Advice from a lawyer

Advice? Opinion?

When you ask a lawyer for advice, are you asking the right question(s)? And, when you get the answer(s), are you understanding what is being said?

When I was in the life insurance business in Denver, sometimes a prospect would tell me that he was going to ask his lawyer whether he should buy the life insurance I was proposing.

When that happened, I told him 1) he didn't need to ask his lawyer whether he could or should buy the insurance and 2) he needed to know whether the lawyer was giving him legal advice or his personal opinion as the answer.

And then I suggested that the prospect get the lawyer's answer in writing, on the lawyer's stationery.

Whoa! Scary, huh? Why in writing? on the stationery? Because then the prospect and his family would have an accurate, written record of the lawyer's advice.

Too often the lawyer told the prospect not to buy the insurance. Since the prospect's family was going to need the money that the life insurance would provide in the event of his premature death, the family would then do without the money, if he didn't buy the insurance and then died.

The letter would put the lawyer "in the insurance business", and the family could go after the lawyer for its loss.

In my opinion, you should never ask a lawyer whether or not you should do something.

The correct question is, "What are the consequences if I do (such-and-such)?"

For example, if I drive drunk, what are the legal consequences? If I rob a bank, what are the legal consequences?

It would be the lawyer's personal opinion that you should not drive drunk or rob a bank. You don't have to pay him for his personal opinion. It's his legal advice that you want, and for which you should pay.

Legal advice that you don't pay for (from your brother-in-law or neighbor or over drinks at the backyard barbecue) that is worth exactly what you are paying for.

If you need legal advice, call a lawyer who knows well the particular area of the law about which you need help (traffic, real estate, estate planning, divorce, eldercare, probate, etc.). Make an appointment. Go into his/her office. Get advice. Expect a bill. Pay it.

You are often better off to hire an expert (and pay a higher hourly rate) than to hire a generalist, pay a lower hourly rate, get billed many more hours, and possibly not even get the right advice.

The above is the opinion of this writer, who is not an attorney. Nothing above should be construed as legal advice. If you need legal advice, seek the services of a competent attorney.