Top Ten Questions you Should Ask

Before Hiring An Attorney

           

Summary

1.                   What is your primary area of practice?

2.                   How much do you charge for your services?

3.                   What is the average cost of an attorney?

4.                   What can this attorney do for me that I can’t do myself?

5.                   How long will You take to return my calls if i Hire you?

6.                   Will I be charged each time we talk on the phone?

7.                   Will you be handling my case yourself?

8.                   Are you a member of any professional organizations?

9.                   What are your office hours?

10.                Are you listening to me?

 

 

#1. What is your primary area of practice? 

 

Every client should understand whether the attorney they are hiring is skilled in the area of law that applies to their case.  This is important for a variety of reasons.

 

Driving under the Influence Cases (DUI)

In DUI cases, there are many a legal aspects to consider in order to effectively represent a client.  First, the attorney should understand civil procedure as well as criminal law.  This is important because the DUI summary suspension law is considered a separate civil proceeding from your criminal DUI case.  In order to effectively challenge your suspension, the attorney must be familiar with the civil rules governing certain evidentiary matters, burdens of proof, and the rules to subpoena witnesses. 

 

Second, a DUI attorney needs to understand the administrative rules of the Illinois Secretary of State.  This is important because the actions of the criminal court in your DUI case carry the potential to revoke your driver’s license under the Secretary of State rules.  In other words, you can successfully complete all of the terms of your court sentence and still have your drivers license revoked by the State if you are convicted of a DUI in Illinois.  Your attorney needs to be aware of how these laws work to try to combat the loss of your license.

 

Third, a DUI attorney needs to understand criminal law and procedure.  This is important because your DUI is considered a criminal case by the Illinois courts and the criminal rules of procedure will apply to it.  You attorney should be skilled in dealing with law enforcement witnesses, state negotiations, jail visits, motions to suppress evidence, motions to exclude evidence, and trial.

 

Finally, your attorney needs to understand the science behind chemical testing and the field sobriety exercises.  This is crucial because this is generally the most powerful evidence that the State may have against you in your case.  Your attorney should understand the errors that can occur in breathalyzer testing and be prepared to seek to exclude the evidence if your test result was not correct.  Further, your attorney should understand the proper methods of administering and scoring field sobriety tests to ensure that the officer’s observations were reliable indicators of your alleged intoxication.

 

Criminal Cases

If you are seeking to hire a criminal defense attorney, make sure that they have trial experience.  You want to ensure that if that attorney cannot negotiate a plea agreement that is in your best interest, that they have the skills to effectively present your case to a jury.  Not all lawyers try cases, and if the plea deal is not acceptable, you may need to go to trial.  

 

A lot of clients think that a good question to ask when hiring an attorney is “How many cases have you won?”.  The answer can be misleading.  For instance, if your attorney says “I’ve never lost a case,” it could mean that they never tried a case, or that they have tried a single case and won.  The lawyer may not take cases to trial that aren’t a “sure win,” while other attorneys try cases where the client has a low chance of “winning.”  Additionally, most criminal cases end in plea deals.  As a result, your lawyer may not have “won” or “lost” anything, but their past clients can be very satisfied with the result.

 

Instead of the “win” question, ask them what you really want to know – “From your experience with these types of cases, what do you think is the most likely result in my case?”  Afterall, it doesn’t really matter if they have won 1,000 cases, if they don’t think they can “win” yours.  Although attorneys cannot “guarantee” results for clients, we can provide our professional opinion as to what the anticipated deal is that the State will be offering and determine from the evidence the strength of your defense at trial.  Because we are not allowed to “guarantee” a client, you should be skeptical if an attorney is promising you a “win.”  That type of guarantee is not allowed under the rules governing our Illinois law license.   

 

License Revocation Hearings with the Secretary of State

This is a highly critical area to determine if your attorney has experience.  To gauge their level of experience and knowledge, you should determine how the attorney plans to prepare you for the hearing.

