Preparing for a Lawsuit

Preparations for filing a lawsuit are the first critical steps in your journey to vindicate your rights, or receive compensation for your suffered damages. It is important to prepare not only your evidence and claims for suit, but to prepare yourself mentally to ensure that you can help your case. Many people who have meritorious claims often lose because they failed to properly organize their claim, failed to convey information to their lawyers, or simply failed to follow thru on their claims. Preparing yourself for the lawsuit from the moment you think you are going to file the claim will ensure that you leave no stone unturned, and give yourself the best chance of succeeding.

Preparing and Organizing Your Claim

The first step in preparing for a lawsuit is to do a self-organization of your claim. That is, get all of your evidence, witnesses, and other pertinent information in order before moving forward. That doesn’t necessarily mean plotting out your case, or having every single piece in place. What it does mean is having documents handy, having the phone numbers and contact information for witnesses or others involved, and keeping pertinent information together in a safe place. Regardless if the claim is being filed in small claims court, or the local superior/municipal court, you must ensure that you have your evidence and claim in order to ensure a speedy and pain-free resolution.

A typical complaint lawyers have in dealing with a client is the client’s failure to keep all the evidence. For example, in a contracts dispute, you should ensure that you have all documents pertaining to your disputed agreement. Although files do come up missing, or not all receipts are kept, having what evidence you do possess in one box or file will save time and allow the lawyer to have ready access to that evidence when he or she asks for it. Simply waiting to be asked for it is often too late.

When discovery requests are issued, typically lawyers have a 30 day or less turnaround. By having access to that evidence, or knowing that you don’t have it before filing your claim, you allow yourself and your lawyer ample time to either request copies from the other party or attempt to find a way to receive duplicate copies of receipts or contracts on file with others.

Hiring a Lawyer

One of the most important decisions you’ll make is choosing your lawyer. Many people do go forward with lawsuits without a lawyer, and have some success. However, people having success in lawsuits without a lawyer are often very few. In the small claims court, you cannot have a lawyer represent you in court, but it would be a good move to speak with a lawyer to learn your rights and ensure you are pursuing them in the best way.

Navigating your way through a lawsuit can be a long and complex journey, and having a lawyer at every step of the way ensures you are guided along the right path. In choosing a lawyer, you want to select someone who has experience in the field you’re suing in. For example, you want experienced employment lawyers if you’re contesting an employment matter, or a personal injury lawyer in an injury situation. While experience in number of years on the job can be overrated in some aspects (there are many young lawyers who do as good a job, if not better than their older counterparts), experience in the practice area ensures that you have someone familiar with what you’ve experienced

Meeting and Consulting with a Lawyer

Once you file your claim, and you’ve organized all your evidence, your next step is usually to speak with a lawyer to represent you, or perhaps file your claim if you hadn’t already. Speaking with a lawyer is often dreaded, because people come away with the notion that the lawyer is expecting too much, or doesn’t seem interested in your case.

The most important thing in preparing yourself for your first meeting is being honest. Any lawyer who you see is under an ethical duty of confidentiality in regards to your case so long as you’re seeking representation (and aside from seeking help in committing or further crimes!). When speaking with a lawyer, answer every question truthfully, whether it helps you or not, to ensure that your lawyer is not surprised later on by previously undisclosed facts.

Meeting with a lawyer for the first time should be a similar experience as meeting with a doctor for the first time. While you’ll be nervous about what they say, you should trust that your lawyer will be honest and open with you about your legal issues, and give you a realistic expectation of what will happen. Honesty, candor and trust should be a two way street between you and your attorney, and are the foundation of a good working relationship.

 What you Need to Know or Ask When Speaking with your Lawyer

Often times, clients are left in the dark about their matters for two reasons. The most common reason is that they don’t understand what is occurring during the lawsuit. And the other reason is clients don’t often ask the right questions to figure out what is going on.

If the lawyer is explaining something you don’t understand, you should not be afraid to ask them to explain it in another way. The lawyer IS WORKING FOR YOU, and it is their responsibility to ensure you are aware of any consequences. If your lawyer is not willing to explain your situation and work with you, it may be a sign that you may need to get new counsel.

Clients also need to ask the right questions to assess their case. The following information should always been known by the client:

• what stage the litigation is in,
• what are the court dates on calendar,
• is your appearance needed at court, or only your attorney,
• what your possible recovery or remedies are, and
• what are the possible “negative” outcomes of your action.