When you have a legal problem that requires the assistance of a lawyer the first step is to reach out to a law office. We know that taking the step of making that first call can feel overwhelming or intimidating, especially if you have not dealt with lawyers before. It is our goal to make the client intake process as smooth and stress free as possible.
When you call our office, if it is during work hours, you will be greeted by one of our legal assistants. Our team of legal assistants are all trained on answering prospective client calls. We ask that you give background about your matter to the legal assistant and answer any of the questions they have for you so that we can determine what sort of legal help you need, complete a conflict check, and make note any upcoming court dates. A conflict check is when a law firm will check the names of each party within the firm to make sure that the firm does not have a conflict of interest in representing you. These checks are mandatory for every law firm and must be completed before the lawyers may speak with a potential client.
On this initial call the legal assistant will also be happy to answer any initial questions that you have about the firm and our processes. However, legal assistants are not allowed to give legal advice and those questions will be directed to a lawyer.
Our assistants will also take this opportunity to give you brief information about our office and fee system. If everything sounds good to you, our assistant will arrange for you to speak directly to a lawyer.
The lawyer will then review all your information before returning your call. This is helpful as they will be able to jump right in with an idea of the problems you are facing. This call is anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes and is completely free. The purpose of the call is to for you and the lawyer to decide if you think we would be a good fit for you and for us to determine if your legal issue is something we feel confident we can help you with. At the conclusion of this call, you can schedule an initial meeting with our firm.
The initial meeting is generally between one and a half to two hours long. During this meeting, the lawyer gets much more specific details about your matter and provides you with extensive legal advice. At the end of the meeting, you and the lawyer will decide whether or not you will work together on a long term basis, and if so, review our retainer arrangements and finalize your instruction for next steps.