1) Please read this information carefully so you understand clearly the scope of services offered to you through this website. When limiting the scope of representation, lawyers can be more responsive to client needs and help serve vulnerable populations. This website offers you “unbundled” legal services.
2) Unbundling means dividing comprehensive legal representation into a series of discrete tasks, only some of which the client contracts with the lawyer to perform. In other words, unbundling is about limiting the scope of a lawyers representation of a client to the areas or projects the client wants most.
3) Lawyers must still provide competent representation for the services undertaken, may not neglect the work they agree to perform, and must communicate adequately with the client about the representation. They must also still perform a conflicts check.
4) For a limit on the scope of representation to be valid, the lawyer must obtain the clients informed consent to minimize any confusion about the scope of the representation.
5) One reasonably available alternative, depending on the clients budget, may be for the client to hire other lawyers for each legal task. Another alternative might be for the client to obtain a lawyer to provide total representation. For the client to understand the risks of proceeding with a limited representation, the lawyer should explain what services he or she will and will not provide, and why additional legal services may be necessary. Therefore, you must understand all of the following terms of this Agreement for Limited Advice and Legal Services between you and Oregon Lawyer Online.
6) Our agreement to advise you begins at the time you accept this completed Agreement for Limited Advice and Legal Services, you have completed everything on the “get started” page, and we have received payment of your fee through our credit card payment system for the limited legal service you have purchased. Our representation will end after we have provided you the task or service that you have purchased.
7) You are making no commitment to use our services at any time in the future. We have not agreed to represent you by, for example, going to a hearing or trial with you, preparing your case for trial or providing any legal assistance other than for the particular service that you purchased from this website. We have no further obligation to you after completing the task that you have purchased.
8) This means that unless we expressly agree to undertake legal services after your initial purchase of online services, you don’t expect me to do anything else, and I don’t expect you to pay me anything else.
9) If we prepare a document for you, such as a complaint, and it requires filing procedures, you have agreed to take responsibility for having the document filed properly and in compliance with any legal procedure, according to the instructions that we provide to you. We don’t promise or guarantee any particular outcome.
10) We have made no further investigation of the facts and we rely entirely on you, the client, to provide us with the facts of your situation.
11) Court costs are also part of a lawsuit. They include filing fees and service of process fees. We will not pay any costs associated with your case. These costs are your responsibility to pay.
12) By affirmatively accepting this Agreement, an attorney/client relationship is created. This means that all communications with you will remain confidential and we may decline to give you advice if we have a conflict of interest. For example, if we find that we have already advised your spouse or business partner on a matter, or for any other reason set forth in the Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct.
13) The transmission and receipt of information within this website does not form or constitute an attorney-client relationship. If the lawyer(s) for Oregon Lawyer Online determines that we represent another client whose interests conflict, or are likely to conflict, with the client’s interest, Oregon Lawyer Online reserves the right to return any flat fees paid and terminate any further transmissions, while protecting the confidentiality of any privileged information that the person has provided to Oregon Lawyer Online. We must confirm that the necessary conflict reviews have been conducted after receiving your contact information before we accept this engagement. The engagement has been accepted if you receive a return answer to your inquiry. Only at that point may you rely upon that answer as constituting “legal advice” pursuant to this limited services agreement.
14) I understand that I will have responsibility for filing my legal documents and proceeding as a pro se litigant. I have read, understand, and agree to be bound by the above, and I authorize you to proceed in providing me with the limited legal service that I have purchased based upon these terms and conditions.
15) Your Informed Consent – I understand that once we provide services to you our fees are non-refundable. By selecting, “I agree,” on the “get started” page, you are acknowledging that you have carefully read this Agreement and considered and understand the possible risks and benefits of the limited-service representation described in this Agreement. Understanding those possible risks and benefits, you voluntarily, knowingly and intentionally enter into this Agreement with the attorney for Oregon Lawyer Online for the limited scope of services being provided to you.
Close this window to return to the “get started” form. Check the Accept box to verify that you have read and accepted the terms of the Agreement for Limited Advice and Legal Services.