 

If your attorney does not plan to meet with you until the day of your hearing, you should be critical.  The bulk of preparation for these hearings should occur well before the actual hearing date, and you will not reap much of a benefit by having an attorney sitting next to you if you aren’t prepared for the hearing.

 

A good attorney for a formal hearing should understand every aspect of the process.  They should have obtained your Secretary of State file and prior DUI arrest records in the advance of your hearing.  These records help determine why they have denied you driving privileges in the past (if you have had previous hearings) and what were the circumstances of each prior DUI arrest.  The hearing officer and the attorney for the Secretary of State will be asking detailed questions about these documents, and if your attorney didn’t review them with you, you will not be ready to respond to their questions.

 

Further, the attorney should receive and review your drug/alcohol evaluation, as well as any other treatment documents, prior to the hearing.  The Secretary of State will expect that you have been honest with your evaluator and that your testimony is consistent with what your evaluator is reporting in the documents.  A minor typographical error can cause a big issue at a hearing.  Therefore, you should have met with your attorney in advance to determine if your evaluation accurately reflects your drinking and/or drug history.

 

Finally, your attorney should meet with you in their office several times prior to the hearing so that you will have the opportunity to experience “mock hearings.”  In this process, your attorney should be asking you the same or similar questions that they anticipate the Secretary of State will be asking you at the hearing itself.  This is crucial because it helps alleviate the nervousness that you will be feeling during the actual hearing if you have already considered your answers to the questions.

 

#2.       “How do you charge for your services?”

 

You should understand at the outset of your case how you are being charged by your attorney so that you don’t have unexpected costs.  There are several types of fee arrangements that attorneys use:

 

Hourly Billing:  In this system, you generally will provide an attorney with a set amount to retain their services in the beginning, and they will take their hourly rate from that amount as they do work on your case.  The downside of this system is that the client can’t be sure that their retainer amount will cover the entire case.  Therefore, the attorney may require more money at a later point in order to keep working on your case.

 

Contingency Fee Arrangements:  In this system, the attorney doesn’t get paid unless you “win” or collect money.  If you succeed, they take a certain percentage of the money you receive from the case.  Under the Illinois attorney ethics code, contingency agreements are prohibited in criminal cases.  Therefore, if you have a criminal case, you will generally need to pay an attorney at the outset before they begin working on your case. 

 

Court Appearance Payments:  In some traffic matters, attorneys will charge the client a set rate per court appearance, i.e. “I’ll represent you on your DUI for $300 per court appearance.”  The downside of this system is that you may have 2 court appearances or 22 – there’s no way of telling the ultimate number of court appearances that will be required to close your case to your satisfaction.  Therefore, the $300 that seemed cheap when you hired the attorney can turn out to be a serious detriment if you aren’t prepared to continue to make $300 payments each court appearance.

 

Flat Fee Arrangements:  In this arrangement, the attorney quotes the client one price to represent them on their entire case.  This is generally a good arrangement for clients with financial constraints because they are relatively certain of the full cost of their attorney at the outset.  However, before entering a flat fee arrangement, a client should ask detailed questions as to what types of contingencies the flat fee covers, such as:

 

            “Does this fee cover a plea only?”

 

“Does this fee cover challenging my suspension or getting me a driving permit?  (In DUI cases)

 

“What will be the additional cost, if any, if I decide I want to go to trial?

 

“Do you accept payment plans on the flat fee charge?”

 

“Will my flat fee be refunded if I fire you?”

 

As stated above, the flat rate is good for its financial predictability so long as you understand exactly what legal services are included in the rate.  You should insist on signing a written retainer detailing what services are included in the flat rate prior to hiring an attorney.  

 

#3.       What is the “Average” Rate for Attorneys?

 

All attorneys charge different prices.  Often, clients try to judge how “good” an attorney is by the rate that they charge.  This is not always an accurate indicator of talent, as any attorney can quote a large fee.

 

Under the Illinois ethics code, an attorney must charge reasonable rates.  What is “reasonable” to charge depends on many factors, such as the time involved in your case, the skill required to handle the charge, the attorney’s level of experience, etc. 

