Honestly, in an ideal world? Your Legal Doula, as a business, wouldn’t need to exist.
We wouldn’t need an advocate to help us navigate our birth rights. We wouldn’t need to “navigate” our rights at all. In an ideal world, our employer would anticipate the needs of their pregnant employees – and they sure as hell wouldn’t act like you’re a shock: like you’re the first pregnant employee who’s ever in the history of employment had the nerve to work outside the home.
In an ideal world, our health care providers would offer us truly informed consent and bodily autonomy. Doctors would not pressure us to induce at 39.5 weeks because “it’s policy.” Healers wouldn’t put hands on us without our permission–or even against our will.
As I don’t need to tell anyone who’s been pregnant or given birth, it’s an experience that rocks your reality. That literally changes your brain. And in an ideal world, a structure of societal support for this experience would exist. We’d have easier access to accommodations and leave–paid leave. We’d have understanding and empathy; not judgement.
In an ideal world, all stakeholders–employers, doctors, even strangers–would treat you in a respectful (and legal) manner, without you asking.
But, in my experience, we don’t live in that world. Certainly not in the U.S.
We live in a world where your employer can put up a piddly little sign in the break room that has your rights written on it in confusing legalese in Courier 10 pt. font and call it good. They can sleep at night, even if they themselves never read it, let alone understand it.
We live in a world where providers and hospitals are hyper-vigilant of any hint of the possibility of a lawsuit – if anything happens to the baby. Forget about what happens to you. You can suffer the worst birth trauma imaginable and be expected to go home smiling because “at least you’re both alive and healthy.”
We live in a world where you can do everything “right” and still be let down by the system, because it is certainly not going to assert or protect your birth rights for you.
I’ve built Your Legal Doula, PLLC, so that you can have access to a tool in doing just that. That’s why our framework is: understand, assert, and protect your birth rights.
Because when we don’t understand our rights and assert them? That’s when we don’t realize what our birth rights were until its too late. And when we don’t protect and vindicate our rights when a violation does occur? Our employers, our doctors, our health care system: all these stakeholders just keep getting away with it. Because right now, they have the power.
I don’t want to be stuck in that reality. If you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be stuck in that reality.
As a lawyer, I don’t want you to be stuck in that reality, if I can help it. If I could, I would help you for free. But I also have a child, and a mortgage, and licenses to maintain (because capitalism).
That’s why I break down my services to make them as accessible as possible.
Let met give you a more in-depth look at what working with me looks like. We’ll use the example of a workplace issue. Let’s say you’re pregnant and you suspect your boss is violating your rights when it comes to pregnancy accommodations.
Step 1: Every single potential client of mine starts with a complimentary–that is, totally free–consultation. This will take about 15-20 minutes. The aim is for me to understand your situation: what your needs and desires are, what problems your having asserting your rights, and what I can do to help. We’d get very clear on how, exactly, we can work together.
Step 2a: If I can’t help, I might refer you to a colleague of mine–someone who’s better equipped to assist with your specific situation.
Step 2b: If I can help, we’ll do one of two things:
- If your problem is straightforward, I can consult with you as your attorney for a short time. We’ll schedule a phone call or in-person meeting to talk through your problem and troubleshoot. This will allow me to arm you with knowledge of what your rights are and how, exactly, you can assert them in your specific situation–so that you can then go and advocate for yourself. Pricing for this service starts at $175 an hour. Once we complete the call, our work is done.
- If your problem is more complex, I’ll send you a written proposal of the work I can do for you, as your attorney on an ongoing basis. This might include research I share with you, a demand letter I write, a communications plan with HR I can help you draft, or even a plan to initiate mediation, arbitration, or litigation, where I’d represent you against the employer. These services start at $250 for a basic research package and go up the more complex the work is, and may include hourly fees if you choose to have me represent you directly (meaning: I talk to your employer, their attorney, or a mediator/arbitrator/court, on your behalf).
Step 3: You choose the service you want: 1) short-term, or 2) ongoing. Based on your choice, I draft a contract for us both to sign, to officially begin our attorney-client relationship. Once you sign the agreement, I become your attorney for the specific service you’ve chosen. Then, I will send an invoice for you to pay for the service or services in advance.
With Your Legal Doula’s flexible structure, you move to more complex (and therefore expensive) services only if necessary. If we can figure out your issue in one call? Great! I’m your attorney for the hour. If you need me to write up a communications plan for working with your HR department? Excellent; I get to work generating a product for you, and then I walk you through how to use it. And if you need me to go to bat for you in front of an arbitrator (often because your company makes you do this before you can sue them)? That’s fine; I’ll start working according to an hourly plan that I would fully explain to you in advance.
As a short example, let’s go back to that situation with your boss and pregnancy accommodations. *Please note that the following steps and prices are example, only. The initial research might cost $250, to figure out the laws at play and what you’re legally entitled to. The application of the law to your situation might be a further $250, to have me lay out in writing exactly where violations of your rights have occurred, or could occur.
You may decide at that point that you don’t need any further help. Let’s say at that point, you know what violations there have been. Now, you want to write a letter to HR, or take any other step on your own, armed with the information I’ve provided you. In that case, you’d have spent $500 total for Your Legal Doula’s help.
But let’s say things get more complicated than expected.
If you keep having problems with your boss even after I’ve armed you with the knowledge above, you may want to move on to a month of assistance with a communication plan with HR. This might be another $500, in which case you’d spend $1,000 in total (research: $250 + write-up: $250 + monthly assistance: $500 = $1,000). If you then want me to draft a demand letter to your employer, that might be another $300 (previous $1,000 plus $300 = $1,300). If the situation goes to mediation, and you want me there to help, I can do that, starting at $275 an hour, plus I’d receive a contingency fee if you won a money settlement.
Again, these are just examples.
I know some of these prices may sound intimidating. But that’s why we start with a phone call, or research and application of the law. It’s a common misconception that when you retain a lawyer, all they can help with is a lawsuit. Far from it! A lawyer can help explain the law to you, and advise you on how you can assert your rights so that other people follow the law.
Again, in a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to do that. I’d never have to advocate for a woman’s rights: because they’d be respected automatically.
But since we’re not in that perfect world, when you find yourself in a situation where your rights could use a boost, Your Legal Doula can help. Please feel free to reach out to via email, text, message, or social media, and we’ll get you scheduled for that free consult.
I look forward to serving you. And I look forward to the days ahead, when more of us are armed with knowledge to understand and assert our rights: perhaps, even, a day where this business doesn’t have to exist.