Chiro Blog Inexpensive Legal Advice for Chiropractors
As both Health Care Providers and business owners, Chiropractors are faced with unique challenges in the legal world. It’s very important to remain in compliance with your state and federal laws, because one mistake could cost you your practice. We all know how expensive legal advice can be, but there is a way to get through that cost barrier, so that you don’t jeopardize your practice. Trying to save some money by cutting legal corners will certainly not pay off in the long run.
Here are just a few examples of situations that might warrant calling an attorney:
-Starting a new practice
-Buying an existing Chiropractic Practice
-Entering into any kind of contract
-Being faced with a lawsuit
-Consultation on a Personal Injury case
Now, you don’t really think we’re going to give you legal advice on our website do you? We’re not lawyers, and we certainly wouldn’t try to pretend otherwise. So, why are we writing an article about “legal advice for Chiropractors”? Because we found out about a helpful resource that we want to share. Of course, you could search the internet for your legal questions and contracts, but you’ll probably find there are disclaimers on most sites saying that the answers are only opinions and can’t be construed as proper legal consultation. In fact, ChiroHub even has an area in our Chiropractors Forum where you can ask other practitioners in your state what their OPINION is on various laws or scope of practice; but this doesn’t replace the legal representation that you would need to go to court.
So, when you really need to meet with an attorney face-to-face, where do you go? How do you pick one? We aren’t aware of a site like ChiroHub for the Legal world that has ratings and reviews for all the attorneys in the US, so you are left to try and find your own. We can recommend several things:
1) Ask around! Always try to get a recommendation from others who have had a positive experience with the lawyer you are considering.
2) Use the local yellow pages (don’t let the size of the ad fool you though)
3) The great TIP we received recently is that you can get a State Bar referral. This may not be available in all states, but you can certainly call your State Bar to find out. You can try searching Google for your State Bar, or try the FindLaw site.
Why would calling your State Bar be so helpful? First of all, you can verify that there are no outstanding complaints about the attorney. You can also have them recommend an attorney that specializes in your particular area of interest. Another great thing about calling the Bar directly is that attorneys who have signed up for “Bar referrals” have agreed to meet with clients for a certain fee. This fee is usually pretty low in comparison to their standard fees. In some states it is as low as $30 for the 30-45 minute consultation. We think it’s a good deal, and we hope that next time you are in need of an attorney, you’ll consider this option.
