Steps To Retaining Your Legal Savior

You landed here because you want to learn about the 3 steps to retaining your legal saviour. Before we dive into that, I would like to address the word “limited scope retainer” to eliminate any misunderstanding/miscommunication moving forward.

The Law Society of Ontario (L.S.O) defines limited scope retainer as :

A retainer in which a licensee (i.e., a licensed paralegal), by agreement with the client, provides legal services for part, but not all, of the client’s legal matter. For example, you may retain us only to:

• File small claims
• Respond to a claim
• Counterclaim
• File a motion, or
• Represent you at any stage in the small claims process, i.e., (i.e. filing, default judgment, settlement conference, trials, etc.)

In that case, we will only provide that specific service, and we will only invoice for that particular service or deliverable. 

 Now that we know what a limited scope retainer is, we can jump right into the 3 steps to retaining your legal saviour.

Step 1: Let us Discuss

Please schedule an appointment with us to discuss your legal needs. We offer an hour of free in-person consultation and 30-minute free consultation on the phone. We will explore your legal needs during the consultation to determine if we are a good fit. For example, we may not have the competency or jurisdiction to take on your case. Another reason we may not be able to take on your case is when there is a conflict of interest. Hence, the need for this step. However, we will refer you to a more competent paralegal or lawyer if we do not fit your case well. 

Depending on the case, we may need more than an hour to cover every aspect of the legal consultation. We will charge $100 if the in-person or telephone consultation lasts more than one hour or thirty minutes, respectively. 

What to bring to the consultation? Please come with everything or anything related to your case, i.e., documents, pictures, invoices, statements, emails, etc., for the in-person consultation. 

Note: the 1-hour (in-person) or 30-minute (phone) consultation does not include legal work.

Step 2: Engagement Letter / Retainer Agreement

After exploring your legal needs and you are comfortable retaining our legal services. The next step is to sign an engagement letter or retainer agreement outlining the scope of the legal services we will provide, estimated fees, disbursements, and every other essentials and formalities, such as turnaround time, communication method/frequency, etc. We can send you the engagement letter or retainer agreement by email, regular mail, fax or whatever communication method you prefer. If you need us to review the engagement letter or retainer agreement with you, let us know so we can arrange a time for you to come in.

Step 3: Payment

After signing the retainer agreement or engagement letter, the next step is to pay into the provided trust account. Once we receive the payment, we will commence legal services on your legal matter.

Congratulations, you have now acquainted with the three steps of hiring your legal saviour. As you can see, it is a simple three-step process. 

Book an appointment if you are ready to start your consultation.

For more information regarding how much we charge for each legal service we provide, visit this page: