The moments you need a lawyer can range from the mundane to the emotional and intense.
Some legal practices like advice over employment law can be very low-touch, administrative practices.
However, the types of relationships lawyers have with clients can stretch much further, especially when it comes to claims for personal injuries, unfair dismissals, or criminal defence.
In these moments, the client of a lawyer requires more than basic advice or oversight.
While a lawyer’s service to you is just that – a paid-for service – there are certain things on your part you can do to help get the most out of your relationship with your lawyer, and strengthen the cases they represent for you.
Choose carefully
Your lawyer becomes almost an extension of yourself during high-stakes cases.
You’ll take into account all sorts of things before hiring a lawyer – from their experience to their basic costs – but the style and manner in which they communicate and collaborate with you is the key to a really fruitful working relationship.
Many lawyers understand the importance of clients who can trust them.
It begets greater honesty that a lawyer can build a clearer argument.
To help initiate that trust, many offer service perks, with one of the most common being no win no fee solicitors.
The knowledge of not being saddled with costs if a claim fails can help immensely to commit to being open with your lawyer.
Taking action
Every case relies very heavily on evidence, and often the failure of even the strongest claims is a result of evidence poorly gathered or witnesses not feeling comfortable testifying.
In cases like personal injury, which often occur in everyday settings, an injured party can be very proactive in getting statements and collating medical documents on the experiences they’ve suffered.
While you should always focus on recovering and work closely with your lawyer, before selecting one, there is nothing stopping you from locking in eyewitnesses or securing strong evidence to back your claim in advance, saving you time and money in the long run.
Prepare to succeed
Lawyers often juggle numerous clients and cases at once.
When you’re billing by the hour, time is often of the essence for clients.
However, a client can make both parties’ lives easier by being rigorous in planning and setting agendas with their lawyer.
Book meetings with plenty of time in advance set really clear meeting agendas, and then follow through with tasks you agree to complete to help your lawyer.
Telling your firm you’ll come back with something after a meeting and then taking weeks and weeks to do it will only stagger the process and weaken your chances of a fast resolution to proceedings.
Legal cases are ultimately highly logical, fixed processes.
They’re designed to right wrongs and enact just decisions.
Your lawyer is the human element of this, the person who can understand and translate your issues into real legal arguments.
Being an extension of yourself, you owe both them, and the veracity of your own claim, all your commitment, energy, and focus.
