Advice Attorney in Los Angeles, California

Advice to Clients: What is one piece of advice that your repeatedly give to clients?

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You have to be honest with me or I can’t represent you. So if a client says to me, “Well, you know, it really happened this way, but why can’t we say it this way,” I say, “We can’t. I’m sorry.” There’s no amount of money or goodwill or anything else like that that could make up for that.

The second thing I tell a client is that they have to realize litigation is a process. Sometimes shows like LA Law are very bad because you watch LA Law for an hour. The client comes in. There’s no check being exchanged or anything else like that. The client is taken to court the first day. An articulate argument is made. Decision is made on the spot. And after the commercials are over, the show is over, something like that. So I mean I’m being half joking when I say that, but certainly that it’s a process and please understand and bear with me.

And I try to give them a prognosis. I really prefer not giving a numerical prognosis. I mean I don’t know whether a case is 72 percent winnable or 93 percent or something like that. I just don’t. But I do know you have a good chance; you have a reasonable chance; you have a fair chance. You never have no chance, but it’s gonna be difficult, given what’s out there. Those kinds of things you want to say to the client. I think that’s part of being honest – you know, you’re honest; the client’s honest. You get off on a better footing.

Los Angeles, CA business attorney Donald S. Burris says the advice he wants all his clients to know.

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