0.2 Pre-consultation research: generally  (Page 2/15)

Do yourself and your PNC a favor and know of pending hearings and how you are going to address the hearing prior to the consultation meeting. Do NOT rely on the PNC for this information--get it directly from the District Clerk, whether through an official web site or a telephone call to the clerk assigned to the court.

Prior orders

Having a copy of any prior final order and any temporary order or associate judge recommendation in the PNC's case, will help you prepare for the consultation meeting. In some jurisdictions it is easy to get copies of orders. In others, you have to rely on the PNC to bring any live orders to the consultation meeting.

Representation

Pay attention to whether there are attorneys hired in the case and, if so, find out who they are. If you can access an on-line registry of actions, it is easy to discern some facts about how the case is being prosecuted and how it is likely to be resolved.

• Is any party currently self-represented (pro se)? If the opposing party is proceeding pro se, it may be because he or she does not have the financial resources to hire an attorney. It could also indicate that he or she believes him- or herself to be as qualified as a licensed attorney. Sometimes it means that the other side of the case is out for vengeance or to inflict pain on your prospective client, perhaps even entertaining fantasies about some showdown in the courtroom where he or she gets to grill your client and show the world the truth. Either way, having a self-represented opposing party is rarely good news. On the other hand, if the PNC is now pro se, it could mean that he or she has gotten in over his or her head, may have already missed some deadlines or ired the judge, and now expects you to come in and make it all right. If this is the case, be careful to set conservative expectations in the consultation meeting.
  
• How many times has either party switched attorneys? In counties that use the Odyssey system, it is easy to see the list of attorneys who have been on then off of the case. Other counties have different systems that require you to scroll through a registry of actions looking for motions for withdrawal of counsel. No matter how dry your stream of revenue and new clients may seem from time to time, it is almost never a good idea to be the third or later attorney on a case. If a client is firing that many attorneys or that many attorneys are quitting, there is either a problem with payment, extreme problems in managing the client, or both.
  
• Pay attention to who the other attorneys are or have been. If there is a really good attorney on the other side of the case, the case will be a pleasure to work no matter the legal outcome. If there is an attorney on the other side who would have difficulty finding friends outside of the courtroom, chances are that you are going to be in for a tough ride, no matter how simple the case should be. Finally, if you see that you are being hired after the client parted ways with a couple of other high-quality attorneys, you might ask yourself how this case will turn out better for you than it turned out for them.

Ancillary appointments

The mindmap in Figure 1 provides a good list of possible ancillary appointments that might have already been made prior to you joining the case. Such appointments by themselves do not mean much. Lots of appointments could indicate you have a simple case with wealthy parties who like to hire an expert for every task. Few appointments could mean that you have a difficult case with a tangle of conflicting stories combined with litigants who either lack the imagination or perhaps the financial resources to hire ancillary appointees.

Exercises

Try to do as much work on these exercises as you can without resorting to Internet searches or consulting with others. The more you push yourself to think through these issues, the better you will be at spotting issues and formulating plans for dealing with them.