Many legal professionals will take your money but not genuinely care about the outcome of your case. To help narrow the search for a lawyer who genuinely cares, ask them questions that will reveal their personality and mindset. It’s also essential to look for red flags during this process.

Smaller Firms Might be Better

A smaller law firm working the cases may spend more time on each case as they come through. There is less likelihood of your case being passed from lawyer to lawyer. Still, there’s a worse scenario: having a junior and fresh legal graduate handle most of your case and only filling in your retained lawyer on the high-level points. You’ll know this happens when you meet with your lawyer in person or over the phone and they get details of your case wrong.

Levels of Focused Attention

When looking for a lawyer who truly cares about their clients, you’ll want to ask the lawyers how they handle cases internally. Meaning, how much time does the lawyer spend on your case? Ask them about several things.

• The number of their current caseloads.
• How long they prefer one-on-one update appointments to be, whether 30 minutes or 60 minutes, etc.
• How often updates are given to their clients.
• Are they available after hours, and if so, how can you reach them directly?

It’s best to meet your lawyer in person when discussing these things or during a video chat so you can assess body language. Do they seem rushed? Are they only interested in getting you to sign a retainer? Do they seem to have a genuine passion for their work?

Some law firms call to check up on their clients to see how they are doing emotionally, outside of working on their case. The phone call really won’t have anything much to do with your case, except they want to see how you are handling the stress of it all. Other lawyers won’t do this, or if they do, they will bill a portion of their hourly rate for it.

Red Flags to Watch For

There are several things to watch for that may indicate the lawyer you’re talking to doesn’t sincerely care for their clients or the outcome of their case. These flags can happen before you retain the lawyer, after your case has commenced, or even in the latter stages of your legal challenge.

• Be wary if you spend the entirety of your time during your free consultation having to explain yourself, your actions, or worse, convince the potential new attorney that you’re not the bad guy in your legal situation.
• If this potential attorney keeps cutting you off mid-sentence to jump over a thought you haven’t yet explained and answers you with an assumption contrary to your personality, it shows that this attorney doesn’t truly listen to their clients.
• If your lawyer leads the conversation quickly to payment, they aren’t interested in the case mechanics and may not be interested in the case’s outcome.
• If the lawyer is quoting rates you could never feel you could ever afford, laughs at you for any reason during the call, audibly scoffs, or otherwise puts you down, you probably shouldn’t retain the lawyer.
• Later, during the case, if your lawyer believes any falsehood about you that they’ve heard but won’t discuss it with you, then it’s a clear sign your working relationship is over. You’ll know when this is happening because their manner towards you will suddenly change, and periodically they will drop hints.

Concluding Thoughts

No matter who you choose for a lawyer, do your best to learn how much they might genuinely care for their clients as human beings. Also, check their websites. You can learn a lot from the tone and claims to help give you more indications. Some legal websites tout authentically caring about their clients, such as https://www.ready-law.com/. No matter who you choose to help you with your legal issues, it’s essential to find a legal professional who genuinely cares about their clients.