A client injures himself at your place of business and files a claim. You fire an employee and find yourself faced with a wrongful termination lawsuit. Or, your company has grown and you need to obtain legal representation to negotiate the ins and outs of a public stock offering. You know you need a lawyer, but how do you find one who is competent and a good match for your business and yourself?
State Bar Offers Service
The State Bar of Nevada offers a free, non-profit Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) to help businesses and individuals with legal questions in the state of Nevada. Each year, LRIS Coordinator Ileana Valdes and the four members of her staff handle more than 35,000 calls from Nevadans. They assist in a number of different legal situations, providing referrals to more than 300 lawyers who participate in the service. All are trained paralegals, and two staff members are bilingual in English and Spanish. Approximately 15 percent to 20 percent of the referrals they make are for the business community.
Although state law prohibits attorneys from claiming to be experts or specialists in a particular area of law, the referral service allows lawyers to sign up for as many as five panels in more than 80 categories. LRIS staff prefer to make referrals on an individual basis unless the caller is from out-of-state, in which case they will provide up to three names. This is because participating lawyers are used on a rotating basis. Once a referral is made, that lawyer goes to the bottom of the list regardless of whether the caller makes contact with the lawyer or retains him or her for a case.
Many times, people calling the referral service are unsure whether they need an attorney. LRIS staff is trained to determine if a situation is a legal matter that needs to be referred. While all communications between a caller and LRIS staff are protected under attorney-client privilege, LRIS staff are not allowed to give legal advice. “Eighty five percent of the people calling in just need a starting point. They don’t know if they need an attorney, they don’t know if they have a case or if they have an issue,” said Valdes. “After talking to us, we can refer them to an attorney…or we can refer them to a public agency. That’s what the ‘I’ stands for — information services. We’re linked to community services throughout the state. Sometimes people don’t need an attorney; they need to file a complaint or a form, and they can go through a service.”
In addition, Valdes said some business contracts stipulate that a dispute must be taken to an arbitrator or mediator. At present, the referral service is not set up to make referrals for arbitrators, though Valdes says this is an area LRIS is investigating. If people call looking for an arbitrator, LRIS staff will tell them they do not have attorneys listed specifically as arbitrators. “We will refer them to an attorney who handles issues as closely as possible to what they need, and maybe that attorney is a mediator or arbitrator or knows someone who can assist them,” Valdes said.
Once LRIS staff determines that a referral is warranted, they will make sure the caller is referred to an appropriate attorney. For instance, if a company has an employment dispute, LRIS staff will find out if the company is incorporated in the state of Nevada or if its employment policies are determined by a head office in another state. Staff will then attempt to match the company with an attorney familiar with the laws of that state, if that is necessary for the claim. If a company is planning to incorporate in Nevada, LRIS staff will ask where it is planning to do business and if its board of directors will be located in Nevada or in another state. Again, LRIS staff will attempt to match the company with an attorney in the geographical location where the business is to be based or with an attorney familiar with incorporation laws in Nevada and other states. The referral service includes attorneys located in Nevada’s rural areas as well as several who will travel there, if necessary.
Contacting an Attorney
After a referral is made, it is up to the caller to make contact with the attorney and set up an initial consultation. Participating attorneys have agreed to charge no more than $45.00 for the initial consultation. All subsequent fees are negotiated by the attorney and the client and are not regulated by the referral service.
Like choosing a doctor, finding an attorney to represent you and your business is a matter of compatibility. The initial consultation is an important part of knowing whether the attorney is familiar with your type of case, and is also someone with whom you are comfortable.
According to M. Nelson Segel, a Las Vegas-based attorney, trust is an important factor in a legal proceeding. In order to accurately present the case, attorneys need to know clients are telling them the truth. In addition, clients need to know that attorneys understand their case. Segel advises clients to pay attention to whether their attorneys are answering questions in easily understood terms, and if the aspects of the case are discussed clearly so they know what is happening each step of the way. Tom Susich, a Carson City attorney with the firm of Crowell, Susich, Owen and Tackes, said people should also ask questions about the attorney’s experience and the number of similar cases he or she has handled — hesitancy to answer questions about experience or fees may be a red flag.
While information discussed during the initial consultation is considered privileged, there are a few instances in which this is not the case. According to Susich, attorneys are required to notify authorities if clients indicate their intention to harm another individual, or if they divulge information about abuse to a minor. Segel adds that in some cases a third party’s presence in the room negates attorney-client privilege.
Segel said people know a lot more about the law than they think they do, but they should also be aware that a lawyer’s training is basically to know how to find answers to questions. “People may be scared if they ask an attorney a specific question and the attorney doesn’t have the answer. They’re going to think, ‘How can this attorney know what he or she is doing if he or she couldn’t answer my question?’ The way I explain it to people is that attorneys are not expected to know everything about everything. However, we’re taught to understand what the issues are and to find the answers,” he said, adding that the more complicated the question is, the more difficult it is to answer it. “Every time a fact changes, the case changes.”
Although both Segel and Susich said it is virtually impossible to gauge how much time a case is going to take, clients should discuss fees during the initial consultation and find out if the case is to be handled under a retainer agreement or if it will be billed hourly. Susich recommends asking for a “best guess” estimate on the number of hours the case will require.
Both attorneys said there are several resources for obtaining information about a lawyer’s credentials. In addition to the Nevada State Bar Association’s referral service, both Segel and Susich recommend MartindaleHubble.com, which lists and rates attorneys throughout the country. Susich said that finding out what field attorneys’ undergraduate degrees cover, or if they have additional advanced degrees, may give an indication of their areas of emphasis. For example, if an attorney has an undergraduate degree in business, or an MBA or a Masters of Law degree, you could assume that person’s expertise focuses on business.
Both attorneys interviewed agreed that getting a referral to an attorney is one of the best ways of finding someone who matches your needs. It could be the start of a relationship with long-term benefits both for the attorney and for your company.
The State Bar of Nevada’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service is available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Call toll free in the state of Nevada: 1-800-789-5747
Out-of-state: 702-382-0504