When You Stop Talking to Your Attorney

As I sit here listening to my two year old say, “hmmmm” over and over because he does not know how to respond to questions I ask I am reminded of clients who sometimes do not respond to questions from me. It made me think about what needs to be different between attorneys and their clients.

Failing to speak to your attorney can have dire consequences when it comes to representing your interests. You may be keeping important information that your attorney does not know about that could be harmful to your case if not dealt with properly. You may be trying to keep costs down by not talking to your attorney. But again if your attorney is surprised by information in court because you were not speaking with him/her they cannot fully represent your interests.

So how do you avoid this issue?

1. You find an attorney you feel comfortable with. One you feel like you can tell everything to.

2. You find an attorney with different billing practices from the traditional hourly billing. Some attorneys offer monthly payments for communications with the attorney. This eliminates the worry about high legal fees for talking with your attorney because it has already been built into the agreement.

By doing those two things above, you can help to ensure that your attorney has all information needed thereby reducing surprises during the course of litigation.