A free consultation is a conversation, usually half an hour to an hour, in which you describe what happened and a lawyer tells you whether there is a claim, what it would involve, and what it would cost. Nothing is signed unless you decide to sign it, and what you say is confidential whether or not you hire the firm. Most people leave with an answer even when the answer is that they do not need a lawyer.
Knowing what the meeting is for makes it far more useful. Here is how it runs.
The Meeting Is an Assessment, Not Advice on Everything
The lawyer is answering three questions. Is there a legal claim or a defence here. Is it worth pursuing given what it will cost to prove. Is this firm the right one to do it.
That is narrower than most people expect. A first meeting is not the place to get a full opinion on every angle of a dispute, because the lawyer has not seen the documents yet. It is the place to find out whether pursuing the matter makes sense, and what the next step is.
What to Bring, and It Is Less Than You Think
Bring the documents that fix dates and decisions. For an injury matter that means the collision report or incident report, the name of your insurer, any letter an adjuster has sent, and the list of doctors you have seen. For a denied disability claim it means the denial letter and the policy booklet from your employer.
For a criminal charge it means the release documents you were given, the information sheet with the charge on it, and the next court date. For anything else, bring the contract, the letter, or the notice that started the problem.
You do not need to organise it. Bring the pile. The lawyer will sort it faster than you can.
Write Down the Sequence of Events Before You Go
The single most useful thing you can prepare is a one-page timeline: what happened, on what date, and who said what. Memory reorders events under stress, and a timeline written calmly at your kitchen table is more accurate than one recited in an unfamiliar office.
It also saves time in the meeting, so more of it goes to the answer instead of the story.
Everything You Say Is Confidential, Even If You Never Hire the Firm
Solicitor and client privilege attaches to the conversation, not to the retainer. A person who consults a lawyer for legal advice gets the protection whether or not they go on to hire that lawyer, and whether or not they were charged for the meeting.
That matters because people hold things back in a first meeting, usually the part that reflects badly on them. Hold nothing back. A lawyer who learns the bad fact at the first meeting can plan around it. A lawyer who learns it at discovery cannot. The scope of the protection is set out in the note on solicitor client privilege.
Expect Questions That Feel Intrusive
You will be asked about prior injuries, prior claims, your income, your medications, and sometimes your criminal record. None of it is idle. The other side’s lawyer will ask the same questions later under oath, and the answers shape what the claim is worth.
If the true answer is unflattering, give it anyway. Every experienced litigator has heard worse, and the file is built around the facts as they are.
What the Lawyer Will Tell You Before You Leave
You should leave the meeting knowing four things. Whether there is a claim or a defence worth running. What the deadline is, because in Atlantic Canada most civil claims carry a limitation period measured in years and a missed one ends the matter. What the next step is, and who does it. What it will cost and how the fee works.
If a meeting ends without those four, ask for them before you stand up. Deadlines are the one that cannot be recovered later, so it is the one to write down.
A Free Consultation Is Normal for Injury Work and Not for Everything
Personal injury and disability firms offer a free consultation because the work is done on contingency, so the first meeting is how the firm decides whether to take the risk. That is the arrangement described in the note on how a contingency fee works.
Areas billed by the hour often charge for the first meeting, sometimes at a reduced rate. Criminal defence is usually somewhere in between: many defence lawyers will discuss a charge briefly at no cost and then quote for the work. Ask when you book, so nobody is surprised.
Nothing Gets Signed Unless You Decide to Sign It
A first meeting creates no obligation. You can take the retainer agreement home, read it, and come back. You can see two firms and pick one. You can decide the matter is not worth pursuing and walk away owing nothing.
Any pressure to sign in the room is a reason to leave the room. The questions to ask before you sign are set out in the note on how to choose a lawyer.
If the Answer Is That You Do Not Have a Claim
That answer is worth having. It is also worth getting a second opinion on, particularly where the reason given was the value of the claim rather than the law, because a different firm may weigh the cost of proving it differently.
Where there is genuinely nothing, the lawyer should tell you what else exists: a complaint to a regulator, a tribunal, a small claims action you can run yourself. Options outside a retainer are set out in the note on free legal help.
Booking One
Consultations happen by phone, by video or in person, whichever suits. Every Atlantic province publishes its own court and limitation rules, and the New Brunswick statutes governing them are on the provincial government site.
The Moncton office books first meetings for the whole firm, and what we can do for you describes the work that follows one.