Consultation Archives - The Poliquin Firm

Top Tips from a Dover, Delaware Divorce Lawyer

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 03:39:08 +0000

Dover, Delaware Divorce Attorney, Ron Poliquin, gives his top tips for anyone seeking a Divorce Lawyer in Delaware. Visit www.DoverLawOffice.com or call (302) 702-5501 today!

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

This is Ron Poliquin’s Top Tips before getting a divorce.

Get an attorney and get a plan before telling your spouse you’re going to get a divorce. Consult with an attorney prior to your divorce, before the chaos begins. The person you marry may be vastly different than the person you divorce.
Get organized. Get your financial paperwork together, bank statements, tax forms, W-2’s, pay stubs, 401k, mortgage information, car payments, anything having to do with the marital finances. Okay, in every marriage there is usually somebody that is in charge of the finances and there’s somebody that’s not in charge of the finances. Now if you’re not in charge of the finances, make sure you have access and can get that information before you tell your spouse you’re getting a divorce. Because the chances of getting that information readily afterward are going to be slim. Especially if your spouse is angry at you.
Don’t come to some kind of agreement without knowing your rights. It’s good to be civil. It’s good to compromise. It’s not good to make rash uninformed decisions in a hyper-emotional state. There are people that come to me all the time that say I just want to get this over with. Well, that might be fine now, but what about two years’ down the road when you don’t have your finances in order and when you’re not able to pay your bills? What happens then? So, first, know what you’re entitled to through the advice of an attorney, then work on a compromise that will work for both of you.
There are no winners in a divorce. Okay, it usually doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It doesn’t matter who’s actions caused the divorce, who cheated on who or who is bad toward who. That’s not going to really make a difference in getting a divorce and going through proper division, get over it. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was or who you see if you think your husband or wife was the cause of the divorce.
I’m your attorney, not a therapist. Get an emotional support group together. A network could be friends, could be a priest, could be a therapist. Divorce is a super stressful time in your life. It could be one of the most stressful time in your life. Do not underestimate how this divorce is going to impact your life. Attorneys are not equipped to handle that. So you are going to need to get that support system from another venue.
If you’re in an abusive relationship, all bets are off. Get a protection order right away. Call the police, get a PFA. As an attorney, what I can do if you’re interested in making your spouse pay or dragging your spouse through hell, call another attorney. If you want someone who stands up for you, to help you resolve matters fairly so you can move on with your life, I can do that. But make sure you get an attorney, make sure you get counsel.

This is Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com

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Important Alert to All Former and Current Connections Employees

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 18:48:19 +0000

The Poliquin firm is currently investigating claims of current or former employees of Connections.

My name is Ron Poliquin of DoverLawOffice.com. These claims include, but are not limited to, whistleblower complaints, discrimination complaints, retaliation claims, unpaid overtime claims, wrongful termination and hostile work environment claims.

On May 10, 2019, the Wilmington News Journal published a blockbuster article reporting that Connections employees at their Crest South location were being directed to falsify patient records at the direction of their supervisor. I have represented many former connections employees and will help navigate you in any potential litigation. These cases that I’ve represented Connections employees in are discrimination, unpaid overtime, and retaliation.

All consultations are free and confidential for former or current Connections employees. Connections is the largest and most powerful state-funded treatment provider in the state, but no organization is above the law. We can do this together! But don’t wait, because there are strict statutes of limitations. There are specific guidelines on how to report discrimination or how to report certain whistleblower allegations.

I will protect you and we will protect you together. You need to call my office immediately and schedule an appointment. If you’re a current or former Connections employee, remember that you need an experienced employment attorney to help guide you through this process.

Thanks for watching,

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com

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TOP 5 MISTAKES MEN MAKE RESPONDING TO A PFA ORDER IN DELAWARE

Ron Poliquin — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 21:39:22 +0000

Top 5 Mistakes Men Make Responding To a PFA Order in Delaware

I'm Ron Poliquin, Family Court Attorney at DoverLawOffice.com,

Today we're going to talk about men responding to a PFA order, a petition for protection from abuse from the family court in Delaware. If just served the PFA, what do you do? In short, a PFA is an accusation that abuse has occurred usually from someone you love, your wife, a girlfriend you're living with or perhaps somebody you share a child with. Also, the court can grant an emergency PFA order based solely on what the accuser writes without any notice to you or without you having a chance to respond to the allegations. A PFA can be proved by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more than 50%.

