By Keith Moxon, Van Ness Feldman LLP
In addition to offering expertise and experience, your lawyer should be committed to a professional relationship, built on trust and a personal commitment to your immediate and long-term goals.
Many lawyers can sort through legal and factual complexities to help you make sound strategic decisions. The greatest value, however, comes from the lawyer who combines this skill with the respect and confidence necessary to deliver unvarnished counsel, even if you might disagree.
The law – especially in our areas of practice – is rarely black and white. A client’s options are seldom starkly defined. The best lawyers help their clients weigh risks and benefits, offering clear options and candid recommendations.
While clients always have the final say, success most often results from a true partnership – working together to achieve your goals.
Your lawyer should be a person of reason; one who embodies the rarest balance between confidence and caution, aggressiveness and pragmatism, creativity and rationality.
Your lawyer should have the self-assurance needed to win, and the humility needed to avoid fighting the wrong battle for the wrong reasons.
Your lawyer should demonstrate responsiveness, personal accountability and selfless dedication to your interests.
These are the tenets on which I base my practice of law for each and every client I have the privilege to serve.