What to bring to an initial consultation with a lawyer
The time you spend during your initial consultation with a lawyer is a valuable opportunity to help the lawyer understand you and your legal needs, receive advice, learn how the law applies to your situation, and decide whether you and the lawyer are a good fit. The better prepared you are for your initial consultation, the more you can get your money’s worth from that meeting..
Here are our top seven tips on what to bring to an initial consultation with a lawyer:
1. Yourself
Make sure you are able to totally focus on your conversation with the lawyer to get the full benefit of the hour you spend during the initial consultation. Arrange for a babysitter for the kids, put your phone on silent, and give yourself a break from checking your work e-mail. Be prepared to devote all your mental attention to sharing your story with the lawyer, answering his or her questions, and hearing what he or she has to say about the law, how it applies to your case, what his or her plan is to meet your legal needs, and how much legal services may cost.
2. A list of questions
Think through your legal needs and goals, and come prepared with a list of questions to ask the lawyer. It can be hard to remember everything you want to discuss in the moment.
3. Your intake form
If the lawyer has intake paperwork and you can access it in advance, fill it out and bring it with you. You don’t want to spend any part of your initial consultation completing paperwork if you can avoid it. At Huettner Law, our intake paperwork is available here.
4. A notepad and paper
Come prepared to take notes. Bring a pen and paper, i-pad, or whatever your preferred note-taking method may be. At Huettner Law, we cover a lot of information during your initial consultation. We strive for clarity and simplicity, but there will be much to digest (especially if you are brand new to the legal system, which many people are). We generally cover a preliminary strategy to address your legal needs and give you a series of next steps to take, and taking notes will take the burden off you to remember what we discussed when you get home (if you decide to retain Huettner Law, we also send an e-mail to you detailing the strategy and next steps we discussed during our initial consultation).
5. Any documents related to your court case
If your legal needs involve a court case that has been filed against you or that you filed, bring all the court documents you have that related to that case, any e-mails or letters from the other side’s attorney, and any other documents you think might help us understand the case and case history.
6. Any documents or other information related to your legal needs
If your legal needs do not involve a court case, or if a court case has not yet been filed, bring any other documents you think may help us understand your situation. For small business clients, such documents could include corporate documents, like your small business operating agreement or articles of incorporation. For clients contemplating legal separation or divorce, this could include a rough list of your marital assets and liabilities. For personal injury clients, this could include a copy of the police report and your medical records. If you don’t have any of these documents, you should not worry. Our initial consultation will still be productive.
7. A way to pay your initial consultation fee
Bring a way to pay your initial consultation fee. At Huettner Law, your initial consultation fee will be paid at the end of the initial consultation, and we offer a lot of ways to pay to make it convenient for you, including cash, check, credit card, and debit card.
Please contact Huettner Law to set up a convenient time for an initial consultation.
