At this juncture you have engaged a solicitor and have confidence in your selection. It is important to see the relationship between you and the solicitor as being part of a team, with the solicitor being the project leader. They will lead the project and will seek to gather all the information that is needed.
It is important to understand the differing roles the parties play. The client will be, understandably, subjective whereas the solicitor must be objective in their work and approach. Solicitors are forensic in their pursuit of relevant information. They cannot proceed with the work until all the relevant information has been obtained. This pursuit of information requested by the solicitor may be a nuisance or inconvenience but they are acting in your best interests and want to avoid any surprises that may surface at a critical time later. So if your solicitor asks for a list of information they need, be sure to obtain it. Don’t be judgmental and decide they won’t need this or that.
Remember time is money – your money. If you assemble all the requested information together and bundle it in a folder for the solicitor and let them sort it out it’s wasting your money. Take the time to place the documents into sequential order. The solicitor is skilled at ascertaining the legal issues, separating the relevant facts from the irrelevant. The solicitor is not a filing clerk but, if you give them that chore you will be paying their normal hourly rate (expensive clerk!).
In assembling the requested information don’t be judgmental yourself in deciding if this email or that letter is of use. Remember the project leader? It is their job to decide what stays in the file and what can be discarded.
Be careful with emails: do a search and print off all the emails from the parties involved. Some email services bundle the emails together so you need to painstakingly read them all so that none are excluded. It is a tedious task but sometimes a critically important detail is found in an innocent-looking email.
Do not delete or destroy any document or email, even if you are certain it contains nothing of interest. In litigation it is common to seek ‘discovery orders’ and if one is served on you for, say, email correspondence then you have to comply with the order. If the other side, during discovery, finds that an email was deleted (even though you believe it had no value) the court may take the view that evidence was destroyed. Your solicitor will walk you through any discovery procedure but once legal proceedings are initiated, or indeed intended to be issued, destruction of any documents must be avoided. There are software programmes now that make email discovery easier and your solicitor could advise you here.
In the early stages of litigation you will see more of your solicitor as the information is gathered, and here your relationship with your solicitor should deepen as you get to understand each other’s needs. If you feel issues are getting complex, ask questions so you stay on top. You, the client, need to be informed and understand what is happening. Solicitors tend to be quite literal in their manner so if you ask a question be specific and clear with your query.
Your solicitor will distinguish between the points in your case – the strong ones and the weak. They may eliminate certain evidence which you may not agree with. They have their reasons but ask why; you need to know and cannot or should not be left in the dark.
It is fine to put your total trust in your solicitor but this does not mean you abandon them to carry the case. You are an important part of the team so be informed and know and understand everything your solicitor is doing on your case – after all it is your case.
It is only natural that a client takes a case personally so emotions can run high at times. You may feel a certain line should be taken but your solicitor is reluctant to go with that. They have their reasons. Ask them why. It may be that a certain person may not make a good witness and under cross-examination could in fact harm your case. This is the solicitor acting in the overall best interests of your case. They are being objective and weighing up the pros and cons.
Looking at your case from the familiar surroundings of your office or home may give you confidence of success but on the day in court witnesses are in the cold, unfriendly, almost clinical surroundings of a courtroom and this can unnerve witnesses. Solicitors will, when meeting clients and potential witnesses, weigh up whether they think the person before them will be good witness. This is down to their expertise and judgement. Having a good case on paper is one thing but it has to be delivered in court by oral evidence and if the solicitor has any doubt on this they will take that into consideration on how best to win your case.
You, as the client, need to be rational at critical decision times. There is no room for taking umbrage or seeking revenge on the other party. This could distract from the matter at hand – winning the case. The case will be decided on the law, not on how one feels about the other party. Here the solicitor will steer you on the right path so be warned to put aside your hostile feelings for revenge.
You may have a good case but good cases can be lost by a nervous witness and good lawyers can win bad cases. If you or one of your witnesses performs poorly in the witness box, the lawyer on the other side will be presented with an opportunity and you can be sure they won’t pass on it. So listening to your solicitor here is important. Their advice on how they will present your case in court is based on their expertise; this is their back yard, and this advice should be heeded, not resisted.
The time up to the day in court is all preparation. In the course of this period, issues will arise which may alter the intended plan. Documentary evidence may not stack up as hoped; there may be an inconclusive paper trail; a witness may be deceased or living abroad and you need to decide if it is worth the cost of bringing them back; or a former employee may have since gotten married, changed their name and become untraceable. Evidence of your case needs to be produced in court and it doesn’t always pan out the way you first thought. Here you will see your solicitor and barrister at work. As the landscape of your case shifts the lawyer has to respond and chart out the best course for you with the evidence they have to work with.
Clients’ ‘Do’ List
Clients’ ‘Don’t’ List