HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT LAWYER FOR YOU

Of the hundreds of telephone calls that come into our office every month, many callers do not know what they want or need, and it often takes a few minutes of talking with them to figure it out. This is called ‘screening,’ and it is usually done by a secretary or a paralegal. The caller is motivated to call, sometimes because they think they already know the answer and are looking for validation, or maybe because they want to get the answer without having to make an appointment, come to the office, meet with a lawyer or pay a fee.

There are many broad legal practice areas such as real estate, criminal law, wills and probate, or domestic relations. There are also some that are more narrowly defined, such as environmental law, intellectual property law or employment law. Only by telling the screener what it is that you are trying to do can you get the help that you need.

When you call an attorney, please be prepared to answer the questions of who, what, where, when and why or how. Once you and the screener have gone through the basic facts of the case, she can tell you what comes next. You might have called the right place, and she will make an appointment for you. She might also tell you that your question involves an area of the law that our firm does not handle and will refer you to someone else.

If you call and tell us that you cannot live with your spouse any longer, you probably need a domestic relations attorney. But if you call and say that you can’t stand it when your spouse sits on the couch and watches sports all day while you cook and clean, you probably need a family counselor, not a lawyer. The second is an example of a complaint; not a problem that a lawyer can help you with.

I received an email inquiry through my website not too long ago from someone looking for answers to a business name problem. The writer wanted to know how to register a fictitious name. They had a corporate name, which was not the name they intended to use on the street, so they wanted to file a fictitious name registration.

I asked why they did not incorporate their business under that street name in the first place. They said that they had not thought of it at the time since they were doing it themselves, online. I advised them to look into the quicker and cheaper alternative of changing the corporation’s name. This is one example of how a quick call to a lawyer’s office before jumping into some expensive mistake can prove to be beneficial.

Feel free to ask questions before you hire a lawyer. But remember that just as you think that you are interviewing the lawyer, he is interviewing you, too. More than once I have had a potential client tell me that I had to take their case. Not true! Just because you want to hire someone, a lawyer-client relationship does not spring into being. Like anything else, it takes two.

Why would an attorney refuse a case? Sometimes there is no chemistry between the lawyer and the potential client, perhaps based upon a lack of trust or poor communication. It is far better to not engage the lawyer in the first place than to hire him and then have to part ways halfway into the case.

Remember that lawyers cannot guarantee the outcome of any case, or even give you odds of winning or losing. If the lawyer you are talking to does this, think twice about hiring him. The best you can hope for is for an attorney to say that he is confident that he can help you achieve a good result. One of his questions for you might be, “How many other attorneys have you spoken with before you arrived here?” This tells the attorney whether you have been shopping the case around, or whether another firm has ‘fired’ you.

Some of your questions might include, “Have you ever handled a case like this before?” “How long might this case take?” “What can we expect from the other side?” “How do you charge for cases like this—on an hourly, flat fee or contingency rate?” Remember that the attorney-client relationship is business-based, so ask about legal fees and court costs, and make sure that you get a contract or fee agreement in writing. More relationships are undone by a lack of communication over fees and costs than by the outcome of the case.

Christopher M. Abernethy has been practicing law in Hampton Township since 1976. He focuses on elder law, which includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills and probate matters. He also is proficient in all aspects of real estate law and business law. He is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys and the AARP Legal Services Network. He can be reached at 412-486-6624 or by email at cabernethy@aaylaw.com. www.aaylaw.com