Self-representation does not mean that you are on your own. Cunningham Swan’s Family Law Group is here to support and assist self-represented parties (i.e., people representing themselves in Family Court) with legal coaching services.
What is Legal Coaching?
Legal coaching is a unique and fairly new model for providing legal services to family law clients. Under a legal coaching retainer, our Family Law Group will provide you with advice and services only for those aspects, steps, or portions of your court proceeding that you choose. This gives you the flexibility of choosing when and how to spend your financial resources to provide you with the most value (we can help you decide too).
Perhaps the most helpful way of understanding legal coaching is with a driving analogy. Under a traditional comprehensive retainer, your lawyer is driving the car. Your lawyer will do all the driving, and take all steps necessary to make sure that you arrive at your destination. Under a legal coaching retainer, you are in the driver’s seat, and your lawyer is your GPS. Some days you may choose not to use your GPS at all, and other days you will rely on it a lot. When the road becomes uncertain your legal coach is there to answer your questions, and provide you with the best route to your destination.
How can Legal Coaching help you?
Legal coaching is meant to be flexible. You decide how and when your retainer is spent. As a result, no two coach-client relationships will look exactly the same. In general, the top five most common ways our legal coaches can help you self-represent are:
- Procedure – Explaining court procedures, rules, forms, and processes;
- Strategy – Helping you set realistic goals and then developing effective strategies to achieve them;
- Translating – We convert legalese into English so that you can understand how the law applies to your unique family facts;
- Research – Conducting research to support your goals, and providing you with a ‘plain English’ memo of same; and,
- Writing – Drafting, reviewing, and editing your Court documents, or proposals for settlement.
Of course, this is a non-exhaustive list – let’s talk about what your needs are, and how our team can address them. Remember, some legal advice is always better than no legal advice at all!
Who should consider Legal Coaching?
Did you know that the average family law court matter takes 66% longer to resolve when at least one of the parties has not received legal advice? Time is emotional energy and money. If you are considering self-representation, or are already self-representing yourself, then save yourself time and money by calling our Family Law Group to learn more about legal coaching. We are here to support you.
