Questions to Ask a Law Firm
Questions for a first consultation with a law firm, when you are deciding whether to hire them: who would actually do the work, what it will cost through each stage, what the realistic range of outcomes is, and what happens if you want to leave.
The questions
Open any question for the note
From what I have described, what is this matter legally, and what are the deadlines?
Why ask it
You are asking them to translate your problem into a legal claim or process, and to name any limitation period or filing deadline. A firm that cannot do this in the first meeting is either outside its area or has not listened closely enough.
Have you handled this kind of matter in this court recently?
Why ask it
Local practice matters as much as subject expertise: filing habits, timelines, and how particular judges run their courtrooms. Ask when they last took one of these to a hearing, not how many years they have been practicing.
Who will do the day to day work, and may I meet them?
Why ask it
The senior lawyer in the consultation is often not the person handling your file. This is not a problem in itself, but you should know who is, how experienced they are, and whether you will be able to speak to them directly.
How is the work divided between partners, associates, and paralegals, and how is each billed?
Why ask it
Sensible delegation lowers your bill and poor delegation inflates it. Ask what a paralegal does at their rate versus a partner. Firms that bill partner time for document sorting will show it in the first invoice.
What is the fee arrangement, and what does it not cover?
Why ask it
The exclusions matter more than the number. A flat fee often covers a defined stage and stops at an appeal, a trial, or a motion nobody anticipated. Get the boundary of the quoted work in writing.
What is your realistic estimate of the total cost through each stage?
Why ask it
Ask for it stage by stage: initial filings, discovery, motions, trial. Then ask what typically drives it higher. An unwillingness to estimate at all is a warning, and so is a confident single figure for litigation, which nobody can promise.
What costs are separate from your fees?
Why ask it
Filing fees, process servers, court reporters, expert witnesses, medical records, and travel are usually billed on top and can rival the legal fees in a contested case. Ask who pays them as they arise and whether you must approve each in advance.
Will you ask for a retainer, and what happens to the unused part?
Why ask it
Ask whether it is held in a client trust account, whether it must be topped up when it runs low, and whether any of it is non-refundable. The answer to the refund question is the one to get in writing.
What is the realistic range of outcomes here, including the worst one?
Why ask it
Any lawyer who describes only the good end of the range is selling. You want the bad outcome named explicitly, along with roughly how likely each is. Be wary of firms that will not answer this before you have paid a retainer.
If you were on the other side, what would you go after first?
Why ask it
Forces a candid assessment of your weak points rather than a summary of your case. Firms that answer well have already thought about the matter properly, and you learn what documents or facts you should be worried about.
Is there anything I could do in the next few weeks that would damage my own case?
Why ask it
Practical and often urgent: deleting messages, posting online, moving money, signing something, or talking to the other side directly. Good lawyers answer this immediately because they have watched clients do all of it.
How long will this take, and which delays are outside anyone's control?
Why ask it
Separating court scheduling from work the firm controls tells you what to attribute to whom later. It also sets a reference point, so if nothing has happened for four months you know whether that is normal.
Do you know opposing counsel, and have you dealt with them before?
Why ask it
A firm familiar with the other side can predict whether the matter settles or grinds. It can also reveal an uncomfortably close professional relationship, which is worth knowing about before you commit.
Have you run a conflicts check, and do you represent anyone connected to this?
Why ask it
Firms are obliged to check, but the check depends on the names they have. Give them everyone involved, including businesses and family members. A conflict found later can force you to change lawyers mid-matter at your own cost.
How and how often will I hear from you, and who covers when you are away?
Why ask it
Ask for a specific standard, such as calls returned within a working day and an update at each stage. Poor communication is the most common complaint against lawyers, and vagueness here usually predicts it.
What will you need from me, and how much of my own time will this take?
Why ask it
Clients routinely underestimate this. Document gathering, statements, and disclosure obligations take real hours, and delay on your side is expensive when others are billing for the wait. Ask what they need first and by when.
What will the invoices look like?
