5. What About Attorney-Client Chemistry?
Would you buy a car without test driving it first? Of course not.
Then why would you hire an Internet lawyer to represent you on an ongoing basis without seeing if there’s a good fit?
The Test Drive
Your initial legal consultation (often a virtual meeting by telephone) is your first “test drive” to see if there’s a good fit. This has a lot to do with chemistry between you as a prospective client and your Internet lawyer.
If you have questions, get them answered during the initial consultation. Now if it doesn’t “feel” right to you, then look elsewhere.
Regardless, you will obtain valuable information during the consultation so it wasn’t a waste of time. If nothing else, you’ll get answers to some legal questions and understand more about yourself, your business’ legal rights, and what you’re looking for in legal representation.
Date But Don’t Propose Right Away
It’s rarely wise to ask someone to marry you on the first date. Even if the answer is “yes,” you’re making a long-term commitment without really knowing the other person.
Similarly, you’ll ideally want to hire the Internet lawyer for one or two projects to see whether there is a good fit before committing to a long-term relationship as a client.
Sometimes you simply won’t “click.” So it makes sense to cut your ties after a project or two and find someone else that meets your business’ Internet legal needs.
In other cases, you’ll quickly discover the attorney really doesn’t know Internet law but pretended to in order to get your business.
However, if you’re happy with the work done, you can consider establishing a long- term relationship where you pay for Internet legal representation on an ongoing basis by the Internet attorney. Like a good partnership, your Internet attorney will learn a lot about you over time and accordingly be better able to represent your interests…
