Many people earn too much to qualify for Legal Aid, but not enough to spend tens of thousands of dollars on legal bills. The goal of The Law Portal is to assist the majority of people who need assistance accessing top-rate and affordable legal representation.

Lawyers across British Columbia work with The Law Portal to provide exceptional representation at discounted hourly rates. When you retain a lawyer in your area through The Law Portal, your local lawyer will offer a minimum discount of 15%. When you retain a lawyer that does not live in your area, your remote lawyer’s hourly rate will be discounted by at least 25%. Additional discounts may apply if you are referred through a referral program.

The Law Portal is able to offer these discounts because we don’t have high overhead costs for office space. We have access pay-per-use office space and boardrooms for meetings and mediation, when needed.

If you retain a remote lawyer and an in-person meeting or court appearance is later required, your lawyer may recommend one of the following options:

• your remote lawyer may travel for the appearance,
• one a local lawyer in your area might join your legal team to attend your in-person meetings and/or court appearances, or
• your remote lawyer might guide and coach you so that you can attend the appearance yourself.

Our clients are typically going through a painful divorce or separation, and almost all are stressed out and overwhelmed by the legal process. We promptly respond to our clients, and we’re often available during evenings and weekends, if necessary. We care about our clients and our clients consistently tell us that they appreciate how supportive we are.

Our clients also have the option of using their free and secure client portal, where they can send and receive messages with their legal teams, upload or download documents, view their calendars, pay their bills via credit card, and access additional resources provided to them by their legal teams.

In summary, The Law Portal might be a good fit for you if you want to:

• save thousands of dollars in legal fees;
• meet with your lawyer over Zoom, Facetime, or telephone from the comfort and convenience of your own home;
• have the ability to text message and/or Whatsapp your lawyer during and after business hours;
• retain a lawyer who is compassionate, supportive, skilled, experienced, and has excellent reviews from former clients; and
• have access to a free client portal that you can use to message your legal team, upload or download documents, view your calendar, pay your bills via credit card, and access additional resources provided to you by your legal team.

Flat fee retainers are appropriate when a lawyer is retained for a specific task and the amount of work that will be required can be roughly determined in advance.

We understand that most clients want certainty and predictability with their legal fees, and we may offer flat fee agreements for specific tasks, such as providing independent legal advice on an agreement or preparing a written agreement for a client. We also offer unbundled legal services (aka limited scope retainers), which means that we will only help you with the specific task(s) that you ask us to handle, and you will be responsible for all other tasks. This enables clients who are on a budget to have more control over the amount of billable time their lawyer will spend on their file.

In our experience, flat rates generally benefit lawyers and are not in clients’ best interest for several reasons:

• The flat rate charged is often the clients’ worst-case-scenario. For example, the standard flat rate fee for a desk order divorce is often in the range of $1,500 – $2,500, but divorces can usually be completed with well under $1,000 in legal fees.
• The lawyer is going to be paid the same amount whether their work is exceptional or poorly done. Flat fee retainers give lawyers a financial incentive to put as little time and effort into their work as possible.
• If unexpected work is required, the lawyer will often tell the client that an additional payment is needed because the additional work does not fall within the scope of the retainer.

Unfortunately, uncertainty in family law is unavoidable and the amount of time required to properly represent a client throughout their case may vary based on many factors, such as:

• the level of conflict between the parties,
• the amount of correspondence we receive from the opposing party or his/her lawyer,
• the amount of correspondence we receive from the client,
• the number and length of documents that we are required to review,
• research, if the case is complicated or if the law on one of the issues at hand is evolving, and
• the client’s willingness and ability to follow our advice.

(See also: Why Do Lawyers Cost So Much Money?)

Every client that comes to us needs our help resolving their problems. We genuinely want to help, and we are mindful of the fact that enormous legal bills will only add to our clients’ list of problems. Our lawyers are respected by their peers and are usually able to successfully negotiate a settlement with opposing counsel. We always try to avoid court, but if court is required, you can be sure that we will know your file like the back of our hand and will fiercely advocate for your rights.