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07 Sep, 2021 by B. pregler
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23 Sep, 2020 by Julie krzmarzick
Shari is so easy to work with, her expertise at understanding situations and applying applicable law principles were do helpful and understandable
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16 Jan, 2020 by Joan krikava
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28 Jul, 2019 by Lois l
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23 Feb, 2017 by Matt reinhart
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28 Jan, 2022 by Gayle flohrs
Jeremy is very knowledgeable and helpful. We had a good experience having his help us with some estate planning.
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28 Jan, 2022 by Gayle flohrs
Jeremy is very knowledgeable and helpful. We had a good experience having his help us with some estate planning.
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
Google Maps
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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18 Sep, 2024 by Jessica keil
I have waited several years to write about my experience with Gislason & Hunter (hereinafter, “G&H”) for many reasons. I hired G&H around 2016 after the passing of my father. I hadn’t talked to the only other beneficiary to my father’s estate, my brother, a criminal defense attorney, in 2 years. My brother did many unethical things )falsely accused me of crimes, framed me for crimes, lied about he was entitled to money with only me listed as beneficiary to name a few infractions in the estate which is what led me to hiring G&H. I provided all my information and organized everything in a binder. After first meeting with opposing counsel, I was yelled at and accused of withholding information from my attorney. I pointed out I had been charged 5 hours to review my documentation, which included the information I was accused of withholding. Things just kept getting worse from there and my confidence in the skill set lessened. I believed them to be working on behalf of protecting my brother, a fellow “brother in law,” as the work done on my case was so incompetent. On top of fighting my brother’s continuous false allegations, all of which the law firm had reviewed, despite this I was constantly talked down to and falsely accused by my attorney who never believed me until I reminded him of this already being reviewed and then resending a copy of documents or pictures to prove my innocence. I felt like I was fighting not only my brother but my own law firm who was not on my side representing me. I started doing legal research on my own because of the incompetence and almost purposeful failure of G&H to protect me and move this estate along (my father had names on everything so it shouldn’t have taken several years and multiple conversations a month with my brother to resolve this. Essentially, it appeared my brother was dragging this out (and G&H doing nothing about this to stop it and (again) protect me, was to bankrupt me in legal fees. After about the 5th false allegation from my attorney, I got upset and questioned how I was charged to review data when he didn’t seem aware of any of my documents. I was then told this attorney was too busy and had to assign me to another lawyer who I found out was going out on paternity leave around a month into working with me. I had to go through with the new attorney and spend more time and legal fees reviewing and making plans. When he went out on paternity leave, I was reassigned to the original attorney. We had a conversation to negotiate with my brother that if he stopped all legal battles I would buy him out of his share of my father’s property. I said I can’t afford to keep going with the legal battle and buy the property, and he wasn’t paying any bills or helping care for he property which was not addressed by my attorney on my behalf. My attorney wasn’t taking notes and offered up a deal without letting me review before sending and did the opposite of what I said to do and when I caught wind, I confronted my attorney asking if he kept notes because we seemed to spend a lot of time reviewing previous conversations (time=cost to me) and he made an error for which he said now it was made we couldn’t take basic. I had enough and fired G&H. I wrote the owner and a senior partner about my experience. The senior partner said he would take over and get this over immediately. Another lie. I tried reaching out about legal matters that were going to impact me as my brother refused to pay property taxes and our names were about to be published in the newspaper. It took 4 freaking months and my husband and I taking time off work and driving 2 hours to meet up with this attorney and ask why our needs were not being addressed and it was impossible to get this finalized or any communication from G&H or our problems addressed (once you hire an attorney, you can’t go to the other party to talk…everything goes through the attorney). I would never recommend this company. Dishonest, failure to protect, advocate, be efficient and incompetent, unethical.
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26 Aug, 2024 by John rodenberg
Google Maps
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10 Feb, 2024 by Lynn flygare
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25 Jan, 2024 by Shelly winter
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04 Nov, 2022 by James morris (jim)
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26 Jul, 2021 by Moose stern
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Top Questions to Ask a Lawyer

When meeting with a lawyer for the first time, it's important to ask the right questions to understand their expertise and determine if they're the right fit for your legal needs. Here are some top questions to consider:

