Preparing for Your First Visit to a Lawyer.

INTRODUCTION

Just imagine you have just been served with court papers. You are confused and do not know where to start from. You do not know who to call and what to expect from the process. Where will you get a lawyer? How will the lawyer charge? Will the lawyer take your case?

All these are questions that everyone goes through at the point of needing a lawyer. Did you know that even lawyers get jittery when they have to visit other lawyers for legal consultation? Well…now you know. I will share with you my story in brief.

So, there was this time when I suddenly found myself in need of legal representation. I was a victim of a crime and needed someone to stand with me in court. As a lawyer who has represented so many people in similar circumstances, I never thought that a day would come when I would need to be as vulnerable as to need a fellow lawyer to stand with me in court. You know they say that any lawyer who represents themselves has a fool for a client. I was not ready to be the fool.

So I started the great search for a lawyer to represent me. Getting a criminal litigation lawyer in Nairobi is not the easiest thing. I thought being a lawyer myself would help but it made it even more difficult. Most lawyers would shy off from representing a fellow lawyer because they feel that fellow lawyers can be demanding and micro managing. 

Eventually I found a lawyer and had to be vulnerable to my lawyer so that she would be able to assist me. I had to divest myself of all legal training and focus on simply being a client and getting the best of my experience with my lawyer.

Reflecting on that experience led me to write this article and do the video at the begining of this article. This article is meant to offer some guidance to you as you prepare for your first visit to your lawyer. This article is meant to aid you in knowing what to do and how to prepare for the first visit.

RESEARCH

Before you visit your lawyer for the first time about any legal issue, it is important to do research on the lawyer. You need to find out whether the lawyer you propose to see has the necessary expertise and experience in the area of law you seek. While I admit that lawyers are all trained on the general areas of law, current practice trends would find lawyers gravitating more towards specific areas of law. Law firms such as Begi’s Law, thrive by bringing lawyers with diverse practice areas. For instance at Begi’s Law we have thirteen (13) practice areas which you can view here. 

Is the Lawyer Licensed?

You will need to also establish whether or not your lawyer is licensed. In Kenya, all advocates must be licensed and in possession of a current practicing certificate. You can ask your lawyer to send you his/her official name which will aid you in doing a search at the Law Society of Kenya Advocate Search Engine. You can access the search engine here.

Consultation Fee

Once you book an appointment with your lawyer after verifying the above, I would advice you to ensure that you pay consultation fees. Paying consultation fee protects you as a client because the lawyer will now have a legal duty to give you proper and accurate advice. Should the lawyer give you wrong advice, you will only be able to sue him/her for professional negligence if you paid consultation fees.

At the Consultation

Most lawyers charge fees on the hour. This means that you will need to be as concise as possible with the narration of your story, to allow for more time for your lawyer to advice you and for you to seek any clarification that you may need. Since you are paying for the service, ensure you maximize on the consultation time you have.

After Consultation

After the consultation session, you can request your lawyer to send you an email with a summary of the legal advice given. This is to ensure that you do not forget. You need to however know that should you need a detailed legal opinion, your lawyer may charge you more for it.

Conclusion

As daunting as it may look like, legal consultation can be a very pleasant experience for you as a client. The correct legal advice will enable you to have less anxiety over your legal problem. Once you follow the advice in this article, you will have the most pleasant experience with your lawyers.