Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for our office to get calls or emails from a person who has been pursuing or defending their case for some time, and who wants a second opinion or new legal representation, after they clearly have been taken advantage of by their present attorneys. They have typically been charged many hours of likely unnecessary or even counterproductive legal work that did not sufficiently advance their case in the desired direction or at all.
It’s easy for a lawyer to encourage his client to fight “aggressively” with big words like “justice”, “it’s not all about money”, “not letting them get away with it.” etc. In reality however, you have to keep in mind that every legal dispute does come down to the amount of money spent on settling or paying as judgment and on the legal expenses along the way. Thus, an ethical lawyer should be reminding his client of this instead of fanning the flames of emotion which so often interfere with rational judgment and decision making in legal disputes.
The simple tips below should help you avoid getting into a cycle of spending way too much on attorney’s fees for no good reason:
- Before you start fighting with the other side, find out what they want. Do they want $10m or $500k or $50k? It’s important to know where the other side is so that you can cart your position accordingly. Spending $75,000 on defending a $50k or even $100k case is hardly a victory.
- Ask your attorney to explain the legal, factual, and logical basis for the proposed legal strategy to pursue or defend your case. And, if that strategy doesn’t make sense to you, seek second opinion early on before you are too invested in pursuing that case in one particular direction.
- Ask your attorney what the worst possible outcome of your case is in terms of both the result and the associated legal expenses. ?”
- Lastly, but arguably most importantly – don’t hesitate to ask “why?” Why are we taking this deposition? Why are we serving this discovery? Why are we settling or why are we not settling? The right attorney will be happy to answer those types of questions in a simple and rational manner. And again, if the answers to these types of questions don’t make sense to you, it’s time to seek second opinion in order to make sure tha tyou are on the right track in your case.