Consultation FAQs

Consultations are by appointment only.  We may schedule your consultation during the initial conference.  Alternatively, you may call or text us at (301) 251-3752 to schedule an appointment.  Appointments are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Prior to your appointment, you may send us any documents you would like us to review in advance attorney (please provide at least one business day in advance).  We provide you with an initial assessment of whether you have a “case,” your options, and answer any other questions.  When appropriate, we reserve the right to perform legal research to answer particularly challenging questions, but we will not separately charge you for that.  Also, we may refer you to an attorney in a different practice area or geographic location.

You must provide your full name and contact information, the full name of the opposing party (if the matter is a dispute or potential dispute) and a brief description of the matter.  You must provide us with all requested information in order to schedule a consultation. Note any receptionist or support staff that schedules the consultation is not an attorney and therefore cannot give legal advice.

Yes. The information that you provide during the consultation will be kept completely confidential.

Legal ethics rules may prohibit us from speaking with anyone regarding a legal matter where we may have a conflict of interest.  Prior to your scheduled initial consultation, we will review your information to determine whether there is a potential conflict of interest, and if so, refer you to another attorney or local bar association for a referral.

Conflicts of interest typically occur when one of the parties is already a client of the firm or as otherwise provided the firm with certain information where the Rules of Professional Conduct create a conflict.

Prior to your scheduled initial consultation, we will review your information to determine whether there is a potential conflict of interest, and if so, refer you to another attorney. In such cases, we will cancel your consultation appointment and refund your consultation fee.  Please note that in order to maintain client confidentiality, we cannot provide any specific information about any potential conflict of interest.

Your consultation will be with an attorney.

To make the most of your consultation, please try to keep your questions and descriptions as brief as possible. During the consultation, we ask that you be reasonably free of distractions and that you be available to talk when we call or meet. Please try to be in a location where you have reliable cell phone reception. If the consultation cannot be completed due to poor cell phone reception, interruptions or other reasons, the call may have to be terminated and it may not be rescheduled or the fee refunded.

Before taking on new clients, we require the initial consultation. If, at the conclusion of your initial consultation, we believe we can assist you, we will outline what we believe the next logical steps are, and provide you with hourly rates and a proposed retainer amount. If you decide to retain us to represent you, we will send you a letter of representation, which is our contract with you that says what we will do and how much it will cost. We will not perform substantive work on a matter without receipt of the signed retainer agreement.

Maybe.  But we cannot guarantee any potential outcome, and we certainly do not know what the opposing party (typically an employer) might have to say in response to your allegations.  Our consultations will provide you with reasonable specific yet still generally broad information about your issues, your legal prospects, and we will – to the extent reasonably possible – seek to outline various potential outcomes and strategies.

Yes.  We provide assistance to employees who are having trouble navigating complicated career issues.  Oftentimes, those issues do not present legal issues.  However, we can assess the situation and assist you with how to best address a difficult workplace, even if the boss has not broken any laws. 

If, during the consultation, an attorney determines that we cannot assist you further, we will explain why that is the case, and try to provide you with a referral to another attorney.  In some cases, we may not have an appropriate referral, and we will provide you with suggestions for finding a qualified attorney in your area.  For some matters, it may not be cost-effective to hire an attorney at all, and when we believe that is the case, we will so advise you, and try to provide you with other suggestions.

We handle all employment related litigation, except we do not handle federal employee claims, worker compensation matters, and our representation of employees with respect to employee benefit matters is exceedingly limited.

If your matter requires additional attorney time, you will need to formally retain us.

If you call at least 24 hours in advance to reschedule your consultation, we will be happy to reschedule your consultation at no charge. No-call, no-shows for consultation appointments will not be provided a refund, as the attorney’s time was reserved for the appointment.