How to Talk to Your Lawyer
Welcome
Candid and timely communication between you and your lawyer is
essential for effective representation and can be crucial to the
successful outcome of your legal matter. This information is
designed to help you better understand the process of working with
a lawyer so you can best work together to understand and resolve
your legal issues. Effective communication between you and your
lawyer will give you a strong voice in the legal system.
The First Meeting
The best way to have a successful first meeting with your lawyer
is to be prepared. Before your initial appointment, gather and
organize all documents and materials that may pertain to the matter
and bring them with you, whether or not you think they may be
"important." This simple step can save you time and money and will
help your lawyer better understand your situation, including the
possible strengths and weaknesses of your matter.
Be prepared to discuss with your lawyer what you wish to
accomplish so that your lawyer can assess the chances of
successfully accomplishing your goals.
Be prepared to answer detailed questions about your legal
matter. Accurate details and truthful answers, even if you believe
the information may hurt your case or could be embarrassing, will
ensure that your lawyer can give you the most effective assistance.
Surprises can strain the lawyer-client relationship and harm your
case.
With only a few exceptions, your lawyer has an ethical
obligation not to disclose information you discuss. That means
that, except in extreme circumstances, your lawyer will not talk
about your matter with anyone else without your permission. If you
know that your lawyer will need to discuss your matter with others,
give your lawyer permission to do so.
You also will want to make sure you leave your first
lawyer-client meeting with answers to important questions. The list
below is a helpful start.
Questions You May Want to Ask Your
Lawyer:
- What is your experience in this area of
practice?
- How many cases like mine have you
handled?
- Who else will be working on my case and how will you
assign tasks?
- What are your rates and how will the billing be
handled?
- What is the estimated total expense for costs and fees
in my case?
- How can we keep the costs and fees down?
- What are my alternatives for resolving this
matter?
- How will you keep me informed of developments, and how
often will I hear from you?
- Who else in your office can I contact about my
case?
- What documentation do you need from me?
- About how long will it take to resolve my
case?
Client Rights and Responsibilities
YOUR RIGHTS
You should expect your lawyer to:
- Represent you diligently.
- Be capable of handling your case. You are encouraged to ask
about the lawyer's education, training, and experience before
hiring him or her. The lawyer will inform you periodically about
the status of your case and will give you copies, if you request,
of legal documents prepared on your behalf.
- Charge you a reasonable fee and tell you in writing the basis
for that fee.
- Provide you with a copy of your written fee agreement, and in
that fee agreement set forth the amount of the fee(s) agreed to, an
explanation of costs and expenses that will be your responsibility,
and an explanation of how the costs and fee(s) incurred are
expected to be paid by you.
- Provide an estimate of the total costs of the representation as
well as the scope of the representation, or explain to you why
estimating the total costs of the representation will be merely a
guess, at best.
- Tell you whether you will need to pay any costs or fees if you
lose your case.
- Keep confidential almost all statements and information that
you reveal in the course of your relationship. Rare exceptions
include subjects such as intent to commit a crime. The underlying
facts of a matter and documents, however, do not become privileged
just because you discuss them with your lawyer. It is the advice
and communication between you and your lawyer that is
confidential.
- Give you the right to make the ultimate decisions on the
legitimate objectives to be pursued in your case, including
deciding whether to settle your case.
- Show you courtesy and respect.
- Exercise independent professional judgment on your behalf, free
from outside influence.
- Keep you informed about the status of your legal matter,
responding promptly to your reasonable requests for
information.
- Provide you with a complete copy of your file if it has not
been provided to you during representation or if the lawyer should
need to end the representation.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
Your lawyer will expect you to:
- Provide a truthful and candid recitation of the facts
surrounding your case and provide all materials and documents that
may pertain to your case. A lawyer can only effectively help a
client when there has been full disclosure. Promptly notify the
lawyer of changed circumstances.
- Promptly respond to your lawyer's requests for
information.
- Understand that your lawyer has other clients and that other
clients are equally deserving of the lawyer's time and
efforts.
- Set appointments in advance rather than show up at the office
and expect to be seen.
- Be on time for all meetings and legal proceedings.
- Treat the lawyer and the law office staff with courtesy and
respect.
- Communicate in a timely manner with the lawyer if you are
unhappy regarding the representation and explain the reasons why
you are unhappy.
- Refrain from asking the lawyer to engage in behavior that is
inappropriate, unethical, unprofessional, or illegal.
- Pay the agreed-upon lawyer's fee in a prompt manner. If
unforeseen circumstances arise concerning payment, inform the
lawyer of the reasons for nonpayment. If you question any billing
entries, you should let the lawyer know immediately.
- Notify your lawyer right away if you change your address, phone
number, or other contact information.
Legal Fees and Costs
When you are talking about legal services, you need to
understand the difference between "fees" and "costs."
Legal Fees refer only to the money you pay to the lawyer for the
time spent by members of the legal team working on your case.
