INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH YOUR TRIAL ATTORNEY

Coleman Jackson, PC | Transcript of Legal Thoughts

LEGAL THOUGHTS: Litigation in Texas | Posted on January 09, 2022

Episode 2: INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH YOUR TRIAL ATTORNEY

Hear us out: https://anchor.fm/coleman-jackson/episodes/INITIAL-CONSULTATION-WITH-YOUR-LITIGATION-ATTORNEY-e1sr4ti

Legal Thoughts is a podcast hosted by Coleman Jackson, Professional Corporation, a law firm in Dallas, Texas serving individuals, businesses, and agencies around the world on tax, litigation, and immigration legal issues.

This episode of Legal Thoughts is a podcast where Attorney, Coleman Jackson is being interviewed by Leiliane Godeiro, Legal Assistant at Coleman Jackson, PC Today’s discussion topic is “INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH YOUR TRIAL ATTORNEY”. You can listen to this episode by clicking on the following link: https://anchor.fm/coleman-jackson/episodes/INITIAL-CONSULTATION-WITH-YOUR-LITIGATION-ATTORNEY-e1sr4ti

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, be sure to stay tuned for more tax, litigation, and immigration episodes from the Coleman Jackson PC Law Firm Subscribe, leave us feedback, and rate our “Legal Thoughts” podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Google podcasts. Visit our website for more tax, litigation, and immigration information at www.cjacksonlaw.com.

TRANSCRIPTION:

ATTORNEY: Coleman Jackson

LEGAL THOUGHTS

COLEMAN JACKSON, ATTORNEY

ATTORNEY: Coleman Jackson

My name is Coleman Jackson and I am an attorney at Coleman Jackson Professional Corporation, a tax, litigation, and immigration law firm in Dallas, Texas.

Other members of our team include Alexis Brewer and Leiliane Godeiro, Tax Paralegals, Leiliane Godeiro, Litigation Paralegal, and Gladys Marcos, Immigration Paralegal.

Today on “Legal Thoughts”, our litigation paralegal, Leiliane Godeiro, will interview me on the important topic of: “INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH YOUR TRIAL ATTORNEY.”

This is a series of podcasts about Litigating Your Case in Texas.

Interviewer: Leiliane Godeiro, Legal Assistant

Hello everyone, my name is Leiliane Godeiro and I am a tax law clerk at the Coleman Jackson Tax, Litigation, and Immigration Processional Corporation located at 6060 North Central Expressway, Suite 620, here in Dallas, Texas.

Good afternoon lawyer, thank you for being here with me in this interview to talk about this interesting topic: “INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH YOUR LITIGATION LAWYER.”

Well, let’s start.

QUESTION 1:
Attorney, what kind of information should the prospective client bring to their initial consultation?

LAWYER’S ANSWER QUESTION 1:

Good Morning, Leiliane.

When a client comes to the office we have already spoken with them and gathered some general information about the case in preparation for the initial consultation. We expect our client to bring the documents they consider relevant to the case, such as signed contracts, subpoenas, insurance documents, letters received from government agencies, documentation related to the organization of their business, tax returns, and records relevant to business and perhaps personal tax returns in some situations. In addition, if the prospective client is involved in current litigation or has been involved in prior litigation, he or she should bring all relevant documents, such as motions filed in the matter, responses filed in the matter,

The purpose of our initial consultation here at Coleman Jackson, PC is to get to know the prospective client, assess the facts and circumstances, and determine if our law firm can assist them and; if so, explore legal options with the prospective client and discuss and explain our law firm’s fee arrangements and anticipated costs and expenses. The prospect has 45-60 minutes to explain in detail the facts that matter. Potential clients must be candid and thorough so that we can properly assess the legal matter and evaluate possible legal options to resolve the legal matter. Clients, from the initial consultation, are told that their full cooperation is required in order for our law firm to represent them to the fullest extent of the law.

Interviewer: Leiliane Godeiro, Legal Assistant

QUESTION 2:

What should be the client’s expectations during the initial consultation with Coleman Jackson Professional Corporation?

LAWYER’S ANSWER QUESTION 2:

Thanks for this question, Leiliane.

It is important that prospective clients understand the importance of the initial consultation. We take a team approach to legal practice. Prospective clients will speak to an attorney when they come to Coleman Jackson, PC What I mean by that is that the attorneys are here to meet with the prospective client, evaluate their case, and pursue legal solutions. We do not leave these important tasks to our support team.

The attorneys at this law firm actually have hands-on control of the legal matters we take on here because we believe our clients are hiring attorneys and not just support staff; that obviously doesn’t mean we don’t have paralegals. It means that the clients deal directly with the lawyers and the paralegals are here to help the lawyers.

