âHere lies an honest man and a lawyer,â responded the lawyer. âSorry, but I canât do that,â replied the stonecutter. âIn this state, itâs against the law to bury two people in the same grave.
However, even though he was certain he had missed the lawyer, he still heard a loud âTHUMP.â Not understanding where the noise came from, he glanced in his mirrors. When he didnât see anything, he turned to the priest and said, âIâm sorry Father.
The receptionist checked with the attorney who agreed and he went to the spinsterâs home for the meeting to discuss her estate and the will. The lawyerâs first question was, âWould you please tell me what you have in assets and how youâd like them to be distributed under your will?â
After the lawyer finally wound down from his rant, the cop shook his head in disgust and disbelief. âI canât believe how materialistic you lawyers are,â he said. âYou are so focused on your possessions that you donât notice anything else.â âHow can you say such a thing?â asked the lawyer.
I recently retained Charles Lloyd to represent me in my complex, double-felony sex-offender registration violation case. Both Charlie Lloyd and his partner at LLOYD & NASH, Michael Nash, met with me multiple times to understand the urgencies and sensitivities of my case and hear my concerns.
I have been a client of Mr. Lloyd since the passing of Kenneth Carrington from whom Mr. Lloyd expanded his client base upon taking over Mr. Carrington's practice. I was fortunate enough to count myself among them. As a troubled teen and into my 20s - 30s between Mr. Carrington and Mr. Lloyd I on occasion required their services.
When my son got into trouble, Mr. Lloyd was a straight shooter and kept us informed every step of the way. During the trial, it was like watching "Matlock" at work! He was amazing. Never giving up. His whole heart is in his work and the caring and compassion that he showed towards my family was remarkable. I would highly recommend Mr.
I needed serious criminal defense against a very difficult-to-defend false accusation of child molestation and Mr. Charles was frank, to-the-point; and all the advice he gave, courtroom performance, dealings with the plaintiff's side, etc. were as professional as I could have hoped for...
Tell the Truth. If your lawyer doubts you in the consultation, or doesn't think you have a case, while that may change over time, getting over an initial disbelief is very hard. You have to prove your case. Your attorney is not your witness. They are your advocate - but you are responsible for coming up with proof.
If you don't pay your lawyer on the day of trial, or however you have agreed to, then while he or she may be obligated by other ethical duties to do his/her best, they won't be motivated by sympathy for you, and it will show in court.
It's expensive because we have to wait in line too. Going to court is more than dressing up in a fancy suit and knowing what papers to fill out. Attorneys have to wait in line just like the "regular folk" and we are at the mercy of the court staff just like everyone else. If you get a bill that includes time spent waiting in court, it's not usually exaggerated. While some people may stretch the truth - if you want to see whether I had to wait an hour for the case to get called, then just come with me to court. Some courtrooms have more than 50 cases on the call. Your case may not be first or even ninth. I have been number 210 on the list before. It takes time. Most people hired attorneys because they don't want to sit in court. Well, truth be told, neither do I. The difference between lawyer and client is that the lawyer expects it to take a long time and understands. The client typically thinks it's unjustified. So, your hard truth is that each case takes time. Be patient.
Most people hired attorneys because they don't want to sit in court. Well, truth be told, neither do I. The difference between lawyer and client is that the lawyer expects it to take a long time and understands. The client typically thinks it's unjustified. So, your hard truth is that each case takes time. Be patient.
Credibility is one of the most important things in this world - and most important in a courtroom. If you care enough only to wear sweats to the courthouse, then the judge will see that you don't care, and that will be reflected in their desire to help you, listen to you, and decide in your favor. Step it up.
If the judge can see your boobs, he's not listening to your story. If I can see your boobs, then I know you didn't care enough about yourself to talk to an attorney. Dress like you are going to church. Credibility is one of the most important things in this world - and most important in a courtroom.
If no one can confirm that the story is true, you will at least need something external, such as a hard copy document, to prove your case. Be prepared.
