Do you think you may be interested in hiring The Lowe Law Office to help you with your legal matter? If so, here is how we generally take on new clients:
First, we conduct a consultation with you as a prospective client, either in person or by telephone. The consultation can be scheduled after you have read and signed a Consultation Agreement that we provide to you. During the consultation, we listen as you explain your matter to us and a broad discussion of the issues, as well as potential courses of action, takes place.
During your consultation, no attorney-client relationship is created. Lawyers are typically careful to explain this to prospective clients because once an attorney begins to offer legal advice and counsel, certain ethical responsibilities may be created. In the absence of a clear scope of representation, this can sometimes lead to problems down the road. Also, any discussion of legal aspects of your matter during the consultation is preliminary and general because all of the information and facts usually cannot be determined during a brief consultation.
Next, after the consultation, if you choose to hire our office (and if we choose to accept you as a client), we will prepare an Engagement Agreement that defines the scope of our representation of you. This is important because if we take on a contract matter for you, for example, we don’t want to create the impression in your mind that we are also your lawyer for a personal injury matter. The scope of representation can always be modified later if necessary. It has been our experience that after the consultation some prospective clients decide to proceed on their own, while others wish to hire us to act on their behalf. It is a matter of individual preference and comfort level.
Finally, if we come to a mutual decision that we will represent you, we will provide the Engagement Agreement for you to sign. This agreement contains the scope of services that we will perform for you as well as the estimated cost and billing method. Often, we request that an up-front retainer be paid that we believe will cover the scope of services. This retainer is deposited into a special account called the client trust account which functions much like an escrow account. The money deposited does not belong to us until we have earned it, at which time we will bill you and withdraw the funds from the account. We try very diligently to estimate as closely as possible the cost of representation, but sometimes it may become necessary for you to supplement the retainer. Conversely, occasionally money is remaining in the trust account after the work has been completed and it is returned to you. In either event, you only pay for the services rendered.
So, if you’re interested in talking to us about your legal matters, please contact us today!
Lowe Law Solutions 