Free consultations and case evaluations

A free consultation is a no-cost, no-obligation meeting — usually 30 to 60 minutes — where an attorney evaluates your situation and you evaluate the attorney. In contingency practices such as car accidents and personal injury, free consultations are essentially universal; in hourly practices such as contested divorce, many firms charge $50–$300 for the first meeting. Used well, a consultation is the single highest-leverage hour in your whole case: it is where you learn what your matter is worth, what it will cost, and whether this is the right lawyer — all before any money changes hands. This guide covers what the meeting includes, why some practices charge, what to bring, the questions that matter, and the red flags.

What a free consultation actually includes

The standard free consultation has three parts. Firstly, fact gathering: the attorney walks through what happened, reviews the documents you brought, and asks the questions that determine liability and value. Secondly, a preliminary assessment: whether you appear to have a claim, its rough strengths and weaknesses, the deadline that applies — see our statute of limitations guide — and a candid range of outcomes. Finally, the business conversation: the fee model, the percentage or rate, and the engagement terms. What it does not include is legal work: no letters are sent, no filings made, no strategy executed. Think of it as a diagnosis without treatment — and like a diagnosis, it is protected: confidentiality attaches to prospective clients even if you never hire the firm.

Why injury consultations are free — and family consultations often are not

The difference is the business model, not generosity. A contingency firm earns nothing unless it wins, so screening cases for free is its intake process — the consultation is where the firm decides whether your case is worth its investment, which is also why being declined by a contingency firm is useful information about your claim. An hourly firm sells time itself; a thorough first meeting in a contested divorce or business dispute is real work product, and many such firms charge a consult fee of $50–$300 — some credit it against the retainer if you hire them, which is worth asking. The pattern maps cleanly onto this site: our contingency case pages advertise free case evaluations, while our hourly and flat-fee pages say "most firms" — because in those practices, free is common but not promised.

What to bring: the document checklist

An attorney can only evaluate what you show them, and a documented case gets a sharper answer than a narrated one. Bring everything in one folder:

• The core record — police or incident report, crash photos, the contract, the denial letter: whatever document defines your matter.
• Medical records and bills for injury claims, plus a list of providers you have seen.
• Insurance information — your policies, the other side's carrier if known, and every letter or email exchanged so far.
• Financial proof — pay stubs and employer letters if lost wages are part of the claim.
• A one-page written timeline — dates, names, and events in order. This single page saves fifteen minutes of the hour.
• Your questions, written down — the list below, plus anything specific to your situation.

Bring copies, not originals, and expect the firm to keep the copies if you engage them.

The questions that matter

You are interviewing them as much as they are screening you. Six questions cover what matters. Firstly, how many cases like mine have you handled, and what were the ranges of outcomes? Secondly, who will actually work my file — you, an associate, or a paralegal — and who do I call with questions? Thirdly, what is your fee structure exactly: the percentage and its stage tiers, or the rate and retainer? Fourthly, what case costs do you anticipate, and who bears them if we lose? Fifthly, what is the realistic timeline, and what are the decision points along the way? Finally, what do you see as the weakest part of my case? The last question is the revealing one — a lawyer who answers it thoughtfully is analyzing, and a lawyer who waves it away is selling.

Red flags in the first meeting

Most attorneys run honest consultations; a few patterns should end one early. Guaranteed outcomes — "your case is worth at least $200,000" in the first hour — violate the ethics rules that prohibit promising results. Pressure to sign now — expiring offers, documents pushed across the table before your questions are answered — inverts the purpose of the meeting. Fee vagueness — any reluctance to put the percentage, the tiers, or the cost treatment in writing — predicts billing disputes later; the fee agreement guide lists every term that should be written. And hand-off opacity — the impressive senior partner who will never touch your file after signing — is worth surfacing with one direct question about staffing. Comparing two or three consultations makes each of these easy to spot, which is itself the best reason to take more than one.

After the consultation: comparing and deciding

Take notes immediately after each meeting, while the impressions are fresh: the assessment given, the fee quoted, the person you would actually work with, and your own confidence level. Compare at least two firms on four axes — case assessment, fee terms, communication, and specialization — and weigh them against the local market rates for your case type, which our state and city pages — for example car accident fees in San Francisco — publish for every active practice area. Then decide on evidence rather than charm. The firm you choose gets the signed agreement; the consultation notes you kept become your baseline for holding the engagement to what was promised in the room.