Mosten's Model for Unbundling
Los Angeles family law attorney Forrest Mosten offers his clients 17
categories of service to choose from in an unbundled arrangement. The
client maintains responsibility for those tasks not designated to the
attorney.
Note: Although Mosten and other key advocates of
unbundling are family lawyers, they believe unbundling holds
possibilities in other areas of law practice as well.
1) Legal advice: office visits, telephone calls, fax, mail,
email;
2) Advice about availability of alternative means to resolve the
dispute, including mediation and arbitration;
3) Evaluation of the client's self-diagnosis of the case and advising
the client about legal rights;
4) Guidance and procedural information for filing or serving
documents;
5) Reviews of correspondence and court documents;
6) Preparation and/or suggestion of documents to be prepared;
7) Factual investigation: contacting witnesses, public record
searches, in-depth interview of client;
8) Legal research and analysis;
9) Discovery: interrogatories, depositions, requests for document
production;
10) Planning for negotiations, including simulated role playing with
the client;
11) Planning for court appearances made by the client, including
simulated role playing with the client;
12) Backup and troubleshooting during the trial;
13) Referring the client to other counsel, expert or
professional;
14) Counseling the client about an appeal;
15) Procedural assistance with an appeal and assisting with
substantive legal argumentation in an appeal;
16) Providing preventive planning and/or scheduling legal
checkups;
17) Other.
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