Most people hire an attorney rarely, and usually at a moment when something has gone wrong. The result is that the decision gets made on impressions — the office, the website, how quickly someone called back — rather than on the things that actually determine the experience.
These ten questions are worth asking at any consultation, including this one. A good answer is a specific answer. Evasion on any of them is itself information.
1. Who will actually handle my matter?
In some offices the attorney you meet is not the attorney who does the work. Ask directly. In a small practice the answer is usually straightforward; in a larger one it may not be. Neither arrangement is wrong, but you should know which one you are getting.
2. How will we communicate, and how quickly?
Ask what the normal channel is (telephone, email), who responds, and what a realistic response time looks like. Communication is the single most common source of client dissatisfaction with lawyers, and almost all of it comes from mismatched expectations set at the beginning.
3. How are fees determined in a matter like mine?
Fee arrangements vary by the type of matter. Ask how fees are structured, what is included, what expenses are separate, and how and when you will be billed. Ask for it in writing — a written agreement is normal practice and protects both sides.
4. What is the realistic range of outcomes?
Note the word range. Any attorney who guarantees a result should be treated with caution; no attorney can guarantee an outcome, and prior results do not guarantee a similar one. What a good answer sounds like is a description of what typically happens in matters of this kind and what would change that.
5. What are the immediate priorities?
In the next two weeks, what must happen? Is there a deadline, a document to preserve, something to stop doing? A useful consultation ends with you knowing what to do next.
6. What could make this harder or more expensive?
Every matter has risk factors. An attorney who names them at the outset is more likely to be candid later, when candor is less pleasant.
7. What do you need from me?
Documents, records, information, a timeline. Matters slow down when clients do not know what is being waited on. Ask what your part is and when it is needed.
8. Has a conflict check been done?
A law office must check the names involved against its existing and former clients before it can take a matter. Ask whether that has happened, particularly if the other side is a business or a person who might plausibly be connected to the office.
9. How does this matter usually end?
Settlement, agreement, hearing, filing, judgment. Knowing the shape of the ending helps you understand the middle — and helps you recognize a reasonable resolution when one appears.
10. What happens if I do nothing?
This question is underused and highly informative. Sometimes the honest answer is that little happens, and the matter does not warrant the cost of pursuing it. An attorney willing to say so is worth listening to on everything else.
Two things to notice, beyond the answers
Whether you were listened to. A consultation where the attorney spent the time talking rather than asking is a preview.
Whether you understood the answers. Legal work involves technical concepts, but a competent explanation of them is not technical. If you leave more confused than you arrived, that is data.
Preparing for the meeting itself? See what to bring to an initial legal consultation.
Disclaimer. This article is general educational information about how these matters typically work. It is not legal advice, it does not address your particular situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws, deadlines and procedures vary by jurisdiction and by the facts of each matter. Please consult a licensed attorney about your own circumstances.
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