3 Questions You Should Ask Before You Hire A Lawyer

What do you really need to know about an attorney before you hire one?  What are the most important things to ask?

No, you don’t ask her where she went to law school.  That is irrelevant. If you must know, look at her diploma.  But who cares?

Newsflash: We all pretty much learn the same stuff.

In my experience, it’s far more important what your prospective attorney does after law school, particularly with their clients and their practice.  These are the things that really matter:

1. Is my type of case your main practice area?

The days of the generalist are essentially done.  No longer do you go to the same attorney for your will, your divorce, your accident case, your worker’s comp issue, your bankruptcy, and your weed ticket.  Sure, there are people around that still practice this way, but I think it’s wiser to hire someone who has a practice focus.  That doesn’t mean they only do one thing necessarily, it just means they limit their practice to two or three areas of law at most.  Think about it: the more you spread yourself out, the thinner your knowledge base is likely to be. You don’t want shallow knowledge.  You want deep knowledge.

2. Who in your office will most of my communication be with? 

This is very important.  You’re looking to hire an attorney. You are not looking to hire a paralegal, or a case manager (whatever the hell that is).  You want to be able to communicate quickly and efficiently with your attorney to help get you the best results.  If you’re looking at a prospect with tons of staff for her to delegate to, do you really think that attorney is going to be fielding your phone calls/emails?  You want to deal directly with your attorney.  Your case is far too important not to.

Here’s a great tip:  After the interview but before you hire them, call to speak to the attorney you interviewed with.  If you get to talk to them (then, or if they return your call shortly) that’s a good sign.  If they won’t talk with you to get your business, you know darn well they won’t be talking with you when they already have you signed up. 

3. What is your main goal with cases like mine?

No one ever asks this question.  Ever.  And it boggles my mind.  What they DO ask in the personal injury context is “how much is my case worth?”  but that’s a different question.  What is your attorney’s goal with your type of case?  Many won’t have a good answer (because they don’t think about it and are never asked).  I think about it all the time.  In fact, even if they don’t ask (and they don’t) I tend to tell clients anyway:  My answer, particularly for personal injury cases (auto accidents, dog bites, etc.) is to have a client who feels happy with my work, regardless of outcome, so that he will refer his friends and family when the time comes.  That’s my goal. I want my client to feel like I did everything I could to make sure they were treated fairly.  Sure, I want to win.  Sure, I want to get my clients a lot of money.  But in the end, the financial goal isn’t the main one.  I want the client to feel good about my work.

That’s it.  Don’t worry about what their “win percentage” is, and don’t worry about what their biggest settlement is.  Don’t worry about if they routinely get people out of DWIs.  Worry about their familiarity with your type of case.  Worry about their willingness to communicate with you.  Worry about whether or not they are worried about what you think of them after you case is done.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go communicate with my clients.