Phone Service Offers Minute-by-Minute Advice

When something new happens in the field of law, there is always a degree of skepticism. Therefore, when Michael Cane, a Newport Beach attorney, a few weeks ago (Oct. 5) launched a service called Telelawyer, which offers legal advice over the telephone, eyebrows--and questions--were raised.

Is there a market for this sort of legal service? Also, how good is advice that comes in minute-by-minute capsules on the phone?

The success of the service and the value of the advice hinges, in part, on a complex computer database that Cane has developed. It contains a hundred megabites of legal information, research, statutes and practical tips that the legal staff can access while on the phone. It is even programmed to bring up potential conflicts of interest, so that if you are a landlord and your tenant has already called Cane’s firm for legal advice, the lawyer will be warned not to answer your questions.

Cane agreed to let me ask a few hypothetical questions, as if I were a telephone client, to see how the service would work. We began with a relatively obscure question, asked by one of my readers recently, about the application of the unlimited marital deduction in federal estate tax law to non-U.S. citizens. Cane couldn’t find the answer on the database, but he said that in a real case, the lawyer would research the question and call back with an answer. On the other hand, only a specialist would probably have that answer at his fingertips. (I called one and he did.)

I then asked about a more common dilemma--whether a tenant should deduct his security deposit from his last month’s rent if he’s afraid his landlord might not return it. The database worked wonders. Cane summarized the legal issues, the landlord’s duty to return the deposit within 14 days, the $200 penalty if the landlord doesn’t comply with the statute, and more importantly, he discussed the practical issues involved. He recommended not doing it unless the tenant had a strong suspicion that the landlord would withhold the deposit in bad faith. All in all, a fairly impressive performance, completed in less than 10 minutes.

The service has received about 50 calls a day, Cane says. The first caller to the service was a woman who wanted an annulment, Cane said. She’d been married for only one month to someone she described as a “bum.” After two phone calls, totaling about 35 minutes, Cane advised her that an annulment was not necessary but that she could obtain a summary dissolution of the marriage by filing some form documents in court. He faxed her the documents and explained how to fill them out, he said. He hasn’t heard anything else from her, so he doesn’t know whether she followed through on his advice.

Other calls have involved landlord-tenant problems, bankruptcies, foreclosures, drunk driving and other criminal matters. One even came from an accused murderer, who Cane thinks was calling from jail. The firm’s lawyers advised some of those charged with drunk driving, who didn’t seem to have any chance of an acquittal, that they could plead guilty and save the expense of a lawyer.

Clearly, this service will not be for everyone. If you have a very complicated legal problem or if you want a lawyer to negotiate a deal, Telelawyer may not be for you.

Cane points out that the firm won’t go to court on behalf of its telephone clients, nor will it usually send out letters for them. But the firm’s six lawyers will review documents, discuss them with clients and even do legal research. There is no charge for the research time, just the time spent on the phone discussing it.

If you have a straightforward legal problem that isn’t worth spending hundreds of dollars on legal fees, and you need an answer soon or maybe even a quick second opinion, you might consider this service. Cane says this is not a referral service and the firm does not accept referral fees from other lawyers.

“When someone asks me whether they should sue, I can say, without any conflict of interest, if it is or isn’t a good idea,” he noted.

In the end, the quality of advice will depend upon the sophistication and expertise of the individual lawyers, who have an average of 10 years of experience, according to Cane, and the database of legal information and analysis.

Of course, it won’t cost much to try, compared to standard legal fees, especially if you’re a fast talker.

The initial rate for the service is $2 a minute, although that will probably increase to $3 in a few weeks, Cane said. The numbers are (900) 446-4529 and (800) 283-5529. Callers who use the “900” number are billed directly by MCI Communication Corp., or they can call the “800” number and charge by credit card.

There’s also a toll-free complaint line for callers who are not satisfied with the service: (800) 365-3405.