Our first meeting

At our first meeting we aim to:

• Discuss the main factual circumstances with you.
• Gain an understanding of your goals and expectations.
• Discuss possible options and consequences of each.
• Identify as best we can the legal issues or problems represented by the discussion of the facts with you.
• Together with you, formulate a possible strategy or a course of action to achieve your goals (which may change over time as more information comes to light).
• Identify the first step and the legal work involved in answering your questions.
• If there are documents we need to look at before we scope the legal work involved, identify what they are.
• Outline to you the steps involved and a rough time schedule for the different steps.

Your first half an hour with us is free and with no obligation, and together, we can achieve a lot in just 30 minutes. Retaining us as your business lawyer involves five steps:

1. Make an appointment
2. Choose your venue
3. Prepare for the meeting
4. Attend the meeting
5. Receive our cost estimate and give us the go-ahead

1. Making an appointment

To make your initial appointment with us please telephone or e-mail ‐ remember, the first half an hour is free with no obligation. When you make a booking it is helpful to give us a brief summary of your situation. (Some examples are shown on the right.) That helps us to more quickly assess your matter.

2. Choosing your venue

We can meet you at our premises or we can link up with you by telephone or by Skype. For more information on accessing our Skype services please e-mail your request and contact details to info@businesslawyers.com.au

3. Preparing for the meeting

Before your initial consultation with us, identify the key goals you wish us to help you achieve. Prepare questions you wish to ask of us. Please bring along papers which you think may explain the situation. If you are coming to see us about a business dispute, please write down the major points of your case before you come to the first meeting. Those notes will assist you to explain the factual circumstances to us.

4. At the meeting

Even before you retain us as your business lawyers we undertake to keep your discussions with us confidential. So that we can work most effectively for you, it is very important that you be completely frank and open and keep us fully aware of the circumstances of your case, even things you think are not in your favour. We can then factor that into the options we present to you from the start rather than reacting to surprises later on. Your first meeting with us is a chance for you to get to know our approach and to be sure you are comfortable working with us.

5. After the meeting

Shortly after we meet, your business lawyer will scope the legal work involved and send you our Cost Estimate for the legal work, including our proposed written retainer agreement with you. Sometimes before scoping the work involved we wish to see certain key documents for instance, a contract, or receive from you other key information identified through our initial discussions. Generally, we ask for a deposit into our Solicitor's Trust Account before we start the work, to cover upfront expenses (such as building inspection reports) as well as our professional fees for the initial work involved. According to the Legal Profession Regulation (NSW) 2005, we can't withdraw the money from our Solicitor's Trust Account until the work has been completed and billed to your satisfaction.