Consultation Agreement
THIS IS NOT AN AGREEMENT TO REPRESENT YOU IN COURT
Your consultation may include discussion of an upcoming court or administrative hearing. This Consultation Agreement does not cover representation in a court hearing or any other proceeding. If you have an upcoming court date or other proceeding, CLS may be able to assist you, depending on the circumstances of your case, available CLS resources, and other factors. However, any further assistance is dependent on your appearance in court on the day of your hearing and the execution of a separate Retainer Agreement.
Community Legal Services (“CLS”), a nonprofit legal services organization, staffs the program from which you are seeking assistance. This Agreement between you and CLS contains the terms under which CLS will provide you with a legal consultation.
Scope of Legal Consultation and Limitations on Legal Services: To the extent possible, CLS will provide you with information, legal advice, and assistance with forms so you can understand your legal rights and/or represent yourself in connection with your legal matter. Our services under this Agreement do not extend beyond the consultation. We will not continue to follow your case, appear at your hearing(s), file any documents on your behalf, or notify you of future information about your case.
Declining to Advise: We may decline to provide advice after interviewing you if your legal problems are beyond the scope of services provided by CLS or for any other reason outlined in the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct. If another attorney represents you, we cannot discuss your case with you; you should speak to your attorney with any questions you have.
Third Parties: We can only assist the person who has the legal issue. We cannot speak with a friend or family member on your behalf. Because of the confidentiality of the consultation, we will not allow a third party to sit in our consultation.
Duration of Legal Help: Assistance under this Consultation Agreement begins upon the start of your in-person or phone meeting with CLS and ends when the meeting concludes.
Cooperation: We need your cooperation to advise you effectively. You agree to answer questions truthfully and provide all relevant information. You agree to provide demographic information needed by our organization for our reporting purposes.
Attorney's Fees & Costs: Our services are free of charge. Any costs associated with your legal matter are your sole responsibility.
Conflict of Interest: You understand that we may have met with the opposing party in this case in the past or may provide legal assistance to a person(s) who may have interests opposing your interests in the future. If we realize that a conflict exists, we may decline to provide legal assistance. We will do our best to provide you with additional resources that may be available to assist you if we cannot.
Household Size and Income: Eligibility for CLS’s services are dependent on household income. CLS reserves the right to request income verification information for any service, including consultations.
By signing this Consultation Agreement, you affirm that you have provided accurate household income information and acknowledge that you have had enough time to review and ask any questions about this Consultation Agreement, that you are signing this document voluntarily, and that you accept all terms of this Consultation Agreement. If you have any questions related to our Agreement, you may discuss it with an outside attorney before signing.