If you do not respond correctly to a PFA order, there's going be big consequences to your life. You could lose your right to live in your own house. You can lose your right to see your children. You could lose your right to own a firearm or be ordered to pay alimony or child support for a year or more, depending on the circumstances. As a Delaware Family Court Attorney, these are the mistakes I see in how men handle a PFA.

Violating a temporary PFA order, you can and will be arrested. The truth is that the court and police do not care how this temporary order is screwing up your life, how unfair this thing is? If you violate the order and the other person calls the police, you're going be arrested and your going have to deal with a whole other set of problems.
Ignoring a PFA petition, if your wife or girlfriend or whatever files for emergency PFA petition and gets it and the court determines there's an emergency, the hearing to be scheduled within 15 days. A non-emergency petition will be scheduled with 30 days. It is essential that you get ready, be prepared. If you don't show up for that hearing and the other party does there's going be a default judgment against you. The other part is probably going to get everything they ask for because you're not there and the courts only hearing one side of the argument.
Another mistake I see in men dealing with PFA’s is not filing a cross-petition. More often than not the person accusing responded, or the man of abuse has also committed abuse themselves. So, it's essential that you file a cross-petition for abuse if it's appropriate.
Negotiating the terms of the consent order properly. A lot of times if you're not represented don't understand the process it can be very complicated and daunting. You're already in an emotional state, you're either:
- Giving away the farm without knowing the true consequences.
- You're not understanding the process, so you are not negotiating properly and perhaps you're fighting for something that doesn't really matter that much.
Not getting a lawyer, not being prepared, not being prepared for trial, not getting your witnesses together, not having evidence to prove your case. Whether they be text messages, emails, medical records, police reports, most people that are accused of abuse are not in an emotional state to handle these things properly themselves. Paying an attorney could be worth it in the long run.

These are my 5, what I see in mistakes that help men handle responding to a PFA. If you want to hire me or you want to get a consultation, mention this video I’m going to reduce my consultation rate. Go to DoverLawOffices.com and ask for Ron Poliquin. Schedule an appointment and it's essential that you prepare for this, so it doesn't wreck your life. Thanks!

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The Costs of Litigation

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 22:00:11 +0000

The Costs of Litigation

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com,

I’m here to talk to you about the cost of litigation and the decision to settle a case or take a case of trial. Now as an attorney and every attorney has heard this, you hear it sometimes, they say it's about the principle and in the real-world principle costs money. Anytime a client usually comes in my office, they've been usually wronged in some way and you want the other side to pay and restore you to where you were prior to the wrong. But in making this decision you have to decide how much that will actually cost you because you want the other side to pay, but you're going to have to also pay. That's why we're going to go through it today.

The old saying for attorneys is, be careful of a client that comes in and says, "I don't care how much it costs", because that client never had any intention of paying you in the first place. The truth is most people don't have the funds to litigate a case 100% or to the death. I like to use an example here to explain to you something. You know, there's the famous Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker lawsuit which was an invasion of privacy lawsuit. Which eventually lead to Gawker’s demise. Gawker was a website that essentially published tabloid type information from the private lives of public people.

What people might not know is that lawsuit was actually secretly funded by PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel. Now Peter Thiel hated Gawker because he saw them as a website that ruins people’s lives for no good reason. They had published unflattering stories about him, so he secretly funded a team of lawyers to find and help victims of Gawker's coverage of them to mount cases against Gawker. Now most people don't have a Peter Thiel so therefore the settlement of the lawsuit might be in their best interest. The timing of that settlement is going to depend on various factors.

