By: Danielle Murphy, Paralegal
If you have found yourself in a situation where you need a lawyer, you may be experiencing some anxiety surrounding your initial consultation, and you may be wondering what you even need to bring to your appointment.
For starters, there is no reason to feel nervous! Talking to a lawyer is a lot like talking to a therapist in the sense that any conversation you have with an attorney is protected under Attorney-Client Privilege, meaning that it is confidential.
That being said, it is extremely important to be 100% honest with the attorney when describing your situation. This includes admissions of guilt. If your spouse or ex is accusing you of something (I.E., drinking, drugs, family violence, lying, cheating, etc..) it is very important to disclose the truth on these matters. The more your attorney knows, the better they can protect you in court.
Additionally, if you have any evidence to support your case (for example: police reports, drug test results, screenshots, e-mails, etc) or prior pleadings such as a Divorce Decree or prior Custody Order, please bring these to your appointment, or if you want to be even more proactive, you can send these items to your attorney beforehand so that they can look over these documents prior to your appointment which will then save time during your consultation and allow you talk more in-depth about you situation.
Lastly, if your attorney has sent you forms or questionnaires to fill out prior to your consultation, it is very important that you fill these out to the best of your knowledge and get them back to your attorney in the timeline they requested. The reason for this is so that your attorney can get as much background knowledge regarding your case beforehand so that you don’t have to waste time during your appointment getting caught up.
Bottom line, the more proactive and open you are about your situation at your consultation, the better equipped your attorney will be to help you, and you are more likely to have a favorable outcome with your case.
