How do you prepare for a consultation?
You have only 30 minutes (or 45 perhaps), but you have been waiting to speak with someone about your story for so long that you don’t know what to do. Do you just ask questions? Or do you start from the beginning? What if you run out of time?
To make the most out of your consultation, you need to understand why consultations are necessary.
First, consultations are like taking a car for a test drive. Is the car right for you? Can you afford it? What is the warranty like? You have to find out all these information, take them all with you, and make a decision.
Similarly, at a consultation, you should try to determine the following:
Am I comfortable with this attorney?
Can I afford this attorney’s services?
What are his/her expectations of me and mine of him/her?
Have I asked those most pressing questions in my mind?
Have those questions been address?
While attorneys cannot always give you an answer to every one of your questions, focusing on those essential ones can help you make the most out of that limited time. Understand that some of your questions will likely require deeper understanding of the facts in the case, additional discovery of information, and more interactions with you and the opposing side before they can be addressed in the appropriate way.
That being said, here are some things you can do prior to the consultation to make your time there meaningful and productive:
Come up with a list of goals you would like to achieve in your case.
Instead of pouring out every detail, focus on the key details surrounding those goals and allow the attorney to ask follow-up questions regarding those information.
Be honest and don’t leave out key information in fear that it may make you “look bad.” We are not here to judge you, but to help you. We cannot help you if you withhold important information. In fact, doing so may mislead the attorney and waste your time and money.
Come up with a list of questions you have for the attorney and prioritize them. While there may not be enough time to go through everything, there will likely be time for you to ask questions. After all, isn’t that one of the main reason why you have a consultation?
And lastly, in this time of Covid-19 pandemic, most consultations are conducted over the phone or virtually via video conference. Therefore, you need to make sure that you have reliable internet connection or service signal where you plan on being during the consultation. You also want to make sure that you have downloaded the app or program that will be used for that consultation. Make sure you are familiar with it too. It will be very unfortunate to disconnect, and then find that when you reconnect, the attorney has gone to the next engagement. Another thing to keep in mind is to speak loudly and clearly (and ask the attorney to do the same.) What’s the point of having a conversation when at least one of you cannot hear or understand the other?
Going to a consultation with an attorney for the first time may be a foreign experience. But with the right preparation, you can feel more comfortable walking into it.
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