I just made up a little list here regarding the cost of litigation, some expenses that you're going to see here:

Filing fees - it could range from $45 in Justice of the Peace Court to $400 filing fee in U.S. District Court.
Request of records - a lot of times you are going to need to order medical records or other records. Sometime that goes about 50 cents a page but that's going to vary.
The cost of depositions - that's when you ask questions to the other side or they ask questions of your party under oath with the court reporter. Sometimes it's recorded audio or visual, that's going to run from $200 to $900 each.
Expert fees - in some cases where there's going to be some kind of allegation of negligence, you're going to have to have an expert. Or a lot of times in personal injury cases I find that it is about $3000 review the actual case, $3000 to write an expert report and it could be $8500 for trial testimonial. That is just an example of a recent case I had where that was the listing of this doctors fee agreement.
Private Investigation - If you need a private investigator to sometimes interview people, sometimes to serve people or sometimes to look up information that could cost you $75 an hour.
Attorney Fees - I find in this area a new attorney is going to be $250 an hour, a more experienced attorney can go up to $500 an hour in Delaware. Sometimes cases can be higher. Those are real cost, who pays for these costs? Almost anytime the client is going to pay the cost. Meaning it didn’t matter if it's going to be a contingency fee or an hourly fee. Contingency fee is win are you don't pay that attorney until the very end. They don't get paid until there's a settlement or there's a there some kind of trial and judgment versus hourly fee were paying hourly but the client almost always pays the costs. Where in some cases an attorney may advance the cost, meaning paying them up front and you pay him later on. Or in some cases the client pays the cost as they come in.

So, these are costs that are going to come out of you. Obviously, the earlier you settle the case, or resolve the case, the less costs there are going to be. You have to talk to your attorney about how much would the cost be for this case and will you end up getting less because of all the costs you paid in a case if it goes forward. There is also consideration for settlement because of cost of time versus any uncertainty when you go to trial. No matter what court you are in, whether it's Justice of the Peace Court, Family Court, Chancery Court, you're rolling the dice if you let a judge decide. Meaning that you're taking it out the hands of the two parties. Where if you settle a case, you're not going to get everything you want, but you're going to get something versus the uncertainty of letting a judge make a decision or a jury make a decision.

Ronald Reagan once said, “I rather get 80% of what I want rather than go over the cliff with my flag flying.” If somehow in settlement you're getting a lot of what you want, I would recommend that client accept the settlement rather than taking a risk further on an having more court cost to come forward with attorney’s fees. I had a recent Family Court case where I fully expected this case to go to a hearing. We had prepared to go to a hearing and I was prepared to go to the hearing. We had cost of depositions, we had other various costs, I'd put a lot of time in and the case got settled right before trial. The reason why it got settled is because my client got 80% of what they wanted. So yeah, they could've taken a risk and go to trial and got more perhaps, or they could get the risk of taking less. So, I recommended in that case for that person to take the 80% and not take the risk. I always say the best way to get a good settlement is litigate the case like it's going to trial. It's best to be prepared to go to trial and settle the case then just trying to settle a case and not being prepared to go to trial. I think that's the worst position you could be in.

This is Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. You have an obligation to yourself to know your rights and your options to make the best decision for you. I don't decide for my client to go to trial or settle, they make this decision themselves based on the best information I have and the options they have. Thank you!

Give me a call today if you'd like to discuss your case.

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Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 04:28:17 +0000

Delaware Employment Attorney, Ron Poliquin, often gets questioned about, why do most employment attorneys charge a consult fee? People get onslaught of commercials and ads and everything in the media, free consult, free consult and that usually pertains to personal injury and car accident cases. It is easy to see why people would be confused.

Why Do Most Employment Attorneys Charge A Consult Fee?

Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. I am your Delaware Employment Attorney.

What we are discussing today is a topic I often get questioned about, why do most employment attorneys charge a consult fee? People get onslaught of commercials and ads and everything in the media, free consult, free consult and that usually pertains to personal injury and car accident cases. It is easy to see why people would be confused. Here is what I'm doing, I'm trying to answer why experienced employment attorneys charge a consult fee.

First of all, employment law is different than personal injury law. Most of the time when a personal injury client is coming in to see an attorney, that attorney knows they are going to sign on that client. There is a high percentage of success that there will be a settlement of some kind, employment law is different. Employment law is harder law as far as employment lawyers need to be more particular about the type of clients and cases they bring on. It has a much lower rate of converting clients to successful cases. That is simply because if you get hit by a bus on the street, or you get a car accident, there's going to be injuries, there’s going to be a settlement, there is going to be insurance. Employment law whether it be sexual discrimination, unpaid wages, gender, race discrimination, whistle-blower act, a lot of times there's no insurance involved. You are not dealing with an insurance company. So, if I'm suing XYZ dry cleaner for the most part they are not going to have insurance to pay that out. That makes it more difficult for the attorney to get an early and easy settlement for the client.

