Blog: Lawyer’s Insight on legal matters: - Relationship with My Lawyer - "Lawyer's Insight' is a periodic blog by Mr. Samore on current legal issues that informs readers how current, legal events influence Americans' lives. If you would like to ask Mr. Samore to address a particular concern which you may have, simply send an email to the address at left with subject "Questions for Lawyer's Insight." Click on the links below to quickly reach a particular topic, or just scroll down to read what is of interest. Other sources of information from Mr. Samore are on the Common Questions and About Us pages of this website.

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Relationship with Your Lawyer

• How do lawyers determine what to charge for a case? • What are the most important things Attorneys and Clients owe each other?

How do lawyers determine what to charge for a case?

July 15, 2013 HELP ME UNDERSTAND HOW YOU LAWYERS DETERMINE WHAT YOU CHARGE US FOR TAKING OUR CASE? Another good question. Whatever the subject be, we tend to base the fee we quote to you as what we expect it will cost to handle the entire case. Because you will be hiring us after only one conference at our office, it is impossible to speak with certainty as to what will happen down the road. Every once in a while, things occur that neither of us could have anticipated and may increase (or decrease) your costs of litigation. This uncertainty is why most of us lawyers have to quote both a "retainer" and an anticipated "case fee." A retainer is the bare minimum that it will take to get our office to take the responsibility of a new case, and, as I usually tell new clients, it may, indeed, cover all attorney fees and costs of the whole case. We just do not know, at least at the beginning, what lies ahead. While some law offices have retention contracts of six-ten pages in length, we keep ours to a single, simple page and, because I am a solo practitioner, I get to decide whether we take the case. You and I have to trust each other. I want to like my clients and, thank goodness, almost always do. I will give you a fair quote, because I do not want you to ever be surprised by what a case may cost. I respect your time (which I consider as valuable as mine) and won't even schedule you for your first appointment until you understand that good lawyers ain't cheap. Just to get you to hire us, we won't quote fee estimates way below what we know it will take. Too many lawyers do this to land their new clients, and I consider it devious and extremely unfair. I want every person we meet, whether they hire us or not, to refer other people to our office because you were favorably impressed by our telling you the truth about your case and your costs We get most of our clients from referrals by former clients and other attorneys. more about our approach

What are the most important things Attorneys and

Clients owe each other?

July 15, 2013 WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING AN ATTORNEY OWES A CLIENT? No doubt about it, HONESTY. Whether we are representing you on criminal or family law matters, you have every right and need for an attorney who tells you the truth. We won't mislead you here just to get you to hire us to represent you or your loved ones. We shall tell you the truth about what representation in your case will cost and what the risks are if you decide to go all the way through a trial. For example, if an attorney tells you that he can represent you on a child custody and time-sharing for $3,000, that attorney is lying. You can quote me on that; child custody cases do not get resolved for that little amount of lawyer time. If an attorney "lowballs" you (that is, misrepresents how much it will really cost to do a thorough job), one of two things will happen: the lawyer will keep asking you for more money to handle the case or the lawyer will do a crappy job and you will suffer. In the same way, Honesty from your lawyer is essential for you to determine what the risks are of trying to settle your case. In family law, "settling your case" means compromising on what you want with the other side, who should also have to give up something they want. In a criminal case, it may mean plea bargaining your case. (Someone else asked me about "plea bargaining," so, if you have questions about that, you can check that answer elsewhere in this website.) When you go to trial, you never know what to expect and, sometimes, both sides are unhappy with the outcome. Had they worked together better before the trial, they might have fashioned a more balanced result. I do not decide to settle or to try your case. Al I can ever do is give advice, and the decision will be yours. In order to work toward any kind of a compromise in either type case, you better make darned sure that your lawyer knows the facts and the law that applies to your case. On occasion, we can effectively present evidence in your favor to the other side that will tilt the result your way, and you won't even have to go through the expense and gut-wrenching stress of a trial. The good lawyers, however, can make no promise as to outcome; the only promise we can make (and try to deliver) is to do our best. Doing our best includes always telling your the truth about your exposure and dangers as well as your strong points..if a lawyer just tells you before you hire him or her how great your case is, you can bet they are just trying to get you to hire them. Honesty includes telling the truth to you from the beginning of your relationship as attorney and client, even when the truth may be a little painful. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DUTY I OWE MY ATTORNEY? The same thing: HONESTY. If you do not tell us the truth about the bad as well as the good in your case, we cannot effectively represent you. Let us know of the problems and what the other side may say about you (even if you do not think that it is true), because that is the only way we can prepare to effectively respond. more about our approach