What is a Contract Lawyer’s Free Consultation?
A contract lawyer consultation is the chance for you to explain your legal situation to the lawyer and get his or her advice on how to proceed. If this free consultation is offered, it will be over the phone or in-person at the lawyer’s office, depending on distance and convenience. The contract lawyer will ask for and review certain basic information that follows a general structure, while also providing an opportunity for you to discuss specific aspects of your situation. Any documents related to your situation should be brought to the meeting or provided ahead of time, by email or fax if possible.
First, you’ll give a brief overview of your circumstances, which the lawyer will listen to very carefully, asking questions as necessary. Then, the lawyer will explain their fees, giving an idea of how much the entire matter will cost. The lawyer will also provide information on how long the matter is likely to take.
In general , a contract lawyer will ask about the relationship between you and the person or organization you have the dispute with (i.e., whether it is a client, employee, vendor, etc.). The lawyer will want to know if there is an existing contract and what it says, if the fee has been paid, where the work was done (if applicable), when the problem started, and if there has been prior correspondence regarding the issue.
During the consultation, you should take careful notes to refer back to later. If you meet with the lawyer in person, be sure to get a business card to refer back to. Even if you have to drive a distance, you should consider attending the consultation in person so that you have a better idea of the lawyer’s capabilities and can better decide whether to hire them. If the lawyer is not local, you may need to travel, but the consultation should still be free.
Advantages of Free Consultations
A contract lawyer’s free consultation is an invaluable way to maximize your benefits and make your money stretch. For starters, you can evaluate expertise to determine the best solution for you. Secondly, the free consult will provide you with a level of preliminary legal advice to help you understand your options to bring you one step closer to a satisfactory outcome. Last but not least, the consultation will help you align expectations between you and the lawyer you are speaking with.
How To Prepare For Your Free Consultation
The best way to prepare for a free consultation with your contract lawyer is to gather all of your key documents together and write out any questions you have that you would like to run buy the lawyer. If your lawyer knows what you need and what you are after, you will get more out of the free consultation. Some important documents to gather are:
- The contract itself.
- Any written correspondence between you and the other party.
- Any correspondence between you and anyone else concerning the contract and the other party.
- Any tax documents that relate to the contract.
- Any photos, notes, recorded messages, or anything else that you believe could help your contract lawyer help you.
The goal of your contract lawyer is to have your free consultation provide you as much value as possible. That can only happen if the contract lawyer has all of the information they need… all of the necessary information you have.
Questions To Ask a Contract Lawyer During a Free Consultation
To get the most out of a free consultation with a contract lawyer, there are a number of questions you will want to ask. Asking these questions helps you to determine whether or not you should work with the contract lawyer and also helps you to understand the expenses and services you can expect. The following are some of the most critical questions you should ask:
- Do you have experience working with clients in circumstances similar to mine? – It is possible for an attorney to focus on many areas of law. It is unlikely, however, that a contract lawyer with no litigation experience and who focuses on criminal cases is going to know much about your particular case. Make sure you only discuss cases with attorneys who have helped other clients with cases like yours.
- What are your fees? – For many people, this is the most important question. You need to know whether you can afford the legal services you need. Get a clear indication of what the legal services you feel you need will cost and be sure to ask about any additional fees you may not be aware about.
- How long will the initial legal work take? – Timeline is important and you deserve to know approximately how long it will take to complete the initial legal work you’re requesting.
- How often will we communicate? – Poor communication is one of the fastest ways to lose a client. Make sure you find out up front if the lawyer will contact you regularly by phone, by email, etc. and how often you can expect to hear from him or her about your case and how often you can expect a call back if you leave a message.
- Are there different options for handling my legal matter? – There are usually many different options for pursuing a legal matter. This question helps to clarify whether the contract lawyer will give you the pros and cons of each option so that you can make an informed decision.
