FROM A BACKWOODS SOUTHERN LAWYER
I may need a what?!!
The question for this month’s article is: When Do I Need a Lawyer and How Do I Find the Right One?
Before we cross that boredom threshold, first a moment of levity. The best lawyer joke I’ve ever heard and yes, we enjoy them too: A bartender was
once again watching as a handsome young man came in the door, as he did virtually every afternoon, took a seat at the bar, and almost immediately a
pretty young woman would take the bar stool next to him. As always happened, they would talk for a few minutes and then she would get up and leave.
This time, the bartender decided to find out why that was such a regular occurrence. He went to the young man and said, “Look, I have been watching
you for the past several weeks and every day it’s the same thing. You are a very nice looking guy; you have a seat at the bar; a pretty young girl sits
next to you; you talk for a few minutes and she leaves. What gives?” The young man said, “Well, invariably they ask me what I do for a living and when
I tell them I’m a carpenter, they move on.” The bartender said, “Well, now I know your problem. These are up-and-coming young ladies and they are not
interested in hooking up with a carpenter, they want to meet a lawyer or a doctor.” After thinking it over for a moment, the young man replied, “Well, I
don’t think I can fake being a doctor but I believe I can successfully pretend to be a lawyer because all of my friends tell me I’m full of B.S. anyway.” A
few minutes later a pretty young woman came in the door; sat next to the young man and they began to talk. They left and went back to her apartment
and soon ended up in bed. Suddenly, the young man broke out into uncontrolled laughter. The young lady was taken aback and said, “How can you laugh
at a time like this?” The young man replied, “This is great. I’ve only been a lawyer for thirty minutes and I’m already screwing somebody.”
Over the past forty-plus years of practice, I have seen several occasions where someone was simply unsure if they needed an attorney. I have seen
many many more where they most certainly did but failed to obtain representation. The latter is a much more dangerous situation and with serious
consequences you can make the wrong choice.
For instance, let’s assume it’s a Friday afternoon and you are at home having a well-deserved beer and/or other libation, when a sheriff’s deputy pulls up
in your driveway and hands you a sheaf of papers. You review them and immediately realize that it is a copy of a lawsuit involving an automobile accident
and you are the wrong individual and were never involved in such an accident. You just assume there is nothing for you to do and throw the papers in the
trash can. A few months later you receive a letter from an attorney, by certified mail, advising you that a several hundred thousand dollar judgment has
now been entered against you and his client is seeking to collect. Because of your failure to answer the lawsuit, you have now been judicially determined
as the person named and as monetarily responsible for the damages. Obviously you needed a lawyer. If you are looking at the outside world through a
set of bars, that’s probably a good indication that you need an attorney in that situation also. Unfortunately, most of these situations are not that obvious.
It’s a better than even chance that if you think you might need an attorney – you do. At the very least, call a lawyer and talk to him or her over the
phone or arrange to meet them in their office. Any cost will usually be minimal and could save you thousands of dollars down the road. If you don’t
know an attorney, or don’t know someone who knows an attorney, you can call the State Bar of Georgia’s toll free number and, if they can’t answer your
question over the phone, they can refer you to someone in the area who can. Don’t allow yourself to become that person you never were, responsible for
that accident you were never involved in or that legal dispute you knew nothing about, only to discover that you are now the person with the checkbook.
How do I find the right attorney?
Okay. You have now determined that you do need legal representation but, having never needed it in the past, you have no idea who to call.
Please don’t make your selection based upon who has the best or most TV ads every day. I will confess that I despise lawyer advertising in any fashion,
but I am forced to recognize that it is their constitutional right and, in some instances, may well serve the public good. I personally know virtually all of
the attorneys in the area who advertise on TV and have the utmost respect for several of them. They simply chose a different path than I would follow.
The basic problem with choosing a lawyer from their TV ads is that you are basing a potentially life changing choice on a thirty or sixty second
soundbite. There is a very good chance that attorney could not find Savannah with a roadmap and you may never meet the person face to face.
I recently handled an automobile accident case involving a very low-speed rear-end collision on Derenne Avenue. As he was sitting in his car, the driver
looked up and saw one of the billboards that say, Injured – Call – 800-441-PAIN. So he did. The person on the other end of the line told him not to move
and someone would be calling him within the next five minutes. Sure enough, he got a call from an attorney somewhere in the Atlanta area that he had
never heard of and was informed that he had a chiropractic appointment the next morning at 9:00. This guy has not even unbuckled his seatbelt and
he already has a lawyer, a doctor, and a lawsuit. Some weeks later we had a mediation in the case and I introduced the lawyer to his client. If that has
become a 21st century’s description of an attorney-client relationship, then I am overjoyed that I can see the exit sign.
Okay, you now understand that TV is not your best referral source of legal representation. What do you do?
The first thing is to reach out to friends, family, and business associates. It would be rare indeed for someone in that circle not to know an attorney or
at least know about an attorney.
When you have a name or names, call them. In all probability you will first have to talk to the secretary, legal assistant, and perhaps then a paralegal.
Those individuals can always be helpful but, at some point, you need to meet the attorney. Telephone, text messages, and emails are no substitute for a
face to face conversation. If you are continually told that the attorney is too busy to meet with you personally (no, that is B.S., as no lawyer is that busy)
then start looking for another name.
When you do finally meet with the attorney, personally keep in mind that you are looking for competent legal representation, not a lifelong best friend.
Don’t be hesitant to ask questions about the attorney’s training and experience with your type of situation or what it may ultimately cost. As much as it
pains me, I have to admit that I have some brethren in the Bar who are only concerned about the size of their own wallet and not the client’s, so long
as it is open and apparently bottomless.
The plain truth is that the vast majority of legal disputes can be resolved quickly, efficiently, and economically, if that is everyone’s goal. Sometimes,
particularly with family disputes, it only requires a simple apology. Most resolutions will require someone paying something, but if all participants
consider the cost of litigation, a negotiated resolution is almost always the best alternative. There is no attorney in the State of Georgia that enjoys
trying lawsuits more than I do and I have tried at least 400-plus cases, but even in those in which we “won” somebody usually lost money. You and your
attorney should keep in mind the fact that when you are up to your ass in alligators, don’t forget that your objective was to drain the swamp.
32 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | APR 2019
By Franklin Edenfield