â Winning cases can be lost because of a client who lies or exaggerates just as easily as because of a lawyer who tells the client what the client wants to hear instead of what is true.â So when dealing with attorneys, donât just look for honestyâbe honest.
âIf you want to improve your chances of securing the best lawyer to take your case, you need to prepare before you meet them,â advises attorney Stephen Babcock. âGet your story, facts, and proof together well before your first meeting.â This not only ensures that you understand your own needs, but it helps a good lawyer to ascertain whether he or she can actually help you. âWe want the best clients too. Proving youâre organized and reliable helps us.â
On reading a demand letter, the other person will often say, âthis isnât worth the troubleâ and they quickly settle. But hereâs a secret from Knight: You donât need a lawyer to write a demand letter. You can do it yourself. Just make it look as formal as possible, and you may find your dispute goes awayâno charge to you.
In fact, a lawyer should try to stay out of court. âIn my experience, a good lawyer always finds every opportunity to keep a case from being decided by a judge, and only relents on trying a case before the bench when all alternatives have been exhausted,â attorney, Jason Cruz says.
However, while lawyers may be called "counselors" from time to time, it is only because they provide counseling of a legal kind. That is, they give legal advice.
If you failed to follow through on a promise, admit it. (Lawyers could benefit from taking this advice too.) Part of being an adult is also just being willing to tell your lawyer everything they need to know--the good, the bad and the ugly--because anything you discuss with them in private stays confidential unless there is some public safety emergency or you both agree it is key to the case and thus should be disclosed. Remember, your lawyer is there to help you, and they can't do that to the best of their ability if you leave out something important. You may think some certain piece of information is trivial, but it may be the key to blowing the case wide open in your favor.
Trouble is, the few lawyers who know about this growing field generally refuse to handle claims of less than $50,000 because smaller cases generate small fees. Henri Draznin, a retired customer-service rep, found himself in such a bind. He couldn't find a lawyer willing to help him recover $9,000 he'd lost in high-yield bonds, which his broker had put him into without mentioning they were risky for a retiree. Draznin was out of luck until he found a legal clinic at New York's Pace University Law School, where students supervised by Professor Barbara Black helped him file an arbitration claim, winning him $4,046 in February 2003.
Most lawyers can charge for their services in a variety of ways: a flat fee, an hourly rate of typically $100 to $300 an hour, or a percentage of the award, usually billed at 30 or 40%. Which is best for you? If your case is simple, a flat fee is best. It gives the lawyer an incentive to solve the problem efficiently.
Lawyer-client flings, especially in divorce and family law cases, can warp the lawyer's judgment, prompting him to either prolong the dispute or sacrifice the client's interests to end it fast, notes Texas Wesleyan University law professor Malinda L. Seymore. The client may submit in the belief that if she does, the lawyer will do more to help her keep her home and children.
Many lawyers insert compulsory arbitration provision s in their retainer agreements, which isn't necessarily unethical, according to the ABA, providing that the agreement doesn't insulate the lawyer from liability and the client understands what it means.
A guy who's known for always settling can't drive a hard bargain. "It certainly helps if the defendant knows (a lawyer) is ready to go to court," says Bert Braud, a Kansas City, Mo., litigator who takes at least one case through trial each year. 6. "I won't take your chump-change case.".
Despite such scandals, the American Bar Association didn't rule on the issue until 2002, when it noted that lawyer-client sex is generally unethical but it is up to each state whether to adopt an outright ban on the practice.
A doctor and a lawyer in two cars collided on a country road. The lawyer, seeing that the doctor was a little shaken up, helped him from the car and offered him a drink from his hip flask. The doctor accepted and handed the flask back to the lawyer, who closed it and put it away.