 

Clients are usually bombarded with several different ranges of price quotes and cannot determine what is the “average” rate is.  When considering the “average” rate, it is beneficial to highlight the different ways that attorneys make money at their business.   There are several types of defense lawyers:

 

1.                   Public Defenders

2.                   Discount Lawyers

3.                   General Practitioners

4.                   Mid-Range Criminal and/or DUI Attorneys

5.                   Expensive Criminal and/or DUI Attorney

 

Public Defenders:

Public Defenders generally get paid by the State or County in which they work.  Indigent defendants may be eligible to receive the assistance of a public defender if they are charged with a serious offense and cannot afford a private attorney.  The Court may require a person to fill out an “affidavit” detailing their assets prior to appointing a public defender.

 

Discount Lawyers:        

Clients should be extremely cautious about hiring a “discount lawyer” as they will probably give you discount service.  Discount lawyers make their money by handling a high volume of cases or by having a very low business overhead (i.e. practicing law out of their car).  The discount lawyer generally has to dispose of your case quickly by pleading you “guilty” so that they can maintain their profit margin.  The lowest fee might look very attractive at first, but it won’t be so enticing if your attorney is showing up an hour late to your court appearance, doesn’t return your calls, or you don’t like the deal that the State is offering to plead guilty. 

 

General Practitioners:

General practitioners can be good attorneys, but you need to be wary of the “jack of all trades.”   General practitioners can handle DUI and criminal cases, but they also handle divorce, wills, real estate, etc.  The downside of not focusing on one area is that general practitioners are not as likely to be aware of the nuances in every law and the latest legal developments in every field of practice.  As different laws apply to every type of case, you could be disadvantaged by hiring a general practitioner if they do not have detailed knowledge of the specific law that applies to your case.

 

Mid-Range Criminal and/or DUI Attorneys:

The mid-range defense attorney focuses on just criminal and DUI cases and does not maintain a “high-volume” approach to practice.  This type of attorney will cost more than a “discount lawyer,” but will generally be more thorough in representing your interests. 

 

At this range, you should expect your attorney to have the time to answer your questions, to advise you of the issues in your case, to prepare motions, to challenge your suspension or attempt to obtain a permit for you (in DUI cases), to return your calls promptly, and to adequately prepare and litigate your case at trial.  In the case of plea negotiations, the attorney should be conferencing with the parties, advising you of any collateral consequences of pleading “guilty,” and should not plead you “guilty” unless you are satisfied with the proposed sentence.

 

These attorneys will likely be familiar with the personalities of the prosecutors and judges in your courtroom as they will have dealt with them many times in the past.  Because of this advantage, they will have a better vantage point of what these people are likely to respond to, and ultimately, what types of sentences they are willing to consider. 

 

 

Expensive Criminal and/or DUI Attorneys:

These attorneys fall within the peer group of Johnny Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, or Barry Scheck.  In order to find this type of attorney, you should contact defense organizations, such as the “National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers” or ask other lawyers if they are aware of who is the most well-known attorney in their field.  These lawyers will generally be housed in larger cities and will charge retainer fees within the range of $10,000 or more.  If you can afford this type of attorney, it may be to your benefit to hire them.  However, be careful of choosing an attorney on price alone.  Any lawyer can quote you $10,000- the real issue is whether or not they are worth the cost.

 

If you are looking for the “average” cost of an attorney, you need to determine what type of attorney you are looking for.  The average cost of a discount lawyer may be $300, while the average cost of an expensive attorney may be $10,000.  By calling a few attorneys, you should get a good idea of what each type of attorney charges in your area.

 

#4.       What Can this Attorney do that I can’t Do myself?

 

This is an entirely justifiable question to ask.  When I meet with new clients, some of them are upset with their previous attorney because they didn’t understand what, if anything, that attorney did for them that they couldn’t have done themselves. 

 

Ask the attorney very specific questions about what they will be doing to represent you.  If you are hiring them to negotiate the terms of your “guilty” plea, you have every right to know whether or not they are going to try to conference with the other parties, what the potential plea options are (i.e. can the charge be reduced, can some charges be dismissed), and you should be well-advised on what all the possible consequences are of pleading “guilty.”  Ask questions such as:

 

            “Will I lose my drivers license if I plead guilty to this charge?”

