Why Pay for a Consult When Most Lawyers Offer Free Consults?

If you believe you can get your needs addressed and questions answered through a free consultation, you should absolutely do that.  I established the paid, one-hour consult because I found there was a mismatch between what clients were wanting from lawyers and what lawyers were offering in free consults.  Many clients wanted to have substantive conversations about their legal issue, options for a path forward on their issue, have the opportunity to get questions answered, and obtain guidance and strategic advice about their issue.  Most lawyers are not willing to do this in their free consults.  Rather, free consults are designed to be a short contact where the lawyer finds out if the issue is within their scope of practice and sets forth a fee proposal for representation and finds out if the Client has the resources to hire them or has questions about their qualifications to be counsel on the case.  My one-hour paid consult is a stand-alone service that is not designed to upsell a Client to retain me on a case that give the Client access to a lawyer who can help them with their issue, if the issue is within my practice areas.

What is the Current Cost of a Paid One-Hour Consult with Jennifer Horwitz?

Jennifer currently offers one-hour consults for $500, which is a reduced rate from her regular hourly rate.  Clients sometimes pay for multiple one-hour consults in ongoing situations (such as protection order cases) or if they want Jennifer to review more than the 20-pages of material included in the fee for a one-hour consult.  

How Do I Set Up and Pay for a Paid One-Hour Consult with Jennifer Horwitz?

  • Go to the Home page of Jennifer Horwitz Law or the Consultation Station and press the “Schedule Consult” Button;
  • The button takes you to a form to complete;
  • Once Jennifer receives the form, she will reach out to you to set up a date and time for the consult and send you a payment link;
  • Once you pay for the consult, she will confirm with you and make sure you know to send materials to her ahead of the consult.

NOTE:  Jennifer needs to know who the adverse party is in the case so that she can make sure she has no conflict of interest before consulting with you.

What Kinds Of Cases Does Jennifer Horwitz Consult On?

In Washington State ONLY:

  • Protection Order Cases of all types (if part of a divorce case, a family lawyer who handles protection orders is the best person to consult with)
  • Harassment, Stalking and Cyberstalking cases 
  • Charged Local, State or Federal Criminal Cases
  • Cases in the Pre-Charge Phase (Reported to or Investigated by Law Enforcement)
  • Investigations involving allegations of Fraudulent or Irregular Billing by Health Care Providers 
  • Situations involving unfounded accusations of sexual assault or contact that was not consensual
  • Situations involving bullying, harassment, threats within a school context
  • Witnesses or Alleged victims in criminal cases who want the advice of an attorney

I am a criminal attorney with over 30 years of experience in local, state and federal courts.  I have experience dealing with cases in the pre-charge and investigative phases, as well as charged criminal cases.  I have many years of experience handling all types of protection order cases and many of the paid consults I do provide guidance to someone pursuing or responding to a protection order.  I have extensive experience settling protection order cases outside of court and a paid consult can include an exploration of whether a case can be settled outside of court (retaining me to do a settlement agreement is an additional service and cost).  I also have extensive experience advising people on all types of harassment and stalking situations and have assisted people in pursuing various avenues to address those situations, including drafting Cease and Desist letters, pursuing protection orders and filing police reports that lead to criminal charges.  Options are explored in the one-hour consult and follow-up support and services are an additional cost.  

What Does a One-Hour Consult Include/Can I Consult with Jennifer In-Person?

Paid one-hour consults are by:

  • Phone;
  • FaceTime or WhatsApp video;
  • By video link (Zoom, Teams, etc.) if Client creates and sends a link.

Jennifer does not maintain a public office space, though she has an arrangement with a law office in Ballard on Market Street so there is a physical location that can be located by Google, but because she has a home office, she does not offer in-person consults.

Jennifer will review up to 20 pages or 15 minutes of material before the consult so she can understand the issue.  For protection order cases, she will review the Petition and temporary order, for harassment cases, she can review samples of the harassing contacts, she can review letters from the State or entity indicating there is an investigation underway.  She often reviews text communications or posts that show false accusations.  Clients can also create a summary of the situation for Jennifer to review as well.

What if there is more than 20 Pages of Material that I need Jennifer to Review to Advise Me?

Clients can pay for two hours of time, and Jennifer can read up to 60 pages of material before the consult.

What Can I Expect in a Consult with Jennifer?

Every consult is different, but Jennifer will review your materials before starting the consult.  She will ask about your questions and concerns.  She will over her perspective on the situation and possible paths forward or ways to resolve the situation.  In protection order cases, she will provide specific, concrete advice on how to either bolster a request for a protection order or respond to a request for a protection order.  She will also provide some materials to help you best advocate for your position in the protection order case.  Jennifer will also explore with you whether the case can be resolved outside of court without going to a full protection order hearing.  If it can be, you will have an option to retain Jennifer to draft a settlement agreement to resolve the protection order case.

Why Would I Do a Paid One-Hour Consult With Jennifer on a Protection Order Case Rather Than Hire her or another Attorney to Represent Me?

Protection order cases are a lot of work when handled in a diligent and thorough manner and they unfold in a short period of time.  Often attorneys who know how to do these cases do not have the bandwidth to fit a protection order case into their practice at a given time.  When they are able to fit such cases into their practice, they can be expensive because they require intensive work.

Attorneys each set their own fees for protection order cases.  When Jennifer handles protection order cases as the attorney, she bills hourly at $650/hour and takes $10,000 into trust to start.  Most cases cost $10,000-$20,000 but some cases cost more.  Many of Jennifer’s colleagues bill similarly, though there are certainly attorneys who bill less or at a flat rate.  

One-hour consults on protection order cases are designed to be a much lower-cost option that enables you to either pursue or respond to a protection order in a more complete and persuasive way than you could likely do on your own and for a much lower cost.  Some people only need one hour with Jennifer and others need 2-4 hours, but even one hour will help you do a much better job than you could likely do on your own without advice from Jennifer.

Is a Paid Consult an On-Ramp to Full Representation from Jennifer in a Case?

Sometimes Jennifer agrees to take on representation in a case after doing a paid, one-hour consult with a Client.  However, many more clients want her to get involved in their cases than she has the bandwidth for.  If a Client consulting with Jennifer wants full representation and Jennifer is not able to provide it, most of the time she can provide a high-quality referral to the Client for full representation, if the Client has sufficient resources to retain counsel.