What can I expect in my first meeting?

Well the first meeting between a lawyer and a client is really just an opportunity for the two to get know each other. It’s an opportunity for the client to explain his or her story to the attorney. It’s an opportunity for the attorney to provide the client with some analysis, legal perspective on the facts. At its heart, the relationship between the lawyer and a client is one of confidence and trust and it’s important to have a good comfort level with the person who is representing you. So the initial meeting will give you a chance to size the lawyer up, not only on the things that you can measure objectively—like years of experience, amount of cases he or she has tried—[but] it’s an opportunity for the client to see, “How do I like this person? How do I get along with this person?” Because at the end of the day, the lawyer is going to be providing guidance and advice to the client and the client has to find that the person they are getting that advice from is somebody they trust and like. And that’s what you learn.