 

“Will I be going to jail, and if so, what is the maximum jail sentence the Court can impose?”

 

“Is there any documentation that you will need that may help mitigate my offense?” (i.e. treatment documents, community service, character letters, photos, etc.)

 

“If I plead guilty, will I have a criminal record?”

 

“What do I need to say in Court if we decide I should plead guilty?”

 

“How do you think you can help me?”

 

If you are hiring an attorney to do a trial, you should ask them if they intend to subpoena evidence, file motions for your defense, talk to witnesses, and visit the scene.  In the case of Secretary of State hearings, your attorney should be prepared to obtain your records, review extensively with you prior to the hearing, and study all documentation that you plan to submit at the hearing. 

 

In all cases, your attorney should not only be there to defend you, but should also guide you through your legal process.  You should never be wondering “What should I do next?”  That is your attorney’s job.    

 

#5.       How long will you take to return my calls if I hire you?

 

Unfortunately, some attorneys do not continue to provide the same level of individual attention to a client after the retainer fee is paid.  That is exactly why you should ask how long it takes them to return calls.  Often, your questions will be about important matters in your life and you probably will not want to wait to hear your attorney’s advice until your next court date.  Your attorney should be willing to call you back within 24 hours at a minimum.  Further, you should request an emergency number for them in case you need them after hours.

 

#6.       will I be charged more money each time we talk?

         

You should determine at the outset whether or not you will be billed for the time the attorney spends on the phone with you.  Attorneys who use an “hourly billing system” may cut their time into increments and charge you for the portion of the hour they spent on your case (i.e., if they bill $400.00 an hour, 15 minutes of their time will cost you $100).  In this arrangement, it is common that you will be charged for the time that you spent on the phone with them. 

 

#7.       Will You be Handling my Case Yourself?    

 

You should find out from your attorney whether they intend to personally represent you or pay another attorney to cover your court case.  In some law offices, there are several attorneys that may be appearing for you in court.  These attorneys can range from associates to coverage attorneys (attorneys who independently contract with your attorney to cover your case). 

 

#8.       Are you a member of any professional organizations?

 

Membership in a professional organization can demonstrate whether the attorney is truly committed to their field of practice.  Although there may be many great attorneys who are not members of professional organizations, professional membership benefits attorneys by providing them with a means to stay current on legal developments in their field. 

 

These organizations will generally provide the attorney with materials that report recent case developments, defense strategies, and advice on legal, ethical, and scientific issues.  The organizations can also provide a network for your attorney to contact others in their field if you may need out-of-state assistance.   

 

Many criminal defense attorneys are members of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).  In addition, they may be members of their local or state bar association.     

 

#9.       What are your Office Hours?

 

Depending on your schedule, you may need an attorney who is not limited to conventional office hours.  You should discuss what the normal hours of business are at the office, whether the attorney offers evening or weekend appointments, and whether they maintain an emergency phone number in case you are arrested in the middle of the night.

 

#10.     Are you listening to me?   

           

This question is the key inquiry when you are hiring an attorney.  Although it doesn’t need to be explicitly asked, you should carefully consider your interaction with the attorney to determine if they are going to be actively engaged in your defense.  Here are some “red-flags” for any initial consultation:

 

1.          The attorney is not solely engaged in discussing your legal matter (i.e. they are shuffling papers, answering calls, responding to their assistant, etc.).

 

2.                   They are not providing direct answers to your questions. 

 

3.                   They are acting as if you are lucky to have this moment of their time.

 

4.                   They do not ask you any follow-up questions.

 

5.                   They do not explain the law that applies to your case in terms that you can understand.

 

At the initial consultation, the attorney should give you confidence that you are in good hands.  You should leave the meeting with a greater understanding of your legal situation and with a complete trust of your attorney’s capabilities.  Most importantly, you should feel like the attorney has given you reasonable advice after listening to your concerns.