How to Make the Most Out of Meeting with an Attorney

Law Offices of Jeff Smith

How to Make the Most Out of Meeting with an Attorney

An attorney's job is to match your situation to the options the law offers. To do this as efficiently and completely as possible, your lawyer needs information from you. It will also help you if your explanation of your situation is focused and organized. Before calling or meeting with an attorney, it's a good idea to have on hand as much of the following as possible:

Basic Information.

If you are an individual:

Your full name;
address;
telephone numbers (including work and fax numbers if possible);
birthdate; and
some ID (social security, drivers' license, or major credit card #).

If you are (or represent) a business:

The business's full legal name;
addresses;
phone numbers;
Federal and state employer identification numbers;
name and address of registered agent (if any);
names, addresses, and telephone numbers of officers and/or directors.

Legal history. Have you worked with a lawyer before, or been involved in any other transactions, claims, or suits? Assembling the dates, case numbers, addresses and telephone numbers of previous attorneys, and any other relevant information, will save us investigation and will save you money.

Other Parties. Almost every legal situation involves other people: buyers, sellers, brokers, spouses, heirs, employers, other companies, other drivers, doctors, witnesses... We can get to work much faster if we have the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and any other information (such as insurance company, SSN, or FEIN) to work with, identify, or locate other persons involved. If any other person is represented by an attorney, and you have that attorney's information, we need that too.

Documents. Are there any documents that have anything to do with the advice you want (such as contracts, correspondence, reports, cancelled checks, even business cards)? Gather them together and keep them in a safe place. Be prepared to bring them all to your first meeting with your attorney, and let us know what documents you have (and what is missing).

Goals. Believe it or not, many people call up lawyers without really having thought about what they want to happen in the long run. The Law Offices of Jeff Smith is a client-centered law firm. Often there is more than one way to approach a legal situation. What you want makes a big difference in what advice you will get!

The Law Offices of Jeff Smith has developed several tools to make the client's communication tasks easier. Before calling or meeting with the Law Offices of Jeff Smith, please fill out our Intake Sheet which will put in one place much of the above information.

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