  1. What experience do you have with cases similar to mine?
    Ensure the lawyer has relevant experience in the specific area of law pertaining to your case.
  2. How do you charge for your services, and what are the estimated costs?
    Understand the fee structure, including hourly rates, flat fees, retainer fees, and any additional expenses.
  3. What potential outcomes can I expect from my case?
    While no lawyer can guarantee results, they can provide an assessment of possible scenarios based on their experience.
  4. What is your approach to handling cases like mine?
    Learn about their strategy, whether they prefer negotiation, mediation, or litigation.
  5. Who will be working on my case?
    Find out if the lawyer will handle your case personally or delegate tasks to other attorneys or paralegals.
  6. How will you communicate with me throughout the process?
    Establish expectations for updates, preferred communication methods, and response times.
  7. What is the likely timeline for resolving my case?
    Get an estimate of how long the process may take from start to finish.
  8. Do you have references from past clients?
    Testimonials or references can provide insight into the lawyer's professionalism and effectiveness.
  9. What are the strengths and weaknesses of my case?
    Understanding potential challenges helps you prepare and sets realistic expectations.
  10. Are there alternative ways to solve my legal problem?
    Discuss options like mediation, arbitration, or settlement to resolve the issue efficiently.

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Before hiring a lawyer, it's crucial to verify their credibility and ensure they're qualified to handle your case:

  1. Verify Their License:
    Check with your state's bar association to confirm the lawyer is licensed and in good standing.
  2. Experience and Specialization:
    Ensure the lawyer specializes in the area of law relevant to your case.
  3. Disciplinary Record:
    Look up any history of disciplinary actions or complaints through the state bar association.
  4. Client Reviews and Testimonials:
    Read reviews on legal directories like Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, or Google to gauge client satisfaction.
  5. Professional Memberships:
    Membership in professional organizations or specialty bar associations can indicate a commitment to their field.
  6. Awards and Recognitions:
    Honors from reputable organizations reflect expertise and a positive reputation.
  7. Consultation Assessment:
    Use the initial consultation to evaluate their communication skills, responsiveness, and willingness to address your concerns.
  8. Ask for References:
    A credible lawyer should be willing to provide references from past clients.

What Should I Prepare for My First Consultation?

To make the most of your initial meeting with a lawyer, come prepared with:

  1. Relevant Documents:
    Bring all documents related to your case, such as contracts, correspondence, legal notices, court papers, or evidence.
  2. Written Summary:
    Prepare a concise written summary of your situation, including key dates, events, and involved parties.
  3. List of Questions:
    Write down any questions you have about your case, the legal process, or the lawyer's experience.
  4. Financial Information:
    If applicable, bring financial documents like pay stubs, tax returns, or bank statements.
  5. Contact Information:
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  6. Personal Identification:
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  7. Pen and Notebook:
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The cost of hiring a lawyer varies widely based on several factors:

  • Fee Structures:
    • Hourly Rate:
      Lawyers may charge anywhere from $150 to $500 or more per hour, depending on experience and location.
    • Flat Fee:
      For routine legal services like drafting a will or handling an uncontested divorce, lawyers might offer a flat fee.
    • Retainer Fee:
      An upfront payment against which the lawyer bills hourly fees.
    • Contingency Fee:
      Common in personal injury cases; the lawyer receives a percentage (typically 25% to 40%) of any settlement or award.
    • Monthly Retainer:
      For ongoing services, businesses might pay a monthly fee for a set number of hours or services.
  • Factors Affecting Cost:
    • Complexity of the Case:
      More complex cases require more time and resources, increasing costs.
    • Lawyer's Experience:
      Highly experienced lawyers may charge higher fees.
    • Geographic Location:
      Legal fees can vary significantly by region or city.
    • Additional Expenses:
      Court filing fees, expert witness fees, travel expenses, and administrative costs may be extra.
  • Estimating Total Costs:
    Request a detailed fee agreement outlining all potential costs.
    Discuss any additional expenses that may arise during the case.
  • Negotiating Fees:
    Some lawyers may be willing to negotiate fees or offer payment plans, especially for clients with financial constraints.
  • Pro Bono Services:
    For those who cannot afford legal services, some lawyers or legal aid organizations offer services at reduced rates or for free.
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