If you can't afford a Personal Injury Attorney in Columbia SC, you should start by seeking legal help. All public defenders are fully licensed attorneys who are paid by the government to comply with the government's obligation to provide legal aid under the Sixth Amendment. Defendants who cannot afford to hire a Personal Injury Attorney in Columbia SC have the right to have a government appointed attorney represent them at public (taxpayer) expense. Legislators and courts use the terms lawyer, attorney and attorney interchangeably, and you've no doubt heard the term public defender. The information provided on this site does not constitute legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no confidential attorney-client relationship is or will be formed through the use of the site.
To contact your local bar association and find other lawyer referral services, visit ABA resources for legal help. If you are being criminally investigated or charged with a crime, don't make any decisions about your case without talking to an attorney. This may seem prohibitive if you need an attorney to get you out of a legal predicament or protect your assets, but you don't think you have any money to spare. It's risky for lawyers to take cases on a contingent basis and they must be sure that a judge or jury will stand on their side.
In a typical case, the courts appoint attorneys for the defendants who are eligible at their first court appearance, usually during their court appearance. Please note that Rocket Lawyer is not a lawyer recommendation service, an accountant referral service, an accounting firm or a law firm, does not provide legal or tax advice or representation (except in certain jurisdictions) and is not intended to replace an attorney, accountant, accounting firm or law firm. People who appear in court for minor traffic violations (such as speeding tickets) also don't get free attorneys. You may also be able to get guidance on who can help you for free or if there's a cheap lawyer, or at least an affordable lawyer, that you can hire.
But if there's little at stake and someone owes you money or is trying to collect money from you, and it's not worth the risk of paying an attorney's fee, you could go to a small claims court. For example, a judge might determine that a nurse who earns a high hourly wage can afford to hire an attorney in a simple drug possession case, but not in a complex and serious drug trafficking case. Legal aid offices are not-for-profit agencies that provide free legal help to people who can't afford to hire an attorney.