Treat Your First Legal Consultation Like a Business Meeting
For the most part, when individuals are meeting with a lawyer for the first time they are usually feeling overwhelmed and unprepared. It’s natural, but it’s also costly. How good your legal advice is during that first hour largely depends on what you’ve prepared to bring to the table and how good you are at taking advantage of that time.
Build Your Master Folder Before You Arrive
Bring all documentation related to your case to your initial meeting with your lawyer. This includes, but is not limited to: all agreements you have with the other party, any and all correspondence between you and the other party, any emails you have that relate to the case, any letters you have that relate to the case, photographs relevant to the case, invoices, any court documents you have been served with, your statement of claim and any defense if you are the defendant, any offers of settlement or settlement communications, your will, your power of attorney, any documentation relevant to your personal directive, and all financial documents.
Come With a List of All Involved Parties
A good first step before a firm can start representing a new client is going through conflicts of interest. If you’re aware that your attorney or a contending firm has had a relationship with somebody on the other side of your case, you need to disclose that and do it promptly. Firms like Bell Lawyers need this information immediately to protect the integrity of the relationship.
Write down any and all related names: the adversary, his or her business, potential witnesses, experts, former counsel; and hand that over at the outset. It’s a minor step that will probably save you from wasting more time later and damaging the relationship.
Attorneys are only spending 2.5 hours per day on billable work according to the Clio Legal Trends Report. A part of the work that’s eating up the rest of their time is administrative related to missing client information. Every document you don’t bring to the first meeting is a record request or an email or a call.
Write a Timeline, Not a Story
A summary isn’t unfeeling; it’s efficient, and efficiency saves you money. Lawyers are paid to digest information, but the faster they can get to the meat of case, the more time they have to devote to strategy and solution. Effusively detailing a simple series of events (especially with a billable hourly rate) isn’t cost-effective. A signature on March 4, defective products on April 19, and you seeking legal advice on May 1 all paint a very different picture in real emotional terms, but it’s also a client’s counselor’s job to tactfully keep the focus on the actual legal issues at play.
Know What Outcome You Actually Want
Lawyers do their best work when they know what winning means to you. Some people want the quickest, least stressful resolution. That might be a settlement), in some cases. Or it could mean running the other side off their feet and heading to trial. Others prioritize the most lucrative outcome, while for others, money is secondary to getting resolution and closure, an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, or a public apology.
All of those are different wins, and they’ll all drive different strategies. The more that you can think about what constitutes success for you, the better. If you’re prepared to entertain solutions short of a judgment in court, your solicitor can consider those while they’re exploring your options rather than working through the time and expense of formal litigation first. If you lay your cards on the table about what you want to achieve from the start, you’re more likely to get timely, detailed advice that’s attuned to your goals and your situation.
Be honest about your constraints, too. If cost is a factor, say so. Ask about fixed-fee arrangements versus hourly billing. Ask about disbursements, the out-of-pocket costs like filing fees, medical reports, or court filing charges that sit on top of the standard billing rate. The first consultation is the right time to understand the full picture of what representation will cost, not when the first invoice arrives.
Prepare Your Questions Too
Record what you are unaware of. You will likely have no idea what specifics to pose, but try not to leave a meeting clueless about the road ahead.
Ask how long it will likely take. Ask if you’ll need a barrister or expert. If it’s family law or an estate matter, ask if a power of attorney would be suitable for your circumstances. Ask what the next stage will be and get a list of what your lawyer may need from you.
Prep work is not about wowing a lawyer. It alters the relationship with your lawyer from passive client to informed client, and that will profoundly influence the decisions you make during the process.
Be ready to roll up your sleeves. The result depends on it.
