http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com General Legal Issues by Anthony Reeves, Esq. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:14:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com General Legal Issues by Anthony Reeves, Esq. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:14:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com General Legal Issues by Anthony Reeves, Esq. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:14:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/general-legal-topics-and-discussions/dont-kill-your-case http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/general-legal-topics-and-discussions/dont-kill-your-case#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:56:48 +0000 Anthony Reeves http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/?p=192 1) Talking to witnesses on your own. Depending on the situation, you really should let your attorneys talk to potential witnesses.   Why? One, attorneys tend to fully document the context of the conversation.  Two, attorneys tend to have specific, well crafted questions that they ask which will give them an idea of whether the witness's information is helpful or harmful.  Three, what you tell your witnesses may eventually come back to bite you in court.    You don't know how someone will convey what you said to them. 2) Sending in your own evidence.  So you found something that you think is useful, that's great.  Make sure you let your attorney see it first.  Most attorneys are aware of discovery requirements but if you decide to give the other side some information that you didn't necessarily have to give and it's damming to you..........do I need to go further?? 3) Taking steps without consulting your attorney. If you are going to do what you want to do, then you probably don't need an attorney.  Most attorneys work to carefully lay out a plan of attack to deal with any issues or problems that may arise and if you decide that you are going to do things that undermine that, the attorney can't help you. 4) Responding to the court or the other side on your own. If you get documents from the court or the other side, unless you don't have an attorney, please be careful not to respond.  So much time, we think that if respond to someone right away, it will help our case. 5) following the advice of someone who is NOT your attorney. I had a friend of mine who is an attorney tell me that she has to tell her client's all the time "I didn't know they gave out law degrees at the gas station?".   The reason she says this is because so many times, her clients will come to her FIRED up because someone who is NOT an attorney will tell her client something and then come to her HOT!  Becareful about following the road of some person who THINKS they know what's going on when in reality, they don't. Like I said, the legal process is a BEAST but don't add to the problem by giving the BEAST food to eat.  The process is tough but it can be tougher if you do things to make it worse.]]> http://legalbeat.anthonyreeves.com/general-legal-topics-and-discussions/dont-kill-your-case/feed 0