There are many things about my practice at Alabama Family Law Center that often surprise clients. One that surprises them the most is that I don’t maintain a physical office. Huh? How can a lawyer hang out a shingle when there’s no place to hang it? I added this page to explain why I do this and how it works.
First, maintaining an office is expensive. Somebody has to pay the rent, pay for all that clunky furniture and fake brass, and keep it heated and cooled. For AFLC, that cost doesn’t exist, so you don’t have to pay anything for it. You’ll see the effect of that in the prices I charge, which I work to keep as low as possible.
Second, I’ve learned that, because of the unique nature of my practice (I focus on divorce and divorce-related services for couples who are able to be reasonably cooperative), there’s nothing I need to do for my clients that I can’t do effectively using the telephone and the Internet. I use a service that allows you to see on your computer the documents I’m preparing for you while we’re meeting together, so we can make changes, and you can see them, in real time.
Third, doing away with the need to travel to an office means that it’s less expensive and less burdensome for my clients to use my services. You don’t need to use precious fuel to get to and from my office. Everything happens while you’re in the comfort of your home or workplace.
Finally, I’m selfish. My bride and I are organic subsistence farmers in rural Elmore County, Alabama. On many days we never leave the farm. I want to be able to be able to serve my clients’ interests thoroughly, but I also need to be present at home to make sure the rabbits and the deer leave a few of the tomatoes for us. I’m reasonably confident most people don’t want to have to travel to our farm to work with me, so it’s up to me to figure out a way for me to help. Working by phone and Internet seems to do the trick.
Because this page talks about my legal practice, it’s important that I say this: No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.