Terms for Free Security Deposit Advice
What This Is
This page is an agreement between me, Gordon Estes, Esq., an attorney with Casewell, LLC, and you, the person who agreed to these terms through our website. I've written it in plain English on purpose. This document is a legal contract, and I believe contracts work best when both people can easily understand them.
We're making this agreement because you've asked me for free legal advice about your residential security deposit in New Jersey. My goal is to help you understand the relevant law, your rights and obligations under that law, and the options I believe are available to you.
We're documenting this agreement in order to define exactly what I'm doing for you, what I'm not doing for you, and what happens if either of us wants to end this arrangement. If we ever disagree about any part of this agreement, we should interpret it in light of that purpose, and in light of the goals I described above.
When This Agreement Starts
You accept these terms by checking the box on our form. Before I give you any advice, I'll check for conflicts of interest. This agreement takes effect, and I become your attorney for this limited purpose, only once I've finished that check and confirmed by email that I can help you. If I find a conflict, I'll let you know, and this agreement won't take effect.
What It Costs
Nothing. I won't charge you for the advice described on this page, and accepting it doesn't obligate you to hire me for anything else.
What You're Going to Do
Once I've confirmed that I can help you, I'll email you and ask you to tell me what's going on. I'll need you to reply in writing, in your own words, with your full account of your situation: what happened, when, and anything else you think matters. If a document says something important, tell me what it says.
What I'm Going to Do
Once I have your answers, I'll email you a short written answer, usually a few paragraphs. It will explain the law that applies to your situation, your rights and options as I understand them, and what I recommend. It won't include legal citations or a detailed analysis. You're under no obligation to follow my recommendations.
In writing my advice, I'm going to rely entirely on what you tell me. I won't ask follow-up questions or review documents, so I can't account for things you leave out. Where I think information may be missing, I'll say so. The more you share with me, the better and more reliable my advice will be.
Once I send you my advice, this engagement ends. If you want more help after that, I'm happy to talk about what comes next. However, we'll need to sign a separate engagement letter for it, and I may charge a fee.
What I'm Not Going to Do
I'm agreeing to give you a short written answer using the information you provide me. However, that's all this agreement establishes. It doesn't make me your attorney of record in any proceeding. It also doesn't require me to: review any documents; file anything on your behalf with a court, agency, or other body; draft or send any letters or communications on your behalf; contact, negotiate with, or communicate with any third parties; appear in court for you; provide ongoing legal advice; or update my advice if your situation changes or you want to provide me with new information.
My advice covers only your security deposit. If your situation involves other legal issues, like an eviction, repairs, or a dispute with a roommate, I may point them out, but my advice won't address them.
It's possible that I might be able to provide you with one or more of these services in the future. However, to do so, we would need to sign a separate engagement letter for each service or service package, and you might need to pay a fee.
How We Can End Our Engagement
You can end this engagement at any time before I send you my advice by emailing me at gordon@casewell.co.
I can end this engagement if I discover a conflict of interest, if I determine that I can't competently address your issue, or if you don't send me your account of your situation within 30 days of my asking for it.
Other Things You Should Know
Confidentiality. I'll keep everything you tell me in connection with this engagement confidential and won't share your information with anyone without your permission, unless the law requires me to.
No Guarantees. In giving you my advice, I'm going to provide my professional legal opinion about your situation. However, I can't guarantee that following my advice will lead to any particular outcome.
Deadlines. Because I'm not representing you in court, I'm not tracking or protecting any deadlines affecting your legal rights or obligations, and you're responsible for your own deadlines.
Communications. We'll communicate about this engagement via email, unless I think we need to talk over the phone or otherwise speak live. If your contact information changes, I need you to let me know as soon as possible.
Governing Law. If we need to, we'll use New Jersey law to govern and interpret this agreement.
Agreement
By checking the box on our form, you confirm that you've read and understood these terms and that you agree to them. Your check counts as your signature.