Will I be required to work on my own legal matter?
At our firm, yes. A client can be involved in many aspects of his or her legal matter. At the outset, it may mean gathering documents and information to allow the attorney to evaluate the client’s legal matter before agreeing to take the case. Once the attorney agrees to accept a matter, the stage of litigation the client is most often involved in relates to the discovery process. We require that a client participate in answering written discovery, to the extent necessary. This may mean answering written questions and gathering relevant documents or even performing very basic investigations. The client will also be required to appear at the deposition. Many times clients can offer valuable insight into the type of discovery that he or she should conduct in the litigation.
Requiring that the client participate in the litigation process does many things. It ensures that the discovery is accurate and complete, which is critical since the client is required to answer the discovery under the penalty of perjury. It allows the client to actually participate in the overall process and have a stake in his or her own legal matter. Finally, it allows the client to keep abreast of the status of the case and the factual and legal strategies the attorney is employing on their behalf.