Secondly employment law is a lot more personal. If you are working at somebody's factory and have a slip and fall or hurt your hand, there is nothing really personal about that. There is nothing where you are really attacking the employer and the employer usually as workers’ compensation insurance. If you are claiming somebody sexually harassed you or racially discriminated against you, you are kind of attacking that person's character and business. People that own small businesses, or medium businesses, they take that very personal. So, they are much more likely to fight and litigate an employment law case then they are a workers’ comp case. That is really out of their hands because workers’ comp insurance is completely a different kind of animal. For employment law I find it takes longer for lawyers get paid. To obtain a settlement, it's a lot more work. There is a whole process and I'll go through that in another video as far as the EEOC, Department of Labor charge process that you have to go through, priority healing and even filing a suit in an employment case.

Attorneys want someone invested in their case, so in a way, they charge consult fees to weed out some bad cases or people that really won't have any skin the game. To a certain extent, I understand it's a little unfair because if you just got fired, do you have money to pay a consult fee? There are sometimes when I will not charge a consult fee, depending on the circumstances. What I will say as far as the benefits to of paying the consult fee to the client, get the right information first even if you pay for it, $300 for peace of mind is worth it, as far as I'm concerned. Most of us can scrounge together $175 bucks to $300 to pay an attorney and get the right information first, whether than going to an attorney that maybe dabbles in employment law.

Let’s put it this way if you’re with an attorney and you are telling him about your case and all the sudden they gotta pause, run up and take a break somewhere, they are probably Googling up with Google what information they are trying to get. Go to an experienced employment lawyer who knows the law and knows how to handle a particular case from A to Z. There are a lot of specific issues that go along with how to handle a case. Get peace of mind, go to an experienced employment lawyer. I know it's a little bit of a bite to pay that consult fee. But I'll tell you what, if you mentioned that you watched the video, I will wave a first time consult fee for you. Okay great talking to you, I hope that helps a little bit. Remember fight for your rights, you have rights, get peace of mind. Ron Poliquin, out. Thanks!

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Attorney Client Fee Arrangements in Employment Cases

Ron Poliquin — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 04:12:16 +0000

Delaware Attorney Ron Poliquin talks about Attorney Client Fee Arrangements in Employment Cases.

Attorney Client Fee Arrangements in Employment Cases

Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com your Delaware Employment Attorney

I'm coming at you today because I wanted to explain the difference between the fee arrangements that the clients have with attorneys. For the most part with employment law there's three type of fee arrangements. There’s hourly, it basically means what will happen is the client will give a retainer amount which will be put into a trust fund. Sometimes that'll be $4000 can go up to $8000 depending what type of case. Retainer - in the beginning of the case $4000 let's say that's what the retainer is. $4000 will go into a trust fund that the attorney has that is separate, that he cannot touch, he cannot touch that trust fund until he has actually earned that money. Okay he usually bills hourly and what will happen is each time the client will get a statement at the end of the month saying I've billed 5 hours. Let's say $300 an hour $1500 dollars was taking out of the retainer, this is the amount you have left. Once that retainer amount is done with, then that the attorney will ask for that retainer amount be replenished with usually the same amount of money if not some more. So, let’s say first month initial $4000 is initial retainer so let's say the attorney earns $2000 alright, so the remaining amount would be $2000 dollars in the retainer. At that point it should say .45 hours spent on this, .3 hours spent on that, it should be a complete breakdown and the attorney earns at before he takes it out of your retainer trust account.

