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An Opportunity for Employers and Employees

Did you know the Jordan, Gfroerer & Weddleton provides legal services to some 3,500 employees in the Concord area?

We call it Employee Legal Assistance and here is how it works.

Finding a Lawyer in New Hampshire:

Despite the fact there are lawyer referral services and pro-bono programs, the vast majority of lower and middle income people in central New Hampshire have no clue how to go about getting legal advice or assistance. And when they do find an attorney, the cost of legal representation in matters under $5,000, is often greater than the value of the case.

Flexible Fees and Payment Arrangements:

More often, people who do not have their own personal attorney just ignore legal matters or let them fester until a small problem becomes a significant and overwhelming legal headache. Too often, the goal of saving money has just the opposite effect. In many cases, if employees had consulted with an attorney at the very first outset, they end up saving a lot more money and a lot of heartache. That is why we provide a reduced hourly rate and flexible fees, as well as payment plans to make sure that everyone gets the representation they need and deserve.

We Make Access to An Attorney a Reality For Your Employees:

We differ from pre-paid legal programs in three major ways:

There is no monthly cost to the employer or the employee.
We establish a direct relationship with the employee before there is a crisis.
We provide on-going information through Lunch ’N Learn sessions, a newsletter and our web page.

As a community law firm that really wants to make legal representation accessible to all, we strive to handle legal problems by early intervention before they ever become really serious problems. Once a legal problem does arise, we want to take whatever steps are necessary to eliminate the hassle from the client’s life. In other words, we want to be involved at the outset to take steps to either prevent legal problems from ever happening, or if they do, prevent them from costing the client thousands of dollars.

How JG&W Provides Real Access To Legal Services:

We first establish a direct relationship between the lawyer and client in a non-crisis situation by offering a simple will package as a loss leader for $25.

We do this because a crisis is not the time to establish a lawyer/client relationship. We want the client to be in a position to meet the attorneys and ask questions about their interests and experience. Accordingly, we have set up a system for obtaining a "mini-estate plan" which is both convenient and inexpensive. It consists of a simple will, a living will, and a durable power of attorney for health care. The only time the client has to come to the law office is to sign the documents before witnesses.

We emphasize to the client that they can call any time and talk to an attorney. We want the clients to feel comfortable and confident in our legal skills and concern for their legal matters.

If this system is to work, the employer must emphasize that the employee can call JG&W anytime and talk to a lawyer about any legal issue at no charge. It is not enough to put a pile of notices on a table and think that the employee will feel at ease calling a lawyer.

If an employee calls JG&W, we will try to resolve the question over the phone. If we cannot, we will ask the employee to come in and discuss the matter in detail. If the matter is complicated or serious and requires hiring an attorney:

the employee receives a reduction of 20% from our regular hourly rate;
if the matter is a small claim, we show the clients how to successfully pursue the matter themselves;
we will develop a budget payment plan that the client agrees they can afford;
we analyze the case to determine if there is a possibility that the prevailing party would be awarded attorney’s fees and costs. If so, we consider taking that type of case on a contingency basis so the client has almost no financial outlay.

We continually try to keep in contact with clients to remind them of our concern and provide some on-going preventive legal information, which may help them deal with a matter before a lawyer is needed. We try to do this through an acclaimed, rather unique, newsletter both by e-mail and mailing and direct distribution by the employer. This is a critical element of the program because legal services are not needed every day and it is important to be reminded that there is a law firm willing and able to help.

A Win-Win-Win Situation

This service has been carefully developed to make sure that all parties benefit.

The employee gets access to free, quality legal advice and affordable legal representation.

The employer gets to offer a unique benefit at no cost. It is well documented that Employee Assistance Programs save companies money. It is far more expensive to recruit, hire and train a new employee than to retain a quality employee who may be experiencing some personal problems.

JG&W benefits by having the opportunity to personally talk or meet potential clients. Some clients will be able to pay legal fees, others may receive a reduced fee or a budget payment arrangement. With enough people taking advantage of this opportunity, JG&W will be able to statistically obtain enough quality cases that will, in effect, subsidize those matters where we provide free legal advice or take on a client who simply cannot afford a lawyer.

If you would like to find out more information about our employee assistance program, feel free to call Roy Weddleton at (603) 228-1151 or e-mail him at roy@granitelaw.com.

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Jordan, Gfroerer & Weddleton - Attorneys at Law
Four Park Street, Suite 405, Concord, NH 03301-6329
v: 603.228.1151 f: 603.224.2686 e: info@granitelaw.com w: granitelaw.com