The law is NOT like math and being a lawyer is NOT like being a math teacher. In math, there is always a right answer - if only you can solve the problem. The law simply does not work that way. We analyze your individual situation to understand it. Then we apply general rules (the law) to your situation. If your situation fits those general rules, great. More often than not, however, your situation does not fit the general rules. Then we look at earlier cases decided by Courts (all those books that lawyers used to have in their offices - the information is now on-line) to see if someone else had a similar situation. If one Court has decided how to apply the law to your situation, then another Court is very likely (but not guaranteed) to do the same thing.
2. Why Would Courts Make Different Decisions About the Same Situation?
Even if your situation has been considered by another Court, the result in your case could still be different. Here are just some of the reasons why. First, the law may have changed. New laws are passed every day. The bankruptcy laws were rewritten for consumers in 2005. But it is also possible that the law has simply evolved over time. Rules involving horses and carriages make no sense when applied to cars. Second, Judges are supposed to use their common sense when deciding issues. Each Judge has her or her own experiences and perspective and reasonable people can disagree about what is appropriate in a specific situation so results can differ from one judge to another. Also, Judges sometimes just have a bad day and make a bad decision. Third, Judges may have a principled disagreement about what the law says or how it should be applied. The appeals process is supposed to take care of these types of disagreements, but appeals take a lot of time and are very expensive. The new bankruptcy laws were passed only in 2005. It will take many years before appeals courts have sorted out even the most simple issues. Fourth, many issues are decided based on what someone thought or intended. Questions like - did you forget to include something in your papers or were you trying to hide it - are very common. Judges cannot read your mind. Instead, they look at your actions and words to try to figure it out. Whether or not a judge believes you will make a big difference in the outcome of your case, so how you present yourself often influences the result. Fifth, the events may be the same, but the circumstances may be different. Running a stop sign may be a good thing to do if you have a medical emergency, but not if you are on the way home from an evening with your drinking buddies.
3. Another Lawyer Is Willing to Give Me a Guaranty
Guarantees about the results in any specific case are prohibited by the California Rules of Professional Conduct. If a lawyer tells you that something is guaranteed or a sure thing, you should think about finding another lawyer. Remember, every legal dispute has at least two people who are willing to spend money on a lawyer because they believe that they are right. The more right they think they are, the more money they are willing to spend. One of them ALWAYS wins and one ALWAYS loses.
4. So Why Do I Need a Lawyer
While we cannot give you a guarantee, we can guide you in the direction which is most likely to give you a good result. In other words, we can improve your chances of success.
5. How Do We Guide You?
There are two general types of lawyers. The first type will listen to your situation and tell you what, in his or her best opinion, is the correct thing to do. That lawyer may answer a few questions, but ultimately if you decide not to take his or her advice, the lawyer will become upset that you have not taken their advice. For the reasons I described above, sometimes you will win and other times you will lose. If you win, then the lawyer who told you what to do is terrific. If you lose, then the lawyer who told you what to do is terrible. If you need someone to tell you what to do, this is the right kind of lawyer for you.
We are in a second group of lawyers and we have a different philosophy. We help you understand your situation and educate you about your options so that you can make the decisions which are right for you. Then we carry out your decision to the best of our ability. YOU control your case and YOU make the critical decisions. Allowing you to control your case is very important because what your lawyer thinks is right, may not be right for you. Here is an example which happens from time to time. A new client will tell us that he has a house and a car. When we analyze the entire financial situation, we realize that the law will permit the client to keep the house or the car, but not both. The right answer for you may not be the right answer for the lawyer. Most clients choose to keep the house, but some choose to keep the car.
6. We Empower You by Giving You Information
We cannot send you to law school, but we can use our knowledge and experience to tell you the laws and rules that apply to each specific issue in your case. We will give you options, describe how the Court is likely to react, and explain the possible outcomes. We want you to understand, so questions are encouraged. This takes time and it requires you to be actively involved in your case, but this is YOUR case. As time goes on, the situation can change and new options can appear. When that happens, we will call you to discuss those options.