Obviously with employment law there may not be practical for someone who just lost their job so there's other types of fee arrangements that can be worked out. There's the contingency fee, this is the classic fee arrangement where the attorney does not get any money, it’s not based on hourly. It’s usually based on a percentage of whatever he recovers for his client. Meaning sometimes it's a 1/3, sometimes people make it 33 1/3 plus cost. Meaning cost would be taken out of the client side of it, the client would be responsible for that final cost of anything coming out of the final award. Let's say the settlement is $15,000 (I know this is bad handwriting. It is all messy, got it, got it, got it) I think it might be $4000 close to $5000 but might be $4095 minus $500 dollars in cost, whatever that would come to, that's ultimately what the client would get at the end of the day. If the attorney recovers nothing, then he gets nothing.

There's also a third type of contingency fee agreement, it can be a hybrid. Meaning it's a cross between contingency fee or an hourly retainer. Meaning the attorney will say I want the client got some skin in the game. So, let's say he charges an initial $2000 retainer and they will be a contingency after that. It might be $2000 to review the case or write a demand letter. It could be to represent the client throughout the Department of Labor EOE investigation. Maybe you work it out where there's a contingency fee, let's say you recovered $20,000, (oh my handwriting...this is bad). The $2000, you would take the contingencies, but you at least put up $2000 for initial retainer.

I was listening to the podcast recently with famed attorney Mark Geragos. He said put it like this, if your attorney wants to take it on a contingency fee basis and he is eager to do it that way then he really believes in your case. If he takes it on the hybrid basis that means he kind of believes it your case. If he takes on an hourly basis doesn't believe in your case at all. I don't think that's quite true, there are all sorts of reasons why an attorney decides a different fee arrangement. Some attorneys just will do hourly that's it. Some attorneys will always be contingency fee. Most attorneys do not like to have all contingencies the case, so it just might be a timing thing. Attorneys have cash flow issues, so they might need $3000 to get them through tell to justify working on your case. They might also be flush with cash, so they are willing to take it on contingency fee and they really hyped up on your case, they really believe in it. Maybe it is just that you really believe in your case. But if the attorney doesn't see a lot of money in it for him or there is limited damage, at the end of the day he charges hourly, an hourly fee. That can happen.

There’re all sorts of reasons, be sure to read over the fee agreement. Discuss the fee arrangement with your attorney, make sure you understand especially with the hourly rate that $4000-$5000 gets used up fast and you're gonna be responsible for replenishing it. Ask your attorney how much you think this is case is going to cost from soup to nuts, so you have some kind of idea. Anyways, that Ron Poliquin DoverLawOffice.com, shoot me a question I'd be happy to answer it on one of these videos. Thank you!

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When Should You See An Attorney?

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 16:53:25 +0000

Delaware Employment Attorney discusses, when should you see an attorney? How soon? The short answer is, as soon as possible regarding employment cases whether it be discrimination, whistle-blower or wage an hour.

When Should You See An Attorney?

Yes Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com, your Delaware Employment Attorney

Today’s subject is going to be, when should you see an attorney? How soon? The short answer is, as soon as possible regarding employment cases whether it be discrimination, whistle-blower or wage an hour. First of all, there is really harsh time restrictions, 300-days to file a charge of discrimination.

Secondly, the best time is to start early. The consultation is always confidential. Meaning just because you see an attorney and get information on the case, doesn’t mean that you’re going to take action. But once you wanna have the knowledge, you want to know what your rights are, know what you can do, once you get that knowledge, once know your rights, then you can decide whether to act on it or not. It is your decision, not the attorneys. I always tell people it’s your life, it’s your job, if you want me involved I’ll get involved. If you just want to know your rights that’s the best way to go. You don’t always have to act. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something. That is one of the parts of my job where I talk with my client about strategic moves regarding their employment.

Another issue that comes out is, how do you navigate employment law? The worse situation is when somebody comes to me too late, meaning if they have ducked taking action or not taken actions, which have jeopardized their rights under the law. I would equate it to a similar tool, you got a surgeon that comes in on a botched surgery and there trying to fix it, or somebody tried to put stitches on their own face. It is much easier for me to be in from the beginning and device a strategy and plan of action with that client then to come afterwards, after everything’s already been done and try to fix things.

Just on a legal sense, there are very specific defenses that an employer can raise later on if you did not go through the proper steps. A lot of companies have employment manuals. That employment manual usually has some kind of procedure on how to report discrimination or retaliation and what steps to take. If you do not go through those steps and you have been discriminated against, one of the defenses they may raise later on and probably will raise, is that we didn’t know about it. Okay, we just didn’t know about. I don’t care if you say, hey everybody in this company knows about it. It was common knowledge. If you do not go through their proper process, it could dismiss your case. It could be a major issue in your case.

