When it comes time to meet with an attorney, people have certain expectations. One of those expectations is that the attorney will provide a free consultation to discuss your case. Many law firms offer a free consultation, typically limited to a phone call or a certain period of time for an in-office meeting.This firm does not have that practice, and we wanted to explain why we charge a consultation fee for prospective new clients. 

1. Our clients are our first priority.

We have a full roster of clients who are paying us to handle their legal matters. Every hour during the day is spent researching the best way to help our clients reach their agendas. When we stop what we are doing to take time to interview prospective new clients or people who are interviewing attorneys, we have less time to focus on our current clients' cases. As a result, it is only fair to charge new clients for our time to discuss what their case is about because the time that we spend with a new person who is not a client would have been spent helping someone else, and that someone else already pays for our time. The clients of this firm are our primary priority, and as a result we have to focus our time and resources to ensure our clients receive the majority of our attention. While we want to help as many people as possible, the clients come first.

2. Free consultations are usually sales pitches

The "free consultation" offered by some law firms is almost always going to be an opportunity for the attorney to sell the services of the law firm. It is highly unlikely that you will discuss the specifics of your case or what you actually want to accomplish during a "free consultation" because the law firm is trying to get your business. People are attracted to free and low cost services, so the free consultation is an opportunity for the attorney and law firm to market their services and convince you to hire that firm instead of the one down the street. There is a lot of competition among law firms, particularly in Houston and other major metropolitan areas in Texas, so everyone wants to differentiate their firm from the next one. This is not the philosophy that we hold. Our initial consultations are intended to truly address your issues, discuss the facts of your case, and meet you in person (if possible) to ensure that we will have a good working relationship because most legal matters require several months to a year to resolve. Hiring an attorney is an important process that we do not take lightly. We are not trying to sell our services to you during our initial consultation. We are here to meet you where you are and figure out if retaining our firm would be a good fit for what you need.

If you are looking for a free consultation, we are not the law firm for you. Nothing of value is free. We have decades of legal experience that we want to share to accomplish the best outcome possible for you. If you are serious about finding the right representation, give us a call at (713) 574-8626 to schedule your initial consultation appointment.