.

It's annoying, but follow the adage. Pick up a phone and ask family / friends / local lawyers / etc who they would recommend. Any lawyer should be able to handle communication over the internet for most of the casework.

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Makes sense. Unfortunately I don't have family nor close friends in the U.S. Having been on HN for 8-9 years I figured it's the closest friends I have in U.S. :)

I rather not consult local lawyers (in my current country) unfortunately, as I am not sure of the extent of professional secrecy provided.

I meant local as in the local jurisdiction you'll be tried in.

For example, most state bars have a referral service that will connect you with a lawyer. Similarly, there are other local professional orgs that will offer referrals.

E.g. http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Public/Need-Legal-Help/Lawyer-Refer...

Some quick intro screening / get to know you conversation should probably be sufficient for finding someone quality who can help you.

Why is this, do you think? Is it generational based on the average demographics of the service providers? Is it a result of poor tooling for initiating and maintaining privileged relationships virtually?

As you noted, there's no reason the casework can't happen remotely, and appearances can usually be scheduled adequately to allow for client travel. In criminal of course, the judge and prosecutor is going to want Defendant to appear in person except for misdemeanor charges.

I think it's the fundamentally non-scalable nature of the work. You see it in other professions, e.g. venture capital and estate management.

If it's possible to get more work than you have time to perform, then you can be selective about what work you take. Consequently, referrals from a customer you've previously done business with are less risky / hassle than internet strangers.

The difference between me writing code for 1 person or 1,000,000 people are relatively negligible. The difference between a lawyer working 1 criminal case and 1,000,000 is much larger. Work product doesn't scale as evenly.

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