Retaining a Contract Lawyer After a Free Consultation
Once you have successfully completed your free consultation with a contract lawyer, there are some criteria and considerations to keep in mind when making your decision. You will of course want a contract lawyer who focuses primarily on the kind and type of contract law that you require. Your contract may involve foreign language equipment, so it’s a good idea to check how much experience the attorney has with such equipment. You will also want to know what experience the lawyer has with negotiating European contracts, if the continent is where your firm is currently doing business.
You should also keep in mind similar criteria about contracts that you have with which you have not yet successfully conducted negotiations with your vendor or buyer . You will want a contract lawyer who has experience in that area, no matter how soon in the future you will actually start the negotiations. Such a lawyer will want to get involved in the preparations as early as possible, anyway.
It’s also important to know clearly how to articulate your projected needs. In most cases, you should be able to accurately predict how much outside help you will require for a contract of this type. Sometimes your contract attorney will be your first choice because you are familiar with his work. But there are other times when the attorney you choose should then consult with someone else in his firm, or even some other outside counsel. Such a person will have been recommended by one of his colleagues as someone who knows more about the matter at hand, or has dealt with such contracts before.
Common Myths Relating to Free Legal Consultations
One of the biggest misconceptions people have about free legal consultations is that it’s a sales pitch to get hired. I can assure you, it is not. If you’re hiring someone for a job, wouldn’t you want to know what you’re getting for your money? Would you hire an electrician or plumber off of an online review with little to no discussion? Just as you would always want to interview contractors or any service provider for hire, if you are hiring a contract lawyer, the consultation is an interview with the lawyer to assess their experience and determine if there’s a fit. You are not obligated to hire them and just like any other interview, you have the right to politely decline. It could be an awkward situation, but who hasn’t been on a bad blind date? The difference is you don’t owe a blind date anything but Mackenzie can’t stop talking about her cats. The point of the free legal consultation is to give you an idea of what you can expect as far as attorney fees or if your case is too small or huge for the practice. Can you imagine how much it would cost to sit down with all of the lawyers you spoke to for the job? So, remember this is a free consultation to give you a sense of how the lawyer works, HOW MUCH they work and how much they will charge you for those services. Another common misconception is that the consultation is an all day affair with a ton of free advice that you can write down and then go home and do the job yourself. Sadly, I’m here to tell you that’s false and I wish we had that kind of time! In order to give you proper advice, a lawyer must take a good amount of information from you that is going to take some time to process. Not to mention, no two cases are the same. A lawyer can have a general idea of how to structure or approach your issue, but it is their duty to get comfortable with your problem before providing you with insight. While you might not be charged to receive the initial consultation, they certainly have the right to bill you for more intense phone calls or email conversations regarding legal issues you may have. This is what happens when someone thinks they are a DIY law firm. They take the sales pitch at intake as free legal information so they proceed to pester the attorney for knowledge that is going to cost the lawyer his or her time.
What Happens After a Free Consultation
If you decide to forego legal services, be courteous and thank the lawyer for their time. If you decide to engage legal services, you will discuss this during the consultation. Most lawyers will request an engagement fee up front in addition to agreeing upon a fee schedule for the entire scope of the representation. You should not agree to pay a lawyer for legal services unless you can afford to pay them for the entire scope of the engagement. Here are some things to consider after the consultation:
• Do I know which documents and information the lawyer needs from me to get started? You may have been advised to gather existing documents related to your situation and provide them to the lawyer once you determine whether to retain legal services .
• Will the lawyer prepare a written engagement agreement? This is a standard practice for most lawyers but you should still ask. If the lawyer does not prepare a written agreement, expect the lawyer to follow up with a letter or email confirming the representation.
• Will I need to sign a waiver of undisclosed conflicts of interest? This is a common form that some lawyers prepare and have you sign. You only want to sign such a document after they have disclosed any relevant conflicts of interest.
• Agree upon a target date by when you will provide the lawyer with documents and other information.