
Free Initial Consultation Policy
We generally offer a free initial fifteen minute phone consultation to see how we can help. This is subject to certain conditions as specified below. Calling to inquire about our services or availability is never something we charge for so always feel free to give us a call.
Initial Consultation Policy
As one of the only full service consumer law firms in Washington State, we do our best to provide a free initial consultation to each potential client who contacts us. However, because of our high call volume and the complexity of some issues, we are not able to offer free initial consultations equally across our practice or in times of particularly high volume. The chart below shows which types of issues fall within our free initial consult policy and which issues are outside of our policy.
For a consultation to be free, it must scheduled:
- During business hours
- By phone
- No more than 15 minutes
- No more than 10 pages of documents to be reviewed, and
- Any additional documents or intake sheets to be provided prior to meeting.
We will sometimes relax or waive these requirements but its a case by case decision. The consultation will be scheduled in an hour long block with the attorney or staff to call you sometime during the appointed time. We cannot guarantee a specific time but you can give us a request and we will try to meet it. If you are in a relationship and need your partner available or if there are work/child care issues, we try to keep one more more night appointments open and we can be flexible and add either early morning or late evening appointment slots upon request and approval without additional fee.
There may be a fee if you require you initial consultation to:
- During off hours
- In person
- Longer than 15 minutes
- More than 10 pages of documents to be reviewed, and/or
- Not providing necessary documents/intake sheets
Consultations & Practice Areas that are generally free
- Bankruptcy- no docs required and free
- Collections lawsuits (review of complaint and demand letter, total less than 10 pages) including:
- Auto related claims
- Credit cards, personal loans, hard money loans (promissory note less than 10 pages, complaint, demand)
- Landlord tenant debt (review of damage itemization)
- Mortgage debts (review of complaint, notice of sale, or notice of default)
- Student loans
- Other debts generally if less than 10 pages of documents need to be reviewed
- Debt Defense (all types)- where only a review of the summons and complaint/demand letter necessary
- Foreclosure Defense- where only a review of a complaint, notice of sale, notice of default required
- Military Debt Issues- SCRA, tenant rights during deployment, recoupment/collections
- Student loan- for bankruptcy, collections defense, or settlement options
Consultations & Practice Areas Where a Charge Usually Applies
- Generally: Any time we have to review legal pleadings, exhibits, and communications exceeding 10 pages including, but not limited to, the scenarios listed below. We charge in 30 minute increments at $150.00 per 30 minutes, minimum 30 minutes.
- After hours, in person, or longer consultations (fees range from $50.00 to $300.00 depending upon request and need)
- Landlord Tenant Eviction Defense ($150.00, requires review of lease, complaint, demand, notices, etc.)
- Landlord Tenant Lease Break/Termination ($150.00, requires review of lease, notices, circumstances, etc.)
- Landlord Tenant Rights Consultation ($150.00, requires review of lease, notices, circumstances, etc.)
- Motions for Summary Judgment ($150.00, requires review of motion, exhibits, and interest calculations)
- We have to pull or acquire your documents ($50.00 + costs generally, more for large jobs exceeding 200 pages)
Let us know if you need any accommodations:
Please let us know if there are any special accommodations that you may require for us to communicate or assist you. We have worked with vision impaired and hearing impaired individuals, those requirement interpreters, and individuals with severe PTSD and other significant conditions. We will do our best to provide the ability to meaningfully interact with you and provide you the services that you need.
How the consultations are scheduled: You will be called during the one hour scheduled time block
Free consultations are scheduled in hour long blocks and we will call you sometime during that hour. Some calls go long while others go short and so much like a doctor’s office, we do our best to contact you as soon as we can within the hour range. If you require a very specific time, a longer consultation, or other accommodations, please see our paid consultation section below.
If you would like a narrower time range, you generally want to request a top of the hour appointment so you would be first in the block. Alternately, we do reserve paid consultations that will begin precisely at the time requested plus or minus a few minutes in case of technical delay.
DISCLAIMER: Washington Debt Law reserves the right to deny a free consultation without notice if call or case volume is excessively high, if something is outside of our scope of practice, if there is staff unavailability, if a consultation would interfere with an existing case, in case of conflict of interest, or for any other reason the firm in its sole discretion determines. Until an attorney-client relationship is established (which requires agreement by both firm and client, a signed attorney fee agreement, and required initial payment or full payment as applicable to be made), we are not your attorney and no attorney-client relationship is established. Washington Debt Law, by setting forth these policies and terms or holding out that we may offer initial consultation does not relieve of you any duties in any case or situation you are involved in to include answering a summons and complaint, meeting a court deadline, or in actively defending yourself or mitigating any harm to yourself or to other.