To choose a lawyer, do three things in this order. Confirm the person is licensed in the province where your matter sits and check whether they have a discipline record. Confirm they actually work in the area of law your problem falls under, and ask how much of their practice it is. Then meet two of them and ask the same six questions of each. Advertising tells you who spends the most on marketing. These three steps tell you who can do the work.
The whole exercise takes an afternoon, and it is the afternoon that matters most on the file.
Verify the Licence Before Anything Else
Every province maintains a public directory of the lawyers it licenses. Search the name. A lawyer must be a member of the law society of the province where the matter is, and a lawyer licensed in one Atlantic province is not automatically entitled to act in the next one.
The same directories publish discipline decisions. Look. A finding against a lawyer is public information, and a person choosing who to trust with a claim or a criminal charge is entitled to see it. The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, the Law Society of Prince Edward Island and the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador each publish theirs, as does the New Brunswick body.
Choose a Lawyer Who Works in the Area Your Problem Falls Under
Law is specialised in practice even where titles do not say so. The lawyer who did your house purchase is not the lawyer for a serious injury claim, and the lawyer who is excellent at commercial disputes may have appeared in a criminal court twice.
Ask a direct question and expect a direct answer. How many files like mine have you run in the last two years. How many have you taken to trial. Where the answer is evasive, that is the answer. A lawyer who does not do the work will usually say so and refer you on, and a referral from a lawyer is worth more than a listing.
Local Matters More Than People Expect
Procedure differs between the four Atlantic provinces, and so does the substantive law. Nova Scotia’s minor injury regime is not New Brunswick’s, the deductible in Newfoundland is its own creature, and the Prince Edward Island rules run differently again. Those differences are set out in the minor injury cap guide.
A lawyer who practises in the court where your matter will be heard knows the judges, the local defence bar and how long things actually take there. That is not glamour, it is scheduling, and scheduling decides a great deal.
The Six Questions to Ask at the First Meeting
Who will actually run my file, and will I be dealing with that person or with staff. What is the plan for the next six months. What is my deadline. How is the fee calculated and what happens if I recover nothing. Who pays the out-of-pocket costs while the file runs. How often will I hear from you, and by what method.
Ask all six of every firm you see, and write the answers down. The comparison is far more useful than one conversation, and the differences between firms show up in the answers to the third and sixth.
Read the Fee Agreement Rather Than the Fee
The rate is the least interesting number in a retainer agreement. The scope, the treatment of costs advanced, and the clause that says what happens if the relationship ends early matter more.
On an injury or disability file the arrangement is normally contingency, explained in the note on how a contingency fee works. On a criminal or billed file it is a retainer agreement with money held in trust or a block fee for a stage, explained in the note on what a legal retainer is.
Reviews and Word of Mouth Are Useful for One Thing
They tell you how a firm communicates. They tell you almost nothing about legal ability, because a client cannot assess whether the settlement was a good one and does not see the alternative outcome.
Read them for the recurring complaint instead of the star rating. A dozen people saying nobody returned their calls is real information about how the firm is run. One person angry about a result is not.
Warning Signs Worth Walking Away From
A guarantee of an outcome. A number promised before anyone has read the medical records. Pressure to sign in the room. An unwillingness to say who will run the file. A fee agreement the lawyer will not explain clause by clause.
Any lawyer who puts a number on your claim at a first meeting is either guessing or selling. Value comes from medical evidence and from what courts in the province have awarded for comparable injuries, which is the subject of the guide to general damages.
Meet Two Firms, Not One
Consultations on injury and disability matters are free, so the only cost of seeing a second firm is an hour. People who see two firms almost always report that the second conversation changed what they asked about.
The mechanics of that meeting, and what to bring, are set out in the note on what happens at a free consultation.
Choosing Badly Is Fixable, but Not Free
A client can end a retainer at any time and take the file elsewhere, so a poor choice at the start is not permanent. It does cost time, and near a trial date it can cost more than that. The mechanics are in the note on changing lawyers.
The exception is the deadline. A missed limitation period cannot be repaired by a better lawyer afterwards, which is why the third of the six questions is the one to ask first.
Where to Start
Bring the paperwork and the timeline, ask the six questions, and take the fee agreement home to read. The Moncton office books first meetings, the lawyers are listed under top injury lawyers, and what we can do for you sets out the areas covered.