By Bob Leonard, Jr.
This is another in our blog series describing mistakes that lay people (non-lawyers) make in dealing with legal matters. We hope that these postings are helpful to you. If you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms of our blog posting we would welcome your comments at info@bobleonard.com.
This post deals with people who are represented by attorneys in litigation. These people frequently make mistakes in dealing with their attorneys. These mistakes often result in increased expenses and possibly lost or damaged cases. By being aware of these landmines, perhaps you can better protect yourself and help your attorney to do a better job for you.
Perhaps the most common mistake that people make is simply to not listen to their lawyer. You hire your lawyer for a reason. You are paying him or her a significant fee for a reason. That reason is that your attorney is trained and experienced in dealing with the matter at hand. Your lawyer has gone to law school, practiced for some number of years (hopefully in the area of law in which he is dealing), and takes a measurable amount of continuing education every year. In addition, some attorneys become board certified or specialize in an area so much that they become virtual experts in that area. Your attorney knows the law, the personalities of the opposing party, and perhaps most importantly, the personalities and particularities of the judge. All of these are things that you cannot achieve on your own. When your lawyer recommends a certain course of action, it is usually for a reason. You should think twice before rejecting that advice.
On a related note, you should work closely with your lawyer in developing the theme and direction of your case. For some matters, it is very obvious (to the lawyer) what needs to be done. For example, in a civil lawsuit or criminal case there might be two to five elements of the case that have to be proved in court. No matter how much you are offended by something else that the other party has done, it may be totally irrelevant to what you have to do in court and, in fact, could get in the way of your attorney being able to present his case on the elements that he absolutely needs to prove. One of the biggest advantages that an attorney gives you is that he can be objective (hopefully). In other words, he will not let your emotions concerning the case affect the way that he proceeds to handle your case. An attorney who simply does what his client wants him to do and not what his client needs him to do is doing a huge disservice to the client. In fact, if a client insists on following the client's own inclination instead of that of the attorney, a seasoned attorney would most likely either withdraw from the case or, if he has sufficient fortitude, get into the client's face and insist that the client do what is best.
It you want a lawyer who will take your concerns to heart, but who will also insist that you do what is necessary to increase your chances of prevailing, then contact one of our attorneys at www.bobleonard.com.
To Be Continued next week
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