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Saying "I'll call my lawyer," doesn't necessarily mean a lawyer is on retainer. I've used one certain attorney here in town a few times and if the subject came up I would refer to him as my lawyer. Each time I've consulted him he is paid and has never been on retainer.
If a lawyer is needed, simply make an appointment with one. He then becomes your attorney if you want to consult him after the appointment.
I've used an attorney to set up wills, trusts, etc. This reminds me...I should call him again to update my will now that my kids are all of legal age. I can take the guardianship set up out of there.
My husband and I hired a lawyer to draw up our wills shortly after we were married. He retains the original documents in his office, but there is no ongoing charge for that. If a friend or family member asks about getting a will done, I refer them to him because he is inexpensive and the process was relatively painless. We plan to go back to him if we reach a net worth that would merit a trust, but that will probably be a considerable time from now.
When we were getting the wills done he mentioned that sometimes clients will come back to him repeatedly throughout the year as they think of small items they want to add, or if they want to remove someone or constantly switch things around. He warned us to be very general so we could just do the will and leave it alone. When I think of someone always bringing up their lawyer I think about this kind of manipulation of heirs.
When I overhear someone say "I'll call my lawyer" or something similar, I silently scoff to myself as these folks are the ones who don't have lawyers on retainer. In fact, they're probably familiar with receiving calls from lawyers on legal matters in which they must respond!
Having a general practice lawyer you can consult is like having a PCP in an HMO health plan.
Odds are, the attorney can do some basic things for you and even answer basic questions without charging you a retainer. After all, every lawyer loves money and they want your future business so they want to treat you right from the first day.
Once you have a legitimate legal issue that needs resolved, then a lawyer will charge you a retainer fee and then you officially become his/her client with all Constitutional protections that comes with that privilege. If they don't have the specialized license or knowledge to handle your case, they will refer you to a trusted attorney with the appropriate experience. This is just like a family doctor referring you to a specialist for care.
Most small-practice lawyers will have no problem "becoming your lawyer" if you politely ask them to. Just be aware that certain lawyers will give you lots of free advice on the phone without charging a fee, and some wont even talk to you unless their secretary has already charged your credit card LOL.
The closest the average person will come to
"having a lawyer" is either prepaid legal, a friend who is a lawyer or paralegal, or a public defendant. The average person simply does not have the finances to keep a lawyer on retainer. Unless you're a corporation or into litigating with every person you come across or has "wronged" you, having a lawyer on retainer is cost prohibitive. I consult a lawyer if I need to but it's usually in big ticket items like living trust or lookin over a contract
Some people that threaten to sue never will. It's bluster.
I wish people wouldn't say, "I'm calling my lawyer!" or "My lawyer will be in touch." It's just fuels the negative feeling our society seems to have so much of the time.
Why not, "let's talk through this," or "let's work this out," instead?
Just to clarify, I didn't start this thread trying to figure this stuff out so I can go yelling at people that I'm about to call my lawyer up. lol Not my style. (And I agree that others who go around saying that trying to intimidate people are totally rude.)
The only time I've ever even come close to thinking about a lawsuit is with that dental situation, and that was only in hindsight. Not because I wanted money out of it, but I was genuinely wronged - I later found out that the sedative she used was contraindicated with the (very common, not obscure) medication I was taking (and had told her about, and listed on the intake sheet), and I could have died, leaving behind my husband and three kids including a newborn. If I easily found that medicine caution online, then she as a dentist should certainly have known about it. I went in for a routine procedure that I had had done many times before, I wake up in the ER, and then to add insult to injury they brushed me off and said it was somehow my fault, and offered not even an apology. I didn't sue, but I think that might have been a valid case.
I was thinking more along the lines of if your civil liberties were somehow at stake, or like the landlord situation another poster mentioned... it might actually head off a potentially heated conversation. Just walking away from a situation and saying that they can communicate through a lawyer or something. That way you wouldn't get taken advantage of by someone who thinks you don't know your rights.
I agree with the others who said there is no need to ahve a lawyer on a retainer. That would only make sense if you have ongoing or frequent legal issues. All states have helpful websites where you can find lawyers in all specialties - for example, the State Bar of California, State Bar of Texas, etc. In general, criminal lawyers for if you or your kids get in trouble, personal injury for accidents and the like, commercial or business lawyers for business matters, trust and estates for issues like wills and taxes, real estate lawyers for the obvious, IP lawyer if you have something you want to patent or a name you want to trademark, etc. For your dental issue, I'm not sure you would have a case because no harm actually befell you, but it could have. Most states have boards that take malpractice complaints against doctors and dentists. Finally, I think it doesn't hurt to say - in contentious situations or where the balance of power is very unequal - something like "I'll need to talk to my lawyer" or "I'll need to consult a lawyer."
I am SO not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but it was the closest I could think of... namely in that hiring a lawyer is sort of like having a relationship with one? I dunno.
So, maybe I'm completely ignorant, but how does one "get a lawyer"? When you hear people say, "my lawyer will be in touch" etc - does that mean they already have a lawyer, or that they will look for one afterwards?
I'm not in any trouble with the law, never have been, don't plan on it! And I don't plan on suing anyone either. But I figure it'd be good to know where to turn in case anything did ever come up in the future. We live in a small, rural area and although I know there are a few shady DUI lawyers around, and some real estate types, I don't know of any other law offices close by without going into the city. "General practice" types of lawyers, exist, right? How does one go about picking one? I wouldn't even know what to look for if we ever ran into some legal issues.
I can't imagine what sort we'd even run into, honestly. I imagine having a lawyer would be handy in a lot of situations. I had a friend who got into an accident (not her fault) and nothing happened until her family's lawyer got her medical expenses covered along with a settlement - but without a lawyer, she wouldn't have gotten anything. A few years ago a similar situation happened to me, I had a medical emergency in a dental office due to sedation, and the dentist just brushed it off and said "oh, you must have had a panic attack." (Right, that's not what the ER staff said.) I'm thinking if I had had a lawyer, maybe they would have treated me better. (Obviously I wasn't out for a settlement, I didn't pursue that, but maybe in hindsight that would have been something to discuss with a legal expert.)
And I know they're not cheap, but how much do they cost to... I dunno, do you keep them on retainer? Just have a phone number in your wallet in case you need them? Have a consultation once so they know you? Have them do some legal work for you upfront, and then hope they remember you?
My parents had a team of lawyers, and my mom still has one, but their situation was/is very different. They had business issues, estate issues, medical issues, investments... all sorts of things. I know my mom's lawyer handles a bunch of stuff for her, but since her situation is so far out of my realm of norm (and she barely understands it herself, she just kind of "inherited" the lawyer when she became a widow) that I can't really ask her for advice. She finds it odd that not everyone has a lawyer by default.
So... right.
OMG! I am one who likes to 'be prepared' (I was a Girl Scout) and have my 'ducks in a neat row', but this sounds like putting the horse waaaaaay before the cart. I'd not worry about retaining an attorney until you need one, especially since you are not in an trouble. IF the need ever arises, you could call your Mother and ask for a referral from one of her attorneys. I don't know the going rate for just having one 'in your pocket in case', but I bet it's a LOT. There are just so many other things in life you HAVE to worry about, having an attorney would be far down the list for me.
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But I figure it'd be good to know where to turn in case anything did ever come up in the future. We live in a small, rural area and although I know there are a few shady DUI lawyers around, and some real estate types, I don't know of any other law offices close by without going into the city. "General practice" types of lawyers, exist, right? How does one go about picking one? I wouldn't even know what to look for if we ever ran into some legal issues. 
