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Should questions asking about dealing with lawyers (but not about the law itself) be on-topic? attests to the suitability of the following. So can they please be undeleted and reopened?
Can they be improved?

https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/71/what-can-a-layperson-do-to-minimise-his-her-billable-hours
https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/70/how-does-a-layperson-decide-if-he-she-really-have-a-case

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  • As jimsug pointed out, most of us - if not all - can't see those questions. Can you describe them, or paste in some of the relevant text?
    – HDE 226868
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 14:47
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    @HDE226868 I'll try, but would a moderator please undelete them to allow other users' reading?
    – user89
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 14:58
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    Both of those questions were automatically deleted by the system as part of regular cleanup of closed, downvoted questions. I've undeleted them for now, and anyone who wants to see them for the purposes of this meta question should have enough time to do so; they'll be automatically deleted again in a little while if their status does not change. cc @HDE226868
    – Pops
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 20:35
  • @Pops Thanks for doing that.
    – HDE 226868
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 20:36
  • @Pops Thanks also. Would it help for someone generous enough to upvote them to negate the -1, to anticipate or prevent deletion?
    – user89
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 20:38
  • Only if they actually believe that the posts really are clear, useful and otherwise good examples of questions that belong on Law Stack Exchange. If not, then the deletion algorithm is working as intended.
    – Pops
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 20:55

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I really wouldn't re-open them (unless you made changes to the first one).

Regarding the first one, you ask (in the body),

Suppose a layperson's lawyer operates using billable hours. Besides the following, what else can a layperson do [to minimize billable hours]?

This is too broad, just as the title suggests. You eliminate some other options, but there's nothing else holding all sorts of answers back. That is not good. It was closed as "off topic"; "too broad" would be another good reason.

The second one is purely opinion-based. As the body says,

For example, how many different lawyers should a layperson seek advice from, before retaining anyone?

I'm a math-y guy, but there's no way I can come up with an formula or data to conclusively give a good answer for this.

Can they be improved?

I suppose you could overhaul that and ask what lawyers do that increases or decreases their billable hours - in other words, looking at it from their perspective, not that of the client. I don't know if this is on topic, but if you ask for specific examples, perhaps it might escape being too broad. You would have to ask if certain things are common practice, though, and not just practiced by one out of the thousands of legal professionals in the world.

I don't think you can save the second one. It's all opinions.

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Having read the questions, I can pretty much say:

  • What can a layperson do to minimise his/her billable hours?
    Way too broad. This depends on the lawyer and case so much, it wouldn't be possible to give a better answer than "Don't hire a dodgy lawyer." I'm not sure if you could narrow the scope of it without making it too localised and/or asking for legal advice?
  • How does a layperson decide if he/she really have a case?
    Again, you can't really give a better answer than "Depends on the reason the lawyer turns you down", as Robert Cartaino pointed out.

As a side note, asking people to upvote a question to save it from autodelete is a bad idea, because you can't change votes after five minutes. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but downvoted questions are downvoted for a reason, and the same goes for deleted questions... If you really want to save a record of the question for historical purposes, a screenshot is easier.

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  • FYI, I've temporarily undeleted the questions if you want to judge the full contents.
    – Pops
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 20:37
  • Thanks for that. I can pretty much stand by my answer.
    – jimsug
    Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 21:06

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