Costs/Expenses are the other charges involved in the handling of
your legal matter that you will be required to pay to your lawyer
in addition to legal fees. Your lawyer must give you, in writing,
an explanation of the costs/expenses that you may incur. This
written explanation may include other information, such as how you
will be billed.
Fees
There are a variety of ways a lawyer charges for professional
legal services. Frequently a lawyer will ask you to pay before the
work is done. Sometimes the lawyer considers this payment to have
already been earned when you pay it. Sometimes the lawyer will hold
the money in a special bank account ("trust account") until the
lawyer performs the work. The lawyer must tell you whether he or
she considers the money to have been earned on receipt. The ways a
lawyer charges for services include:
Hourly Rate
- The lawyer charges a set amount per hour for the time spent
working on the legal issue.
- Most lawyers round off their work to the nearest tenth or
quarter of an hour.
- Members of the legal team who have less training and experience
than your lawyer will generally bill at a lower hourly rate.
- Your lawyer should tell you everyone who is likely to work on
your legal matter and their hourly rate.
Contingency Fee
The lawyer agrees to take a specific percentage of the money you
receive if you win the case or settle the matter out of court.
- If the lawyer does not collect any money, the client may not
have to pay the lawyer for the time spent working on the case. You
may, however, still be responsible for paying all costs and
expenses incurred during your case.
- This type of fee is often used in personal-injury cases or
other cases when you are suing to collect money from the person or
entity responsible for injury or damage.
- Contingency fees cannot be charged in criminal cases, child
custody matters, or dissolutions.
Flat Fee
The lawyer charges a set amount to complete the legal assignment
no matter how long it actually takes to do the job.
- This type of fee often is for routine legal matters such as
preparing a simple will or filing a bankruptcy. When you agree to
pay a flat fee, be sure you know what it does and does not include
and if there could be additional charges.
Retainer Fee
A retainer can be used to guarantee that a lawyer will be
available to take a particular case and could mean the lawyer would
have to turn down other cases in order to remain available. A
retainer fee can also mean that the lawyer is available to handle
your legal issues over a specified period of time. Lawyers are
unlikely to charge true "retainer fees" in most cases, but often
require the payment of "advanced fees" to be held in a special
trust account and billed against as they perform work while
representing you.
Limited-Scope Representation
The lawyer and the client agree that the lawyer will perform a
specific and discrete task. Customarily, these representations
require a much smaller upfront fee, as the lawyer may not be
required to appear formally on behalf of the client or may do so
only on a limited basis.
Who's Who in a Law Office
Lawyers depend on a number of legal professionals to assist with
handling your legal matter. That team could include:
- Paralegals
- Secretaries
- Nurse consultants
- Receptionists
- Legal clerks
- Other lawyers
- Office managers
- Messengers
Like your lawyer, these people are required to keep information
about your legal matter confidential.
Check with your lawyer to determine whom you should contact for
information about the status of your legal matter.Remember that
only a lawyer is ethically permitted to give you legal advice.
Your lawyer is still ultimately responsible for every aspect of
your legal matter and must supervise the work of other team
members.
Costs
Costs vary considerably from case to case, depending on the
nature of your legal matter. They could include items such as
filing or recording fees, mailing and copying costs, fax and long
distance charges, fees necessary to hire outside consultants or
experts, jury and witness fees, travel, electronic legal research
charges, and couriers.
- The client, not the lawyer, is typically responsible for paying
most costs.
- The lawyer may advance costs for the client but usually expects
the client to pay the lawyer back for those costs.
- Your lawyer should be able to give you a reasonable estimate of
the type and amount of costs that will likely be incurred in the
handling of your legal matter.
- Request that your lawyer contact you with an explanation if
there are any major changes in his or her estimate of the costs or
time to be spent handling your matter.
- Your lawyer should also talk with you before making major
expenditures, such as for an expert witness or outside
consultant.
- Let your lawyer know that you want to be kept informed about
costs as they accrue.
- Ask your lawyer to explain options you might have for holding
costs down as much as possible.
There may be other types of fee agreements or variations of the
ones described here. Ask your lawyer to explain your fee agreement
to make sure you understand how it works.
Ways to Reduce Costs and Fees:
Gather information before meeting your lawyer.
- Write down names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all the
people involved in the matter.
- Be organized. Bring letters, documents, and papers that may
pertain to your matter to your first meeting.
- Write down questions you want your lawyer to answer. (The
"Questions You May Want to Ask Your Lawyer" appearing in this
brochure will be helpful.)
- Keep your lawyer informed, but don't make unnecessary calls
about minor details. If you are being charged an hourly rate, you
are most likely being charged for your call.
- Be on time for appointments and court proceedings.
- Ask if you can reduce costs by obtaining documents, contacting
witnesses, or providing other assistance.
- Keep track of all papers sent to you by your lawyer, including
monthly billing statements and receipts for cash payments.
- Keep copies of any of your communications with your lawyer or
others about the case.