What to Expect From Your Lawyer

Most people don’t have much experience in dealing with lawyers. Let’s face it, you don’t really need the services of a lawyer in your everyday life. It’s when things become exceptional that you need legal advice. As a result, communicating with an lawyer can seem like learning to speak another language. You are understandably anxious, worried, and even angry at the situation in which you find yourself. Law is a highly specialized profession, and it’s perfectly okay not to know how to communicate with your lawyer.

The thing is with communication is that unless you have paid a retainer, a number of lawyers bill on an hourly or quarter hour method. This means if you are emailing your lawyer for times a day, you are being billed for one hour of his time.

Here is a handy-dandy guide on how to communicate and what to expect from your lawyer, without landing yourself a hefty bill.

• The first thing that you need to understand is that your lawyer has other clients who have equal needs for representation. Like you they are paying for an lawyer’s expertise in resolving their legal issues.
• Be truthful and completely candid when you are informing the lawyer of the facts surrounding your case, and provide pertinent documentation in a timely manner. Your lawyer cannot adequately represent you if they are short of the information they need to do so.
• Set appointments in advance and be on time for them, just as you would for a legal proceeding in a court of law.
• Communicating with your lawyer to find out the status of your case should not be an everyday thing. Your lawyer will inform you of any major developments that require your attention or presence. However, asking for a weekly status update is not out of line. You should have multiple methods to communicate with your lawyer including email, telephone, fax, and even an online video conference.
• If you are planning to be away or will be unavailable at some period of time, take pains to let your lawyer know the dates.
• Keep up on all correspondence whether it is by regular mail or email. You could miss something vitally important if you’re not responding to your lawyer’s attempts to communicate.
• When you talk with your lawyer, take notes. This is one of the simplest ways to deal with a complex situation without missing vital information. Using the Cornell method is one of the most effective ways of keeping track of complex information.

So there you have it, a quick guide to communicating with your lawyer.

One of the best ways to evaluate Van Horn Law Group lawyer is to make an appointment at either our Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach office for a free initial consultation. We are open seven days a week and gladly give you our best legal advice on how to proceed with your matter whether it’s personal or business bankruptcy, debt relief, consumer law, civil litigation, or estate planning. Come and find out what we’re all about.