By Rice Divorce Team | February 26, 2018
When hiring an attorney, many clients are concerned they may waste their money by hiring an ineffective attorney. This is a reasonable concern. Hiring an attorney that does not conduct themselves in a professional manner or does not exercise diligence in researching the law can be detrimental to the client’s case. However, hiring a good attorney does not necessarily mean your money has been put to good use. You must tell him/her the truth in order to ensure you are not wasting your money.
Trusting your attorney and cooperating with their requests and instructions will ensure that your attorney can perform as effectively as possible. It is important that you trust them with the facts of your case. Throughout my time with the Rice Divorce Law, senior partner Larry Rice has told me about past clients who were not forthcoming about facts that were damaging to their case or misrepresented certain facts about their case during initial interviews and discovery. As a result, Mr. Rice and any other attorney working on the case would formulate trial strategy based on an inaccurate account of the events of the case. Inevitably, during or immediately prior to a hearing or other court appearance, the client would inform the attorney of the inaccuracy. Since the entire trial strategy, pleading, and oral argument have been formulated on inaccurate facts, there was very little the attorneys could do to help remedy the situation. By not being forthcoming about the bad facts of their case, as well as the good, the client hurt their case and wasted resources.
One of the best things someone who is contemplating legal action can do is hire a good attorney. But just how effective this attorney can be will largely be dependent on how truthful and cooperative the client is. Always remember to be truthful with your attorney. Giving them the most accurate account of your case will allow them to advocate your side as effectively as possible.