An old, stingy lawyer was dying and was determined to prove wrong the old saying; âYou canât take it with you.â He told his wife to go down to the bank and withdraw enough money to fill two pillowcases. His plan: Put the bags directly over his bed and when he died grab them on his way up to heaven. One day the old ambulance chaser died. When his wife was up cleaning in the attic one day, she came across the forgotten pillowcases. She then said to herself, âThat old fool. I knew he should have had me put them in the basement!â
A1: It only takes one lawyer to change your light bulb to his light bulb.
From the number of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean being âa good startâ to the question of âhow many of lawyers does it take to change a lightbulbâ, we decided to make a list of every lawyer joke we could find (even those that had very little to do with a lawyer), tallying up 214 jokes that make us facepalm, shake our heads, giggle and outright laugh.
Farmer Joe was in his car when he was hit by a truck. He decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking company (responsible for the accident) to court. In court the trucking companyâs fancy lawyer was questioning farmer Joe.
The front tiger turns around and cuffs the rear tiger and says, âI said stop it!â. The rear tiger says, âSorry,â and they continue.
Farmer Joe said, âWell I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the roadâŚ.â
If you have a meeting with your lawyer, thereâs a good chance you took time off from work, secured childcare, or had other obligations that you changed or gave up in order to be at the meeting. Your lawyer shouldnât waste your time, be unprepared, or mishandle your funds or documents.
For example, if your lawyer knows when your accident happened and when the statute of limitations runs out, yet still fails to file a claim in the allotted time period, you might no longer be able to file the claim or have legal recourse.
Malpractice could be intentional or by accident. If your lawyer has done anything that has cost you the ability to win or settle your case, or that had a detrimental effect on your proceeding, it could be considered malpractice.
Reason #1: Your lawyer isnât returning your calls. Lack of communication is a big problem for some law firm clients. Yes, legal practices are very busy. They have lots of clients â not just you. However, before a lawyer signs on to take your case, they need to know if the firm has the capacity to handle it. Thereâs no excuse for not returning phone ...
Your lawyer has a responsibility to act in an ethical manner. Beyond that responsibility, theyâve actually taken an oath to uphold certain ethics.
Itâs possible that person doesnât have a strong grasp of the particular area of law thatâs relevant. The other thing that could happen is that as a case progresses, it could begin to involve areas of law outside your lawyerâs expertise.
Before you hire an attorney, youâll sign a contract that sets forth the lawyerâs fees. Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis, which means they get paid a percentage of the damages you receive. However, theyâre also going to charge you for additional expenses that come up while the case is in process.
Venables obviously took the parole board in, because he reoffended [in 2010, he was jailed for downloading and distributing indecent images of children] . I was flabbergasted. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. I have always thought they may be at liberty but they'll never be free. They've been looking over their shoulders ever since the judge released their identity, which I was furious about. Until then, they had been Boy A and Boy B. Having new identities, they had to reinvent their youth. That's enough to drive you to drink and drugs, and Venables did hit the bottle.
John Henry Browne : âTed Bundy was a perfect example of someone born evil.â. Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian. Ted told me one time that in junior high school he would put white mice into this little corral. He would sit there and figure out which ones he would save and which ones he would kill.
Jon Venables. Lee says that when he first met him 'the boy looked more like an eight-year-old than a 10-year-old.' Photograph: Courtesy of BWP Media via/Getty Images
The mood in the city was extremely angry, bordering on vengeful. After the boys' first appearance in court, I went to the window and I could see a baying mob hurling bricks at the police van that supposedly contained the boys.
Laurence Lee, 61, runs his own firm in Liverpool and specialises in criminal law. In 1993, he represented 10-year-old Jon Venables, who was charged with abducting two-year-old James Bulger from a shopping centre in Bootle, and murdering him.
Laurence Lee: âYou couldnât prepare for this.â Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian
It wasn't a difficult decision to take the Manson case. My purpose was to fight legally admissible evidence, and the amount of that was scant. His guilt was based on a few hearsay words, inadmissible in court, that he supposedly told this guy to do a number on the Tate residence. No question he was legally innocent. And, more than that, he was actually innocent. There was no evidence connecting him to those murders.