call the lawyer

i'm matt o'connor with the o'connor law firm pc. i've been a licensed attorney for over 20 years. the o'connor law firm has officeshere in the city market in kansas city missouri. the question that a lot of peopleprobably don't know how to ask and really get a good answer, is "how totalk to a lawyer?" when you have a legal question and youcall an attorney how do you organize yourself? and this happens to me every day i get a call from an individual,there's usually a lot of anxiety a lot

of emotion involved. so the first thing you do is you sort oforganize your thought process. you have to understand that we as lawyers, as annoying as it may come off sometimes, we're trained to analyze problems. so we're going to ask you questionswhen you call. so make sure you have kind of a concept. youcan pigeonhole it or characterize it. let's say you've got a question about an autoaccident. you say, you know i've got a questionabout an auto accident here's what happened. i can give anexample of what happens if call my firm

and say you've been in an auto accident . we're going to ask you where it occurred, when it occurred, who was found atfault where your damages are and then whereexpectations are? so maybe you can organize yourthoughts in that regard. that way you can maybe take some notes especially if you'reinterviewing lawyers. you want to be able to ask good questions over the phone. now keep inmind you're not going to get good legal advice over the phone. it is nearlyimpossible for an attorney to give you really

accurate legal advice over the phone unless it is one of those rare circumstances where it is a clear-cut question. if you call me and you askme, "should i talk to the police? they are questioning me? they think i've been involved in a crime." i'm going to tell you "no, don't do it. the best legaladvice i can give you about how to talk to police officers is: "don't." not because there's anything wrong police officers. if they're trying to have you make astatement against you, it's probably not the time to do that.

you don't help them make the case bygiving a statement. especially under circumstances where you may not know all circumstances. so, if you're calling, for example, let's say that your parent has an issuewith regard to their estate or trust. you're probably betteroff calling to set up an appointment so you can bring your parent in or haveyour parent go in and talk to the lawyer because they're going to be the client. otherwise you get that translation game. like the telephone game. where you're telling one person some information; they're relaying it to another.

very ineffective way to relay veryimportant information and advice. and as silly as it sounds when you'recalling for legal advice, give the attorney a second to actuallygive you the legal advice. and again, i understand that people are very uptight and emotional and there's a lot of anxiety when you call an attorney and ask forlegal advice. but it happens all the time. i'll get people and i try to answer thequestion and they just keep talking and talking,talking, talking over it. so make sure you allow yourself to pauseand absorb that legal information and

then feel free to ask questions back. so for example, let's say you'recalling about a divorce case and with regard tocustody. you're trying to find out the jurisdiction and i'm in, "what's theusual parenting plan involved. do they dothree days on four days with the other parent?" thatkinda thing. and take some notes about how the attorney responds to it and what theiradvice is. so you can do some follow-up questions.

there's always the general rules but youhave to understand the law. every circumstance, every happening,every occurrence is a little bit different. it's nevergonna be exactly the same so that's why details are important. and again much more than you can justget over the phone. so best advice is before you call an attorney find out sort of what area law you'relooking at. i don't trust most of the internet for your research. you want to rely on a trained professionalnot just some google search

for legal information. so let's say you've got a question about personal injury, a slip and fallcase. you might look up some circumstancesabout that. sort of brush up on what you know and then callthe attorney and say, "hey listen. i was walking at this certain place and itwas icy, i fell and as a result of that i wasinjured. what can i do?" and then be sure to takenotes and follow-up questions. and we know that your time is valuableand certainly the attorneys time is valuable, that's why we charge for our time.

so the more you can focus yourquestions and focus what you're asking before you call thelawyer, you're probably gonna get better legaladvice. and again just take time to absorb the information and then ask a followup question. andalways, when you come meet an attorney bring the documents with you. if youreceived notices from the court, have them with you whenyou come. if it's a question about a contract, of course have the contract with you. always bringthose documents with you

and think ahead a time what questionsyou're gonna to have. how much is this going to cost? what can i expect? how long will ittake? what's the court process like? so youcan sort of reduce the level of your own anxiety andhave some expectations as to how the process works. and don't be afraid to ask questions. make sure you have a pen and paperhandy so you can write down some little notes for later.

you think back, "wait did the lawyer to methat? did he tell me this?" so you can refresh her memory as to what the conversation was about. ok. that's my advice on how to call alawyer and ask for advise. hope this has been helpful.