So from the start, it’s important for you to strategize with an attorney on how do we notify the employer? How do we protect your rights? How do we not jeopardize your status in a company? How do we make sure that everyone is on notice of what’s going on without hurting you as an employment? I know as well as anyone that it is a sticky situation. It is a highly precarious situation when you are in an adverse situation, an adverse setting with your boss especially if it’s a small company. A small company you have a few employees, that is not that is not a predicament people want to be in. So, we have to take all that into account in how we set up your case from the beginning while trying to protect your job at the same time. You are going to need someone to help you navigate that maze of employment law.

Another issue is, there’s going to be the HR people. Are the HR people really looking out for your best interest or they just protecting the company? Especially if the harasser or the bad actor, the person that has discriminated against you is the head of the company or your boss. Who is really HR going to be looking out for? They have got somebody being paid $35,000 a year in HR, what kind of background do these people have? Do you just have one HR person? Is there just some secretary handling the HR? A lot of times this happens in the small homegrown companies. You have really no real HR Department and nobody looking out for your rights. Even in larger companies, who is HR looking out for?

You need to have an advocate for you, as an attorney somebody in the background that you can trust wholeheartedly. The only communications that are confidential are you and your attorney. Your communications with HR, your statements with HR, are not confidential. HR is great, but we have to make sure we take the proper steps, so the company remedies the situation and knows about it but also a lot of times, let’s not be naive, that doesn’t happen. I kind of touched on it before but you also want to give the company an opportunity to fix the situation. Maybe you’re in a hostile work environment, maybe there’s a way to notify the company have them address it properly and then you go on and prosper in that company. A lot of times that’s not possible but it does happen. Maybe they do the right thing. Maybe a company or your employer does the right thing and they should be given the opportunity to do that.

The issue here is that when you do not go see a qualified attorney early, you’re really jeopardizing yourself in the future on what you want, if you don’t know what you don’t know. I’m not saying an attorney is essential for everything. But certainly, go see an attorney to have a consultation, at least know what your rights are. Then you can take the proper steps from there. Thanks for the time, I’m Ron Poliquin, DoverLawOffice.com. Thank you!

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How Should Clients Prepare For Their First Consultation With An Attorney?

Ron Poliquin — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 12:15:10 +0000

Ron Poliquin here at DoverLawOffice.com, I am your Delaware Employment Attorney. In today's video I am going to discuss how should clients prepare for your first consultation?

How Should Clients Prepare For Their First Consultation With An Attorney?

Ron Poliquin here at DoverLawOffice.com, I am your Delaware Employment Attorney. Today's video I am going to discuss how should clients prepare for your first consultation? How do you prepare best sitting down with your attorney for the first time? It is usually a very nervous time for a client but I'm going to go through some tips that I think will help assist you in sitting down with that attorney. More importantly assist your potential attorney with handling your employment case.

