Suing someone in California, with or without a lawyer
You can write a civil complaint here for nothing, print it, and file it yourself. Or, for a flat fee, the attorney drafts it, files it, and makes your first appearance. The free tool is not a trial of the paid one: it is finished, and you can use it and stop.
The free part
A ten-step tool that assembles a complaint and the forms that go with it for the Los Angeles, San Francisco and Alameda County Superior Courts. No account, no payment, nothing published anywhere.
It is document assembly and nothing more. It is not legal advice, it does not tell you whether you have a case, and no attorney reads what you type into it. Using it creates no attorney-client relationship and nothing you enter is privileged.
Free. No account.
The paid part, $950
The attorney drafts your complaint, files it with the court, and makes your first appearance, as limited-scope counsel under Cal. Rules of Court 3.35 to 3.37. Representation covers those three tasks only and ends when the appearance is complete. Available in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Alameda counties. Conflicts must clear and a written engagement letter must be signed before any work begins. The free builder is a separate thing you can use instead, or first.
- The complaint drafted for you: which causes of action your facts support, what each one has to allege, and what the court is asked for.
- Filed with the court, with the cover sheet and every form that travels with it, so a rejected first paper is not how you find out something was wrong.
- One court appearance as limited-scope counsel under Cal. Rules of Court 3.35 to 3.37, which is what lets an attorney appear for named tasks and then step back out.
- A flat fee agreed in writing before anything starts, not an hourly rate.
This one is real representation and it starts the way representation has to: conflicts are checked first, and a written engagement letter is signed before any work begins. Court filing fees, service-of-process charges and jury fees are paid by you and are not included. The filing fee is paid to the clerk, never to this site.
It covers the named tasks and nothing else. Representation ends when the appearance is complete, and anything beyond it is a separate agreement.
+ court filing fees
Which is which
The builder is a tool and you drive it. The package is an attorney doing the work. Nothing you type into the builder has been seen by a lawyer, and buying the package is a separate decision made afterwards, in writing. You do not have to use the builder first, and using it does not commit you to anything: if you buy the package the attorney drafts the complaint either way, and a draft you already made is a head start rather than a requirement.