"All the extravagance and incompetence of our present government is due, in the main, to lawyers, and, in part at least, to good ones. They are responsible for nine_tenths of the useless and vicious laws that now clutter the statue_books, and for all the evils that go with the vain attempt to enforce them. Every Federal judge is a lawyer. So are most Congressmen. Every invasion of the plain rights of citizens has a lawyer behind it. If all lawyers were hanged tomorrow, and their bones sold to a mah jong factory, we'd be freer and safer, and our taxes would be reduced by almost half." 
[H.L. Menchen, "Breathing Space," The Baltimore Evening Sun (Aug. 4, 1924)]

“Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war.” 
[Prov. 20:18, Bible, NKJV]

Attorneys are very expensive.  A good tax attorney will cost you between $175 and $300 per hour and most people can’t afford to hire one.  Ironically, it is the very high price of attorneys and the relative legal ignorance of the average American that explains why most people pay income taxes rather than duke it out with the government to begin with.  If you can afford expert counsel from a tax attorney, we strongly recommend retaining one, but only as a "legal coach" and nothing more. You should never hire a lawyer to "represent you", but only to provide "assistance of counsel", which means to advise and help but not represent you. 

There are several very important reasons why you don't want to hire an attorney to represent you, as we explain in our article entitled "Why you don't want to hire an attorney" available at:

The reasons documented in that article above include:

1. You cannot challenge jurisdiction.
2. You become a "ward of the court" who is considered legally incompetent.
3. Your assets, your freedom, and your livelihood will be held hostage for large sums of money.

In addition to the above reasons, our article entitled “Petition for Admission to Practice” located at:

clearly establishes that all federal attorneys have a conflict of interest because of the way they are licensed and the fact that licensing ensures that his first duty is to the judge and not to you.

You can use your legal coach to help you with strategy and issues while doing all the paralegal drudgery work yourself, such as service of process, preparing, filing, and serving documents, filling out forms, printing case reports, preparing court orders, and maintaining the case file and case database (if you have one). It's not hard, and you can use the resources that we mention in section 7: Litigation Resources for Tax Fraud Fighters as the launch point for your personal legal education.

Acting as the paralegal on your case can save you a lot of money and allow your legal coach to focus on strategy and tactics, which is the real reason you pay him. When you retain him, you can file with the court what is called an "Association of Counsel" in order to define the division of responsibilities between yourself and your lawyer. This will ensure that you work well together as a team and that everyone working on the case knows who does what and doesn't get confused.  Organization and coordination is the key to success in the legal field. 

We'd like to remind you that there will be a lot of lawyers out there, when you come knocking on their door, who will want to sell you the "kitchen sink" approach to their services and who will push a "full service" approach that shuts you out of contributing to the litigation process.  These types of "sharks" will not want to share the litigation turf with you or educate you in any way.  Keeping you ignorant is their number one goal, because that is how they can extort the most money out of you.  We'd discourage selecting such people as legal counsel because they are  "empire builders".  They are too secretive and are more interested in making their own Mercedes payments than living up to the fiduciary duty they have to pursue your best interests, including the preservation of your hard-earned assets during the litigation process.  Lawyers are just like used car salesmen or auto mechanics:  The less you know, the more they will try to take advantage of you.

Now we’d like to give you some background on the legal profession to make you careful dealing with lawyers.  Federal and State constitutions existed prior to the existence of bar attorneys (the American Bar Association was born in 1878 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), yet you cannot get the non-bar "Assistance of Counsel" guaranteed by the 6th amendment.  In fact, an attorney cannot represent an ordinary citizen.  The practice of law is an occupation of common right (meaning anyone can practice law) according to Sims v. Ahrens, 271 SW 720 (1925).  And the US Supreme Court in Schware v. Board of Examiners, 353 U.S. 238,239 refused to say whether or not states can license the practice of law.  Everything is backwards for enfranchised persons.  If you enlisted into the government, then you are prohibited from a non-bar attorney guaranteed by the 6^th amendment.  Again: a licensed attorney cannot represent private people and a non-licensed attorney cannot represent public persons.  Which kind are you?  How do you suppose you enlisted?

As a person who has a bar-licensed attorney, you are considered legally incompetent and the attorney acts as an "officer of the court" in your behalf.  The judge will try to tell you that you must retain competent counsel in order to simplify his scheme to plunder your liberty and assets.  Like a child, you are under a legal incapacity and must be represented.  There are many advantages to remaining incompetent.  Others will manage your affairs.  You can receive benefits such as Social Security.  And, you can only go to jail when a lawyer wants to punish you.  Like a child being given “time out”.  Here is proof:

The Supreme Court in a 1972 case Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 US 25 (1972), ruled:

"Absent a knowing and intelligent waiver, no person may be imprisoned for ANY offense, whether classified as petty, misdemeanor, or felony, unless he was represented by counsel at his trial."

That’s right!  A Roman officer cannot bind (arrest) a Roman citizen.  Acts 22:29.

Some states have made the bar association an agency of the state, believe it or not.  The cannon of ethics prohibits any lawyer who is an agent of the plaintiff from representing the defendant.  That's right!  A lawyer could loose his license if he were to claim to represent a private citizen in any proceeding brought by the state.

The US Supreme Court in the 1793 case Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. 419 (1793), confirmed that the law profession was corrupted in ancient times: "The rude and degrading league between the bar and feudal barbarism was not yet formed."

Let him who has wisdom calculate:

Bar = barbarism.

A lawyer cannot claim that you have rights.  U.S. v. Johnson, 76 FSupp 538 is a 1947 case where a defendant "... indicated he was standing upon the right of a lawyer not to disclose the confidential communications of his clients." 

"Likewise, he claims that the judge before whom the matter was heard, assured him that his rights would be protected and lead him to believe that he would be immune from prosecution."

He lost his case and appealed.  The appeals court determined:

"The privilege against self-incrimination is neither accorded to the passive resistant, nor the person who is ignorant of his rights, nor to one indifferent therein.  It is a fighting clause.  Its benefits can be retained only by sustained combat.  It cannot be claimed by attorney or solicitor.  It is valid only when insisted upon by a belligerent claimant in person."

Now read that again and notice "It cannot be claimed by attorney..." That's right!  An attorney cannot go into a courtroom and claim that you have rights.