New York Lawyers 5 Reasons It Might Be Time To Look For A New Lawyer

New York Lawyers - 5 Reasons It Might Be Time To Look For A New Lawyer

TIPS TO HELP YOU DECIDE WHETHER YOUR CURRENT LAWYER IS RIGHT FOR YOU

These educational nuggets are designed to help you understand the process of how law firms in New York work. Law firms range is their size from small to large. The point is, if you have a case with a lawyer, you expect and hope that the lawyer will be familiar with you and the details of your case. In a large firm, it's understandable if more than one attorney works on your case. However, you should certainly expect that whoever is working on your case knows the details of your case, and the status of your matter any time you call.

1. You call your lawyer's office and the secretary asks you to spell your name.

While this is not a significant problem if you are a client in a large law firm, it is a problem if your attorney is a solo practitioner and his only secretary doesn't know who you are.

2. Your lawyer gets on the phone and doesn't remember you or the details of your case.

If this happens to you, you should be worried. Ask the lawyer why he doesn't remember you or your case. Is he so overwhelmed by his caseload that your matter simply isn't on his radar? If so, then maybe he is not the right lawyer for your case. It's always nice to be remembered, and even nicer to know that your lawyer has all the facts of your case at his fingertips. However, it's unrealistic to expect every attorney to be like that. Each lawyer and each firm have different caseloads and different abilities. Just beware the attorney who has overextended himself.

3. Your lawyer or his assistant doesn't know the last thing that happened on your case.

When was the last time you heard from your lawyer, without you having to call and inquire about the status of your case? Was it days? Weeks? Months? Why do you have to keep calling to find out what's going on in your case? While it's understandable that everyone gets busy, you, as a client, should expect some form of communication from your lawyer on some regular basis. Whether that means every few months, every few weeks or every few days- this will vary with each attorney.

If you need more attention and more frequent updates on your case, do not hesitate to tell your lawyer that. And, when you call the office to find out what happened on your case last, you don't want to hear in the background, with someone putting a hand over the telephone, "Hey Joe...what happened on the Jones case? Did you go on that conference or was it someone else?" You want to feel confident that your lawyer is on top of your case and that it's proceeding smoothly through the Court system.

4. You get the sense that your lawyer is 'winging it' without really knowing the facts of your case.

Have you ever been in a meeting where you could tell that the person talking didn't know what they were talking about? If that's the sense you get after meeting with your attorney, then you should think hard about whether this lawyer is the right one for you. Are they giving you answers 'off the cuff' without really knowing the facts, or is the lawyer distracted with other matters?

5. Your lawyer gives you false hope that your case is going great, and then lands a bomb telling you your case is terrible.

Beware of the lawyer who tells you that you've got a great case, and then all of a sudden tells you that your case is in the tank. Why? What happened to change his opinion? Were some facts or records missing initially? Was the initial legal opinion incomplete? How far into the litigation did your case go before your lawyer realized you don't have a good case?

Conclusion:

With these tips, you should be a better, more informed consumer of legal services in the State of New York. As always, if you have follow-up questions, please call an experienced medical malpractice or personal injury lawyer immediately.