RETAIN A LAWYER FOR $98.00 A YEAR 

Retain your own lawyer for $98 a year!

Well, yes - if you are an American.

Changes are coming fast. No one is invulnerable. Even professionals. Maybe especially professionals.

A few columns ago I drew your attention to a company in Campbell, California that arranges for you to "import" labor electronically. It threatens computer programmers, accountants, tax consultants and others.

Now this latest approach to legal advice. Not unusual that it happened first in California. It is already spreading across the U.S. Can a similar breakthrough occur here?

Before we really get into how it works consider these facts: The U.S. has two-thirds of all the lawyers in the world. Per capita twice that of England; five times as many as Germany and 25 times as many as Japan. Los Angeles County has more judges than all of France! In British Columbia with three million people there are almost as many lawyers as in Japan with its 122 million population. In other comparisons we are very close to the Americans.

Our confrontational style has resulted in clogged courts, inability to get reasonable insurance and added unbearable costs to already non-competitive businesses.

All that has contributed to create this low-cost scheme that offers preventative legal aid instead of curative. Omar James, one partner in LawAmerica, likens it to changes in dentistry. Once upon a time you only went to the dentist when tooth pain became unbearable. Today you go to stop the pain before it starts. Some studies claim flouride has cut the incidence of cavities by 93 percent over what it was in the mid thirties. That preventative move alone means less pain and substantial economic savings.

LawAmerica follows the same path. It started when the Bank of America made such an offer to its MasterCard and Visa card holders in nine U.S. states. The flood of applications surprised everybody, including James's firm, the banks legal agents for this service.

For US$98 you get a will and unlimited telephone access to an attorney. The same attorney will write letters on your behalf, review contracts you deliver or send by mail. And for serious office consultations you only pay another $50 an hour. Only $60 an hour for that lawyer to handle your case in court!

These lawyers will try to reduce confrontations. As Lawyer James pointed out to me "Unless there is a perceived value we get no renewals and hence no profit. We have to perform." James gives clients unlimited phone advice. If a client is from out of town and extra work is required he turns over such cases to one of his network lawyers who keep the extra fees charged. James claims "an 85 percent resolution rate in cases handled to date."

The first in Canada to avail themselves of a similar service in are the members of the United Auto Workers of Canada who have this service now as an integral part of their work contract. More information: Omar James, LawAmerica, 721 - 9th St., Sacramento, Calif. Zip: 95814.

Phones: (916) 441-1920 or via Camnet (800) 245-7555.

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