Why ask it
Ask to see a redacted sample. You want time entries described in enough detail to know what was done, in what increment, and by whom. Bills that read as one line for professional services make it impossible to query anything.
Do you think this is worth pursuing?
Why ask it
The valuable answer is sometimes no, or not in this form. A firm willing to say that the likely recovery will not cover the fees, or that a negotiation would serve you better than a filing, is telling you something a keen firm will not.
Can I speak with a former client who had a similar matter?
Why ask it
Confidentiality limits this, but firms usually have clients willing to speak. If they cannot offer anyone, ask instead for cases they have handled that are on the public record, which you can look up yourself.
If I decide to stop, or move to another firm, what happens?
Why ask it
Ask about notice, outstanding fees, whether they can hold your file, and what a court must approve if proceedings have started. Understanding the exit before you sign is the difference between changing lawyers and being trapped with one.
Choosing and Working With a Law Firm
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the consultation
Write your account down in one page
Dates, names, and what happened in order. Consultations are often thirty minutes and frequently billed. A written chronology means you spend the time on advice rather than on narrating, and the lawyer can see the shape of it immediately.
Find out whether you are near a deadline
Limitation periods, appeal windows, and notice requirements can be short and are unforgiving. If you think a deadline may be close, say so when booking the appointment, since it changes how quickly you need to be seen.
Check the lawyer's license and record
State and national bar or law society registers show whether someone is admitted, in good standing, and whether there is public disciplinary history. This takes a few minutes and is worth doing before the meeting, not after.
See more than one firm
Two or three consultations give you a range on strategy and on cost, and the differences are often large. Ask each the same core questions so the answers are comparable, and note who explained things in a way you understood.
The fee arrangements you will be offered
- Hourly: billed in increments, often six or fifteen minutes, for every call, email, and letter. Ask the rate for each person who will touch the file and the minimum increment.
- Flat fee: one price for a defined piece of work such as a will, an incorporation, or an uncontested filing. Ask precisely where the definition ends.
- Contingency: a percentage of what is recovered, common in injury and some employment claims. Ask whether the percentage rises if the matter goes to trial, and whether costs come out before or after the percentage.
- Retainer: money held on account and drawn down as work is done. Ask whether it must be replenished, and get any claim that part of it is non-refundable in writing.
- Hybrid: a reduced hourly rate plus a share of the outcome. Ask what happens to the reduced rate if you lose.
- Whatever the structure, ask for the engagement letter and read the sections on scope, termination, and cost estimates before signing.
Things that should give you pause
- A promise about the outcome. Predictions are legitimate, guarantees are not, and in most places advertising one is prohibited.
- Pressure to sign at the first meeting, or a discount that expires that day.
- Refusal to put the fee arrangement or the scope of work in writing.
- Consistent inability to reach anyone, or answers that come only from a non-lawyer intermediary.
- A firm that has never handled your type of matter but is confident it is straightforward.
- Money requested by cash, wire to an unfamiliar account, or without a receipt into a trust account.
Once you have hired them
- Keep your own file: every document you send, every invoice, and a dated note of each conversation.
- Query invoices early. A question about a time entry in month one is routine, the same question a year later is a dispute.
- Put instructions in writing, particularly any decision about settlement, so there is no argument later about what you authorized.
- Answer their requests for documents promptly. Client delay is one of the largest avoidable costs in any matter.
- Ask for a written update at each stage, and ask what the next three steps are whenever you speak.
- If communication breaks down, put your concern in an email to the responsible partner before deciding to leave. Many firms fix it at that point.
If the cost is out of reach
Ask about narrower engagements
Many firms will handle a discrete piece of work, review a document, or coach you through a self-represented filing for far less than full representation. This is sometimes called limited scope or unbundled work. It is worth asking about explicitly.
Look for legal aid and clinics
Legal aid bodies, university law clinics, and bar association referral services handle housing, family, immigration, and employment matters at low or no cost for those who qualify. Eligibility is usually income based and worth checking before you assume you do not qualify.
Ask what a payment arrangement would look like
Some firms will agree installments or cap fees at a stage. It is a normal request, and the worst outcome of asking is being told no.