The Law and You – Part Three: Dealing With Lawyers

Ask Questions and Remember to Wait for the Answer. Lawyers expect questions. We will answer questions. It may be that your question contributes nothing to resolving the legal issue, but how will you know without asking? But when you ask a question, wait for the whole answer. Do not interrupt, do not start yelling before you get the whole answer. I had a client do that last month. I would have been annoyed except that I had already made my mind up that I did not want the case. His behavior convinced me that regardless of how good his case was, his behavior would sink it.

Get Informed Before You Meet With the Lawyer. There is enough information out on the Net and in public libraries to let you know something about your case. See how well the lawyer explains things to you. This will help you with number 1 above. If nothing else take a look at the subject index on my Indiana Divorce and Family Law Blog.

Do Not Expect A Cheerleader. My job is to be an advocate and an objective one at that. The legal profession's ethical rules expect me to look out for a client's best interests. What all that means is that I have to seriously consider and explain the case's weaknesses and problems with the client. The perfect case exists only as a myth. Understand that how good a case is depends on balancing the bad and the good. I explain the good and the bad and leave it to the client on whether to pursue the case or not. Attorneys who pump up a weak case just to keep a client are the same as those people who predicted flowers strewn along the streets of Baghdad.

Do Not Oversell Your Case. Call this the flip side of 3, the person who says that a case is worth untold riches. I know who to calculate the value of a case. Any lawyer who cannot calculate the value of a case should be questioned and anyone accepting a potential client's talk of untold wealth needs avoiding. I have a solution for people trying to inveigle me into taking a case with promises of a big payoff – I show them the door.

Do Not Lie. You may not like to explain some tawdry, embarrassing incident to a relative stranger but it is better to do it in a law office than in a courtroom. When I did criminal defense work, my clients would amuse me when I presented the evidence of the State had on them and they say that was true. Lawyers deal with the bad stuff in a case but we have to know about it first. If you do not give me the facts accurately, I cannot do job properly.

Do Not Say That It is The Principle and Not the Money. Say that on the telephone to me and you do not get an appointment, say it in the office and you get shown the door. Making that statement means that money will mean everything.

Pay Your Bills. The lawyer-client relationship is a partnership. I have the law and the client having the facts is only part of the relationship. Trust is the other part. I need to demonstrate that I have the skills for the job – that justifies you putting your trust in me. You paying your bills is part of how you make the lawyer trust you. (The other part being contained in 5 above). Not paying your bill makes it very difficult to believe in you, and believe in your case. Let me put it this way: would you trust your employer if they did not pay you your wages? I do not think so.

Diligence. Working as quickly as possible to get all things done.

Competence. That we know what we are doing.

Communication. That we let you know what is going on in your case and do our best to explain what is happening.

Promoting only meritorious claims. I do not think there is anything to add that.