People often hire an attorney when they are faced with a lawsuit. I can’t count the number of times I have received the phone call where the stressed out person on the other end of the phone is saying, “Help. I got served with papers and I don’t know what to do.” Let’s be clear people, if you are already being served with court papers, you waited too long to call an attorney, and your lawyer is going to have to do some racing around to catch up. Could this situation be costly? Most likely. Could this have been avoided? Almost certainly.

As my fellow associate, Rosalind Kabrhel, stated in an article published in our last newsletter, the role of the attorney is to act as a counselor to individuals who are not trained in the practice of the law. It costs less in terms of money, time, and personal stress to meet with an attorney before you sign a contract, negotiate a deal, sell a company, or draft a will, than it does to deal with a lawsuit. An attorney can advise you as to whether you are making choices that are in your best interests, and can assist you in fully understanding documents you have been asked to sign. So, don’t wait until you are faced with a court date to hire an attorney. Like in medicine, preventative care is less costly than a visit to the emergency room.