I’ve seen several blog posts online about what questions to ask your lawyer during the initial consultation, regardless of the area of law practice. So, what do you really ask? Some questions you may have already thought of:
How much experience does the attorney have? How much is the attorney fee? How long will the case take? What will the outcome likely be? However, are there other questions you should be asking the attorney?
Here are the top questions you should be asking at your initial consultation:
1. Does the attorney practice in the county and jurisdiction in which your case will be filed, or is already filed? That will tell you if the attorney is familiar with the judges, attorney on the other side of the action, and the process for obtaining a court date for a hearing with the local rules and customs. An attorney from another geographic area can still be prepared to handle your case. It’s still worth considering when hiring counsel.
2. What are the attorney’s expectations for client communication? What are your expectations for attorney and law firm communication? Every firm is different. Even attorneys within a firm have different ways of correspondence. Find out if the attorney likes to email you directly, or if they prefer a scheduled phone consultation. Would you like a phone call, or do you want it in email? Will documents be mailed to you or emailed as a secure attachment?
3. What does the attorney need from you? I hear variants of this question already. Find out if there will be deadlines for submitting documents to the attorney to prepare trial exhibits. Are you going to be preparing for trial or mediation in person, or by video conference or phone? Some clients like to prepare three ring binders with documents, narratives, pictures, and other potential evidence. Other clients email documents as they think of them. Does the attorney need hard copies, or are electronic ones sufficient? If you need medical records or school records, do you obtain those or does the attorney? This is probably too much detail for the initial consultation, but I think it’s important to address early in the attorney-client relationship.
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