Limited Attorney Appearance
Pursuant to Maryland Rules, you can hire an attorney to make a limited appearance in your case. The limited appearance can be for a "discrete matter" restricted to one issue or "judicial proceeding" or restricted to one or more court events.
One may consider utilizing an attorney for a limited purpose or event, and depending on the complexity or issues presented for the matter. When pro se or self represented litigant (SRL) only need an attorney for a specific or limited purpose hiring an attorney for one event can proceed so long as the representation is limited in scope and agreed to by the SRL and attorney.
When to Employ an Unbundled Attorney
Limited attorney appearances could be for specific events or for any scheduled hearing set by the court. When engaging an Unbundled Attorney, you will often need to clear that there is no conflict with the date scheduled and the attorney's schedule, as a request for a continuance is not normally permitted for a date scheduled by the court to bring in a limited attorney. The attorney and SRL must present an acknowledgment of scope of limited representation to the court regarding the limited appearance, and may be for any of the following events:
- Arguing the motion or set of motions
- Attending a pretrial conference
- Attending a settlement conference
- Attending a court-ordered mediation or other court ordered alternative dispute resolution proceeding
- Acting as attorney for exceptions hearing
- Acting as attorney for review hearing
- Acting as attorney for status conference
- Acting as attorney for deposition
- Acting as attorney for any other hearing or trial
While instituting the availability of limited scope services, the State of Maryland acknowledged that not every case could allow for limited appearance, and advised that limited scope representation is primarily for educated clients able to handle many aspects of the case on their own. Contact a limited scope attorney today at (410)415-3617 to see if we can assist you in your upcoming hearing.