Many attorneys offer a free initial consultation, or an opportunity to meet in person or by telephone to go over in detail the facts of your case and provide you with information about the court process. Some clients are ultra prepared for their consultations and come in with all the Court filings along with notes on questions and ideas that they want to cover during the meeting. Some clients come in less prepared, rely on the attorney to steer the conversation, and have few or no specific questions to ask.
A consultation is a great opportunity to make sure you understand the basics of the court process and the key aspects of your case, but it is also an opportunity to get to know the attorney, how he or she handles cases, and make sure they’ll be a good fit for your case. While it’s always great to have a knowledgeable and experienced attorney, it’s also crucial to make sure you and your attorney will work well together. The intent of this article is to provide you with some questions to help you prepare for your initial consultation and get everything you can out of it.
The list below is not a comprehensive list, as the specific questions you need to discuss will vary greatly based on the specific circumstances of your case. Rather, the list below is intended to get you thinking about how your time in an initial meeting with an attorney would best be used. Having said that, here are some questions that I think could help steer your initial consultation in the right direction.
Questions for Initial Consultation:
1. Have you handled other cases like this? How many?
Take the time to explain the facts of your case in detail, as well as what you hope to accomplish through the case. Finding an attorney with experience in the specific area where you need assistance is crucial. Obviously, having an attorney who is inexperienced in a specific area can lead to a poor outcome and extended litigation due to the need to appeal, but it can also lead to higher attorneys fees as learning as you go takes more time.
2. What are the possible outcomes for my case? What outcomes are more and less likely, and what can we do to best help our case? Are my goals realistic?
Be sure to ask what the likely outcomes of the case are and if your goals are realistic. Then maybe get a second opinion from another attorney for the sake of comparison. A good attorney needs to be honest with you from the start about the possible and likely outcomes of your case so that the two of you together can make an informed decision about how to proceed. You do not want a “yes man” as an attorney. The initial consultation is your first opportunity to make sure that you are getting honest and practical advice about the case and how it should be handled. If you aren’t sure that you are getting straightforward advice, then speak with another attorney.
3. What are the main issues in the case?
You want to make sure that the attorney you’re speaking with understands your priorities and what you’re hoping to accomplish. Be sure to make that clear in your first meeting. At the same time, the attorney may recognize some legal issues that you weren’t aware of. The initial consultation is the best time to make sure that everyone is on the same page about what the issues are, and how the client prioritizes those issues.
4. Have you worked with the opposing attorney before? What is your relationship with him/her? How is it working with him/her?
Don’t expect every attorney around Denver to know every other attorney, but it’s worthwhile to ask if the attorney you’re speaking with is familiar with the opposing attorney. If they are then you will be able to get specific information about how the case is likely to proceed. In my opinion this is one of the less consequential questions on the list, but it’s still worthwhile to ask.
5. Are you familiar with the judge?
Just like with the opposing attorney, if an attorney is familiar with the judge handling your specific case you can likely get a more detailed idea of how to proceed with the case. Don’t worry if you don’t know or can’t remember the name of the opposing attorney or the judge on your case, any attorney can easily find that information about the case for you.
6. Who will be working on the case?
Some family law offices have a single attorney and others have dozens of attorneys, it’s never a silly question to ask who will be handling your case and who you will be working with. It can save money to have an associate draft motions and handle more standard tasks on the case. At the same time, it can cause confusion and delays when no one attorney is intimately familiar with all aspects of the case and there is no single point person for the client to speak to. Various offices use various procedures to assign cases and tasks to attorneys, and that’s something you should be comfortable with by the time you leave your initial consultation. You certainly don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you thought a particular attorney is working on your case and come to find that someone else will be instead.
7. What do you need from me?
Once you hire an attorney they will handle almost all aspects of your case, but you will still need to help, mainly by providing certain documents and information. Ask your attorney early on, ideally at your first meeting, what they need from you. Have them make you a list of what you need to be working on to make sure there are no miscommunications or delays due to your attorney not having the information they need from you to move the case forward.
8. What’s the best way to contact you about the case? How often can I expect updates?
Different clients have very different expectations about how involved in the case they will be and what kind of communication they want. Likewise, some attorneys are much easier to catch on their office phone and some are much quicker to respond to emails. Making sure that everyone is on the same page about how informed/involved the client wants to be and how best to reach the attorney can avoid a lot of frustration later on.
Of course, these last few questions mostly apply only if you plan to hire the attorney that you’re meeting with.
These questions are far from a comprehensive list of everything that should be discussed during a consultation, but hopefully they give you a starting point to prepare. If you take the time to prepare for an initial consultation and meet with multiple attorneys you’ll be able to gain a good deal of valuable information about your case and how each attorney would handle your case. Taking the time to do that is the first step toward handling your case the best way possible.
If you would like to set up a consultation and discus any or all of these questions with me, feel free to contact me about your case at (720) 507-3105 or DillieLawOffice@gmail.com.