Contract Of Representation Explanation

“Why is it that some lawyers and law firms want me to quickly sign a Contract, before they even know much about me or my possible case?”

Contract of Representation Explanation

You can only sign one Contract for your case.

Take your time before making an important decision.

These two basic ideas are relevant to when our law firm will send you the Contract of Representation:

You should have time to get to know us and how we would handle your case.
We need to do a case investigation to learn more about how we can help you.

The bottom line is that we want you to know and be comfortable with the lawyer you select to represent you.

BEWARE!

Some lawyers (and their legal assistants or paralegals) — or worse, those legal marketers who are not even lawyers — will want you to sign a Contract of Representation the same day you contact them, or the very next day. They will try to get you to immediately sign a Contract using your cell phone, or send a Contract by email or overnight delivery service for you to sign and return “as soon as possible”. And they might even tell you they cannot do anything further concerning your case until after you do so, trying to add to the pressure they want you to feel.

This “rush” tactic is not in the client’s best interest, a fact well-understood by lawyers, but usually not by clients.

The reason is that once you have signed their Contract, pursuant to a legal ethics rule that applies to lawyers, you will no longer be able to speak with any other lawyer or law firm about how they would handle your case. Put otherwise, this “act-quick” lawyer or law firm now has your case locked up, so to speak. Of course, they will not have provided you with this Contract of Representation explanation information.

The simple truth is that this “rush” tactic only benefits that pushy lawyer or law firm — it is not in the client’s best interest.

We hope this Contract of Representation explanation is helpful to you in deciding which law firm is right to handle your case.