The Law Office of Cathleen E. Norton is committed to providing you with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about your life. We counsel and educate our clients about their legal rights because we want them to understand the process. Our goal is to empower you. Our job is to protect you.
When you retain the Law Office of Cathleen E. Norton to represent you, we become your advocate. Working together, we are able to provide individualized legal advice that is not cost-prohibitive.
It does not make sense to hire an attorney at the outset of litigation and later run out of money before final resolution of your case. This would leave you in a very vulnerable position, as you may be forced to negotiate settlement without the benefit of counsel. We are committed to protecting our clients’ legal rights and will work within most budgets to accomplish this goal.
Virtually every litigant can benefit from an attorney’s legal training and experience, but not all can afford counsel at all stages in the litigation. There are many different limited scope representation options available through the Law Office of Cathleen E. Norton, and we are willing to work with you to make our services affordable.
We are cost-conscious and put much thought into determining where client monies are best utilized. We always do a cost-benefit analysis for a given course of action, and leave the final decision up to our client. Our approach to providing high quality legal services works best when clients are able to do much of the “homework” and information gathering on their own. When clients provide documents as requested and follow through on other tasks that we ask of them, it keeps legal fees and costs to a minimum.
Many parties going through a divorce do not need the services of a full-service attorney. For these individuals, we have various limited scope consulting options available to assist our clients in keeping costs low.
For example, you may want an attorney to analyze the financials of the case for pre-divorce planning, or to give an opinion on what constitutes a fair settlement of the community assets. You may need guidance with the paperwork necessary for filing an Order to Show Cause, and may want to consult with an attorney to help strategize the matter and advise you of the strengths and weaknesses of your position. You may want an attorney to represent you at an upcoming hearing or at an informal settlement conference. You may need to subpoena documents from employers, banks, or other institutions in order to uncover hidden income or assets. You may want to consult with counsel about a child custody evaluation or a business valuation.
When one party is angry or is otherwise unreasonable, he or she may over litigate the case. This is commonly known as “papering one to death.” Your spouse may hope that you will relent and give in to his/her demands if you are forced to respond to unnecessary pleadings, attend multiple court hearings, or respond to mountains of discovery. Therefore, you may need to protect yourself by hiring an attorney throughout all stages of the litigation. If you are the low wage earner (i.e., stay at home spouse), we may be able to obtain a court order shifting the costs of attorney’s fees. This means that we would seek a court order requiring the other party to pay your attorney’s fees. This does not mean that you are not responsible for paying your bill with our office, but in certain situations, the Law Office of Cathleen E. Norton may take the case with a small retainer in the hopes that the Court will award attorney’s fees to be paid by your spouse.
Please contact the Law Office of Cathleen E. Norton at (310) 300-4021 or email cathleen@cnortonlaw.com for more information or to schedule a consultation appointment.
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