I always do an intake sheet before the client comes. I keep that intake sheet on my website www.doverlawoffice.com and you try to fill that sheet out prior to coming and fill it with as much information as possible. This gives the attorney a preview of what the case might be, what kind of causes of action that caused it. Causes of action is basically the basis for a lawsuit, the basis for some sueing someone. I know some law firms will have a client do the intake in their law office, you may feel rushed. The attorney may need to see you right away so, I always recommend doing the intake prior to coming to the attorney’s office. That gives me a little heads up on what he's going to be seeing you about. Most employment attorneys charge some kind of consult fee. I will do a separate video on why that is compared to personal injury cases. Be prepared to pay that consult fee. It can be anywhere from $100 bucks to $350 bucks for a consult fee for an attorney. Come prepared to pay that, most attorneys accept credit card. Don't be in a position where you don't have the fee and then you have to reschedule or borrow money from your uncle Joe or whatever before the consult. You want to make sure that you have that fee paid up.
I always find this really helps me as an attorney, bring some kind of timeline as far as how the situation went. Meaning November 5, 1992, you were hired by XYZ company. September 6, 2001, you requested time off for medical leave under FMLA. That next month you were terminated. Bring some general time frame that always helps. I also like a cast of characters, meaning the central people in your case. Give me a list of those cast of characters and cast of characters if you had their contact information, email, phone and address that always helps.
Documents how many documents should you bring? Do not come to my office with 5 plastic bags worth of material, you will look like a crazy person. Bring the essential documents to my office maybe if there was a contract involved bring the contract. If you need pay stubs bring some pay stubs, not all of them. If there's essential emails that were sent out, try to bring those. As far as with documents, do not give your attorney original documents. Anytime you give someone original and to you, the most important document they tend to lose them. I always make it a policy of my office to scan or make a copy of your originals and give you back the original. I think that's the best practice there.
When you're with your attorney, you need to tell your story and tell it honestly, the good, the bad and ugly. Attorneys expect that not every case is straightforward if there's bad facts we want to know as fast as possible, so we can prepare the case. So, we could honestly give you an assessment. I cannot give an honest assessment if I don't have all the facts. If you're not quite sure if it's an essential fact or not, just tell your attorney and let them decide whether it's an important fact are not an important fact.
Keep a file for yourself, that goes with keep the originals but keep a little file. Let's see what if I have something here. Something that looks like this. Just put my case, keep your legal documents in there. Just keep everything in one file for yourself. Be organized…right.
Take notes during your consult because you're not going to remember everything that the attorney said. Your emotional state, the attorney might be talking fast. There is going to be a lot of information but take some notes or bring somebody that's going to take some notes. Do not record your attorney. I have had this happen, I'm not going to let that happen. No attorney is going to let you record them on the consult. But take notes and bring the list.
Bring a list of essential questions and concerns during your consult. You are going to forget to say some stuff. So, before your consult write down your questions or concerns. Make sure you get them answered during the consultation. Write them down first because in all likelihood if you have a bunch of questions you are going to forget about them during the consultation.
Be open minded, meaning that one, you are there for your attorney’s expert opinion. You believe he knows more than you. Maybe the case is not as great as you thought it was. Maybe there is some facts he needs to find out. Maybe there is a different case than the original case that you came it came in there with. I often find that sometimes someone will come to me with the case they think is the case but really, it's about something else or it's about some other cause of action. So be open minded that the case may be different than what you thought it was.
If you plan to retain an attorney, take time to read the fee agreement. It is important. It is not something that you should glance over. Any attorney will let you take time to read it. Take it home for someone to look over. It is important, it's a contract you are essentially signing. Basically, contracts are there if things go badly or if there's a disagreement later on between how much of that the attorney gets, how much you get, whether it is a contingency fee, hourly fee, or there is some kind of hybrid fee. Read the agreement to make sure you understand it. Make sure you understand the essential parts of it before signing it. No attorney is going to get offended by you reading it over and taking your time. In fact, I usually leave the room for a few minutes to let them look it over.
Last tip, initial consultations are kind of like a first date. You are feeling each other out, you are seeing if you guys mesh well, if you guys connect. If you don't feel connected with that attorney, no matter how good of a reputation the attorney has, I would look for another attorney. You need to be able to trust your attorney, if you don't trust the attorney then you're not going to make it easier for that attorney. If you don't trust his judgement, if you want to second guess him, if you think he's taking it the wrong way, don't feel obligated to hire this attorney. I understand that you may have paid a consultation fee but that is going to be a long time you're going to be in a relationship with this person. You have to be able to trust them, trust their judgment and trust their competence.

It goes back to it's important hire a competent employment attorney. If you don't feel trust in that attorney, do not hire them. Look for another attorney or more than one. I tell people this all the time, that there are sometimes people who just don't connect and that's okay. I'd rather have a client say, "I don't want to hire you, I want to go somewhere else" than if he had retained me and be second-guessing me the whole time and not really trusting my judgment.

Anyways, that is how to prepare for your first consultation. If you want to hire me, or you would like to have a consultation, call me up. I'm Ron Poliquin, I am your Delaware employment attorney, DoverLawOffice.com thanks.

How Should Clients Prepare For Their First Consultation With An Attorney?

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