- Who am I going to be working with?
A lot of law firms have numerous different lawyers working under their name. It is helpful to have clarity regarding the exact person dealing with the particular case. Under numerous circumstances, attorneys who onboard clients on behalf of the firm do not normally handle the cases personally. During the onboarding meeting, it is important for the client to explicitly ask about the person directly handling the case. In the case where there are more than one lawyers teaming up for the case, the client should be aware of the team. Therefore, it is important to ask about the team involved, in addition to their clear responsibilities and duties.
This also includes inquiring about the support staff, and the turnaround time in case you need to reach out to the attorney when there is an emergency. Often this is looked upon, and clients end up having a bad experience because of lack of support from the attorney (or his team). Therefore, it is advisable to ask about the team, and if any other attorneys are going to be working on the case.
- What are the major issues in the case?
Communication with the attorney is the key to a successful case closure. This requires you to ask the attorney to identify major issues and loopholes in the case. Since they would be neutral at that point in time, and they have an exposure about legal proceedings, they should be able to inform you of the shortcomings of the case. The greatest advantage of asking this particular question is to ensure that there is proper clarity regarding the focus areas, so that the case gets stronger.
The main idea here is to gauge the extent to which the attorney is able to identify the existing issues, and the extent to which he has an action plan to remedy these particular shortcomings. Since the attorney is going to be shedding light on the cases from a legal perspective, it is imperative for you to understand what is trying to be implied, so that a collaborative effort can be drawn towards working on those particular results.
- What is the expected degree of involvement in the case?
A lot of attorneys do not prefer their clients to meddle during the course of the case. While they might still welcome feedback from the client, they might not always be on board with the client having complete autonomy regarding the case proceedings. For example, in the case where the client wants to withdraw a particular claim, or to negotiate with the other party, the attorney might not allow the client to deal with the opposing party on his own.
Where a lot of clients might be okay with their attorneys keeping a strict stringent approach, it entirely depends on you. If you want to have autonomy to make these decisions yourself, you should find out earlier on if your attorney is fine with that. This is because if you want to be involved, and the attorney does not take you as on board as you would like to be, you might not be fully satisfied with the outcome.
Hence, it is a good idea to ask your potential attorney about his expectations from you (the client), and the extent to which you will be involved within the case. Aligning these expectations earlier on is important, so that adjustment and transition issues are easier.