Why Use an Appearance Attorney?
The use of appearance attorneys continues to rise in popularity. While the reasons for law firms using appearance attorneys are specific to their own needs, these reasons and use cases are usually personal, economic and logistical. Let’s discuss a few of them.
Avoiding Court Dates that Might be Conflicting
One of the most common reasons to hire a special appearance attorney is to handle court hearings that are scheduled for the same time or too close together for you to be able to attend both. If you are handling two different cases and they both have a hearing on the same day, you may not be able to attend both of the hearings, even if they are at different times. This applies to virtual appearances as well. You’ll need someone to stand in for you at one of the hearings. An appearance attorney can do just that, ensuring you won’t miss either of the hearings on your schedule.
Making Sure Pressing Deadlines are Kept
Sometimes, it’s difficult to attend all hearings and keep deadlines that may be pressing. If you need to travel for one hearing but have other deadlines to meet locally, it can be impossible to get everything done. This means you risk missing the hearing or one of the deadlines you need to keep. Instead, hiring a special appearance attorney enables you to handle the hearing, no matter where it’s located, while still being able to deal with the pressing deadlines you’re facing.
Handling Personal Issues
Though you have important deadlines and hearings for work, you also have a personal life. Balancing this is vital but can be hard to do. Perhaps you have to be at your child’s school for a meeting with their teacher, or you have to handle personal tasks that can only be done during business hours. In these cases, it’s a good idea to work with a special appearance attorney. The special appearance attorney will attend the hearing in your place, so you can take care of the personal issues that are conflicting with your work schedule.
Handling Emergencies
Like personal issues, emergencies can pop up that make it difficult or impossible for you to attend a hearing. Though you can’t just decide not to show up, you will need to take care of the emergency. Instead of missing the hearing, an appearance can attend in your place. Whether you have a family emergency, a car accident, or health problems that stop you from attending, the attorney can attend in your place, so you won’t have to worry about missing an important hearing for your case.
Outsourcing Appearances as a Business Model
The ability to outsource legal appearances, permits a law office or practitioner to work on growing their business, spending their time on higher impact cases, or working on “rainmaker” activities that will grow the law firm in the long run. Many law firms make this decision and never look back, delegating and outsourcing a large caseload.
Using Appearance Attorneys to Earn More
Saving time and money is crucial today, and special appearance attorneys can help with both. The billable hour rate you have may be more than what you would pay for coverage during a court hearing. If it is less expensive to have an appearance attorney attend a hearing that is not critical to your case, it may be better to have them attend and save money that would be spent on your time getting to the courthouse, handling the hearing, and getting back to the office. Instead of needing to take the time to go to the courthouse, the attorney can handle it for you, so you can spend that time on something that may be more important.
Getting Help in a Different Courthouse
If a hearing is scheduled in a different location and you are required to appear, it may be better to work with an appearance counsel instead of going to the hearing yourself. This will save you a significant amount of time traveling, but it also helps in that you won’t have to worry about going to a new courthouse. If you’re traveling out of the city or out of the state for a hearing, the court procedures may be different from what you’re used to. Instead, a special appearance attorney local to the area won’t have to travel, and they’ll already be familiar with local customs and court procedures
Sometimes, there are reasons why you won’t be able to attend a court hearing. In these cases, using a special appearance attorney can enable you to make sure the hearing is covered without having to attend on your own. Whether you have an emergency to deal with, you’re worried about conflicting schedules, or you have any other reason for not attending the hearing, we can help. Contact us now to request a special appearance attorney to help handle your upcoming in-person or virtual hearing.
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