An Opinion by Frank Kollman

Picking a Lawyer

The first lawyer I ever met was a law school professor. Before that, I thought lawyers were like Owen Marshall, Perry Mason, and other fictional characters I had seen on television. You know, conscientious, passionate, brilliant, and effective. Yeah, sure.

I became a lawyer in 1977, and since that time, I've had to pick two lawyers to represent me. The first time, I had to hire someone for my mother, who lived in another state. She had placed a handwritten will leaving about $125,000 to her in her purse, which she put on a table after the funeral. One of my relatives, who stood to benefit by destroying the will, flushed it down a toilet.

The second time, I hired someone with expertise in an area where I had little. In both cases, I got good advice and favorable results. I hated, however, the process of dealing with those lawyers, and I think I learned some valuable insights.

First, in both cases, neither lawyer seemed to appreciate how I needed to know what was going on in my cases. I had to call them on a regular basis, sometimes two or three times, just to find out what was going on. They would promise me an answer by a particular date, and that date would pass without so much as a fax, phone call, or email message (OK, there was no email in those days. Sue me.)

Second, the lawyer in the toilet-bowl will matter wanted to rewrite the deal once it became more complicated for him. I felt like firing him, but the case was too far advanced to change lawyers.

In addition to these experiences, I have seen lawyers on the other side of legal matters try their best to scotch a deal just so they can justify their fees. It's like they never consider the client's interests, or that they have so little commonsense, they have no idea what the client needs from a lawyer.

In my primary concentration, labor and employment law, commonsense is an essential requirement of the job. If I just told my clients what was legal, and ignored the consequences of doing what was legal (but not fair), I would be guilty of being a bad lawyer. I am being hired to make my clients' businesses better, not just keep them out of legal trouble.

Not too long ago, a client wanted me to decide whether it should keep another lawyer involved in a matter that occurred before I became the client's primary attorney. I knew the other lawyer, and I gave my client an honest assessment. The client asked: "Frank, is he my kind of lawyer?" When I asked what he meant by that, he said: "You know, a lawyer who gets results." The client didn't care about where the guy went to law school; he wanted to know if the lawyer could get something accomplished. OK. So what does this article have to do with picking a lawyer? I'm getting to it.

There are plenty of smart lawyers out there willing to take your money. There are plenty of lawyers who believe that they are doing you a favor by representing you. You do not need those lawyers. You need this lawyer:

1. He returns your phone calls promptly, even if he is out of the office for days. If he is on vacation, his partner returns his calls.

2. He gets results. He understands your business, and he understands that you do not want to deal with lawyers.

3. He exercises commonsense. He tries to let you do what you want to do, and he talks you out of decisions, reluctantly, that will generate more difficulty and legal fees for your business, but more work for him.

4. He is honest with you. If he does not know the answer, he gets it, and he gets it quickly.

5. He may not have the experience of others, but he has good judgment. That judgment trumps experience in most instances.

6. He works for Kollman & Saucier.

It's my website, so item 6 stays in. In any event, don't be intimidated by lawyers. They work for you, and you should expect good service.

Kollman & Saucier, P.A., The Business Law Building, 1823 York Road, Timonium, MD 21093 Phone: 410-727-4300
Fax: 410-727-4391 © 1999 - 2010 Kollman & Saucier, P.A. All rights reserved.
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