The prospective client is here at the initial consultation to explain the facts of the matter. They answer questions like who, what, when, where, how, and why. The customer, in a nutshell, is needed to help us understand the facts. They need to be honest, sincere and thorough. If customers are intentionally deceptive and dishonest, we will not take them as customers. If we learn, at any time during our representation, that the client is unethical, dishonest, or fraudulent; we will seek appropriate removal of any other representation. If this occurs, we will not reimburse the attorney’s fees to the client.
So, to summarize, prospective clients at Coleman Jackson, PC can expect the following to happen during their initial consultation: During the initial consultation, the attorneys meet with the prospective client, review and evaluate the matter, and explain the potential advantages and disadvantages. to the prospective customer. The lawyers evaluate the documentation provided by the client. The lawyers discuss the main concerns of the prospective client and answer any questions. The lawyers explain the possible paths to follow to solve the problems. If we handle the types of legal issues that were raised during the initial consultation, we review our legal attorney-client agreement, our firm’s fees and charges, and any administrative filing fees and, if litigation,

Our law firm’s approach to initial consultation is building a law firm team with our clients so that they feel comfortable working with our law firm. We believe that better results are more likely when attorney and client work together as a team. Unity is very important to our legal practice. Honesty and integrity are also very important to our legal practice.

Our initial consultation is designed so that we can see if unity, honesty, and integrity exist from the start. If so, then all we have to do is keep these features until the issue is resolved. Life can be full of surprises; So sometimes clients come in and don’t really know the relevant and material facts; that when we discover or otherwise learn them, it could alter the nature of the work or the possible options available. Our law firm, although we may express initial opinions; in no way makes any guarantees regarding the outcome of any case.

Interviewer: Leiliane Godeiro, Legal Assistant

In the event that a prospective client decides to hire our law firm during the initial consultation, what would be the next step?

LAWYER’S ANSWER QUESTION 3:

The next step for a prospective client who decides to retain our law firm is to execute our Attorney-Client Agreement and make any initial payments in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Our law firm does not begin work until a written contract is executed between the prospective client and our law firm.

Interviewer: Leiliane Godeiro, Legal Assistant

So, once a prospective client becomes a client of our firm in the litigation area, what’s next?

LAWYER’S ANSWER QUESTION 4:

Well, litigation is a stage that occurs when all else fails; We will first try to contact the other party to resolve the dispute. If the other party is represented by an attorney, we will pick up the phone and try to discuss the matter with the attorney and perhaps even resolve the matter over the phone. Lawyers are often able to resolve legal disputes without involving the courts in a lengthy and expensive legal process.

If a phone call to opposing counsel or the other party does not satisfactorily resolve the issue, we would normally take the following additional steps:

The written demand letter is sent to the other party after a thorough review of the facts and applicable law;
If the demand letter fails to resolve the issue, in consultation with our client, we agree or disagree to file an official complaint with the appropriate court or tribunal;
The client can then expect the other party to file a response with the court or tribunal once they have received the claim against them;
The next phase could be several motions filed with the court by one side or the other or both sides;
The next phase is what we typically refer to as pretrial discovery, in which each party can exchange and request discovery, such as disclosures, interrogations, requests for admission, requests for documents, and other pretrial discovery actions and motions before the court;
The next phase is usually some form of attempt to resolve the matter, such as court-required mediation proceedings or sometimes voluntarily initiated by the parties. Let me point out that cases can be resolved at any time; however, our law firm will not settle a case without our client’s consent;
And in the unfortunate event that the parties cannot reach an agreement; the matter is set for either a bench trial or a jury trial. Often the case is settled just before the trial, during the trial, or at the end of the trial, just before the verdict and sentencing by the jury or court.

Leiliane, from my litigation experience, most cases are resolved at some point in the litigation process. Very few cases are tried through a jury verdict. The litigation process that I have explained in this podcast is, in general, what a client can expect; it is not designed to predict exactly how litigation will unfold in any particular case. Some cases are dismissed in court for various reasons. Some defendants are sued and never show up. Clients can win a lawsuit and never get paid. Lawsuit losers can file an appeal Bottom line: Litigation should be used as the last tool to resolve legal disputes.

CONCLUSION OF THE INTERVIEW

Interviewer: Leiliane Godeiro, Legal Assistant

Attorney, thank you for being here with us today, this information on litigation was very interesting and useful for our clients and listeners. Bottom line: Texas business owners have opportunities to be heard and litigate their cases to protect the interests of their companies even if the amount in dispute is not high, but if it is, you should contact your attorney.

Our listeners who want to hear more information like this should subscribe to our “Legal Thoughts” podcast page on Apple podcast, Google podcast, or Spotify. Take care and come back in 2 weeks for more information about your tax, litigation and immigration legal questions on our “Legal Thoughts” page for Coleman Jackson Professional Corporation, which is located in Dallas, Texas at 6060 North Central Expressway, suite 620.

English callers: 214-599-0431 | Spanish callers: 214-599-0432 | Portuguese callers: 214-272-3100

ATTORNEY CLOSURE:

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to inform you about “EPISODE 2: INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH YOUR LITIGATION LAWYER.”

English callers: 214-599-0431 | Spanish callers: 214-599-0432 | Portuguese callers: 214-272-3100

Ready to Get Started? Let’s Talk!