Access to Affordable Legal Advice is Easier then You Think
Community, Dan Harmon’s American television sitcom, features a character named Jeff Winger, a sly talking shameless lawyer who is commonly wearing expensive clothes and driving a new Lexus. It is this kind of media which creates a misconception about lawyers. Rather than being viewed as experts in their field, attempting to help the public get out of tough situations, lawyers are seen as greedy individuals who work purely for their own benefit. This, however, could not be more untrue in the real world.
Nicol Gersch Petterson
Nicol Gersch Petterson, a law firm located in Fort Collins, recognizes that access to justice is imperative in today’s society of a global pandemic as well as high unemployment rates. To prove this, the firm is proud to present three different finance options to help the public receive high quality legal services for rates they can afford.
Internal Financing Option
“We’re cutting-edge attorneys, and we’re not ever satisfied with the status quo. So, we wanted to make our justice system available to people who can’t afford to do this. To help, we started offering interest-free internal financing over several months. We do this with recurring payments via debit/credit card or ACH through our payment processor, so you can set it and forget it! We can even customize whether you want to have payments come out weekly, bimonthly, or monthly to help with your paycheck planning. We call this our “internal financing option.”’
Long-Term Financing Option
“However, for people facing serious legal costs and longer-lasting cases, our internal financing wasn’t cutting it. So, we listened to our customers. We partnered with a third-party vendor to offer long-term financing with no prepayment penalty. This financing allows for low, affordable, monthly payments. Even the application process is easy (all online here) and it’s not even a ding to your credit to apply. Most people with credit scores in the 600’s and above, with 1 year of work under the belt, making at least $40K will qualify. The loan is funded usually within a few days, with preapproval as quickly as a few hours. Interest is charged, but the first payment is not even due for 30 days, and you can take care of your legal bills up front in full, ensuring that you have the best legal representation from the very beginning. No cosigning is required, ever, and the financed amount can be catered to what you need (full vs. partial amounts). This is our “long-term financing option.”’
Third Party Help With Payment
“What’s even better, though, is that we work with friends and family members to help clients fund their legal cases as well. If none of the three options above will work for you personally, a friend or family member (or several) can use the options to help you instead. We have a one-page form explaining that you are the client, you direct the legal defense, and confidentiality applies to you regardless of the friend or family member paying the bills. This is our “Third Party Guarantee” form that we use for the classic model and the internal financing option. But, if the long-term financing option is needed instead, the friend or family member applies for the loan directly with our third-party vendor.”
Larimer County Pro Bono Program
The Larimer County Pro Bono Program takes this even further by working with the citizens of Fort Collins and Loveland to find private attorneys who will work pro bono. The program works to refer individuals who meet the financial need requirements to participating agencies or lawyers who are willing to work on a volunteer basis.
How to Know if You Are Eligible
Bring last years tax return along with three months of paystubs or bank statements and based on the current Federal Poverty Guidelines and it will be determined if your financial situations meets the requirements. If your case is under the legal areas of bankruptcy, criminal, workers compensation, social security or personal injury cases this service will be unavailable to you.
Where to go
Wednesdays at 12 p.m at Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Avenue, 4th Floor, Fort Collins.