7. Once You Make a Decision, We Follow Your Instructions
While there are boundaries, your lawyer is supposed to follow your instructions. We do not have to like the instructions and we do not have to agree with the instructions, but we do have to follow them. We have only three options: (1) we can try to persuade you to change your instruction, (2) we can ask you to give us your instructions in writing so that the instructions are clear, or (3) we can withdraw as your lawyer. That is it - that is all we can do. There is no reason for us to withdraw unless: your instructions will violate the law; your instructions are likely to damage our professional reputation and harm our ability to represent other clients; or you do not meet your responsibilities as a client. Usually this means that you do not pay for the work we have done.
When we follow your instructions, we do so to the best of our ability. We tell the Court what you want, why you want it, and why the law says you should get it. That does not mean you always win because someone else will tell the Court what they want, why they want it and why the law says they should get what they want. It is up to the Judge to decide who wins and who loses.
8. Coming to Court
For most meetings, you are NOT REQUIRED to attend (we will let you know when your attendance is required). But we hope that you will want to come with us to see what the other side is saying, how the Judge is reacting, and what decisions the Judge make. This is an important part of your staying involved with your case.
9. About Legal Fees
Some lawyers sell results. These people are called contingency fee lawyers. They get paid only if you win by sharing in the results. There are some important things to know about contingency fee lawyers. First, they only take cases where winning means that you will collect money from someone who clearly has the ability to pay - like an insurance company or a large corporation. Second, to improve their odds of being paid, they carefully screen their cases and take only the cases which they believe are likely to be successful. Third, since their fees are also at risk, they usually want more control over the case. Finally, they OVERCHARGE for the cases they win to help pay for the cases they lose. Contingency fee lawyers sometimes want a third, 40% or even half of what you might win. Contingency fees do not work in bankruptcy cases because winning does not mean that you collect money, and there is no one who clearly has the ability to pay if you do win. We want to help the most vulnerable people - so we do not screen our cases for those only likely to be successful. Contingency fee arrangements are not comfortable for us because we do not want to control your case and because we do not want to overcharge you to make up for another case.
Instead of gambling on results, we sell our time. We charge you for the time that we work on your case. This is a little bit like your cell phone bill. The details of how we do this are spelled out in the contract we have with you - called a Retainer Agreement. You should read the Retainer Agreement carefully since it summarizes the facts of your case, confirms what you want us to do, and describes how the process of measuring time is used to figure out your bill.
10. Keep Your Legal Fees Down - Using Lawyers Wisely
Spend our time and your money wisely. Here are some simple ways to keep your bills at a minimum.
(1) Be prepared. Do a little background reading about bankruptcy on the internet or buy an inexpensive self-help book. Make sure the information you give to us is as complete as possible. Write down you questions in advance and make sure they are clear. (2) Take notes so you do not ask the same questions twice. (3) Remember who we are. We are lawyers, not doctors or stockbrokers. (4) Be efficient, but be complete. Do not leave things out just because you may think they are not important. (5) Answer questions completely and directly. Remember that we are there to help you so there is no reason to hide anything. Having a surprise pop up in the middle of your case makes the judge question your honesty which is not a good thing. (6) Read your bill. Billing is a complicated process and we do make mistakes. Please read your bill and call us right away with any questions or concerns. We do not charge you for calls about your bill.
Like everyone else, lawyer enjoy a good joke or story because they help keep stress levels down. We do not charge for joke time - unless you want to use us to try out your latest comedy routine.
CONCLUSION
This is long, but we think it has important information. What do you think? Please let us know if this was important and helpful, a waste of your time, well written, or should be changed.
Sincerely,
THE LAW OFFICES OF DAVID A. TILEM 206 North Jackson Street Glendale, California 91206 Telephone: 818-507-6000 Facsimile: 818-507-6800
