Want to Frighten Your Attorney?
Don’t tell your lawyer the whole story.
One of the things that is frustrating about lawyers is that, when you ask us a question, even after you give us what you think are all the facts, we say “it depends,” and then we start asking more questions about facts that, from your perspective, seem meaningless.
Lawyers do this to avoid the fright of not knowing all the facts or even scarier, being told inaccurate facts, whether intentionally or just accidentally.
This is frightening to us because – well – we need to know the “whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Remember, we tell the court and other lawyers the facts that you have told us. If we are wrong, we may have made a misrepresentation to the court and/or to opposing counsel, undermining our credibility as your advocate, and possibly even breaching our ethical obligations.
Plus – we need all the facts, even ones you may consider meaningless or irrelevant, so we can advise you. Without all the facts, or with “facts” that aren’t quite right, you handicap us because change the facts, even just a little bit, and our advice is likely to change.