The Expert Podcast

Do you ever wonder why it's so hard to get an attorney to call you back or take your case? Well, here's a good example. This is an advertisement we saw for an attorney service. It's a company trying to sell leads to attorneys, and their pitch, their headline, is: "Escape the courtroom. Never work a heartbreaking case again." They're talking about selling leads for trust clients—if you want to prepare or create a trust for a client, this is a way to get leads for that. But the takeaway here is "escape the courtroom."

Look, it may be counterintuitive, but most attorneys don't want to go to the courtroom—and for good reason. The court is a last resort. You do not necessarily want to go to court, even as a plaintiff, certainly not as a defendant, and even as an attorney. If you've gotten to that point, it means all the other tools available to you have failed. It's very difficult because when you go to court, you're rolling the dice. There is no guarantee of what the outcome is going to be, even if you're 100% right. You may still lose your case.

And you see the other big word in this ad: heartbreaking. Attorneys don’t like to lose cases either. They know that even if they go to court having done everything right, with proper evidence, and their client was correct, they could still lose the case. The reason why is because court is a wild card. You never know what’s going to happen—whether it’s a judge or a jury—and that’s assuming your client is prepared.

So, if you are a client trying to get an attorney to take your case, one of the things you want to do—and we’ve talked about these before—is to communicate to them that you’re trying to avoid court. If you are adamant, saying things like, “I want my day in court,” or “I want to win this case,” attorneys might back away from that inquiry. It’s not because they’re bad attorneys or lazy—it’s because court is the worst way to resolve a case.

The best way is through mediation. (You can see the link below for mediation.) The second-best way is some type of arbitration or settlement agreement. Attorneys are very good at the strategic part of resolving cases. They can help set you up for success. But you, as a client, have to be prepared. Just having your day in court for the sake of putting your information out there may feel good, but it may cost you a lot of money.

Even clients who win a case as plaintiffs often end up with tens of thousands—or even six figures—in legal fees, which you don’t always get back. Sometimes, you even have trouble collecting your judgment. Many times, there are counterclaims that go against you, eroding part of your case.

So, if you’re trying to get an attorney to take your case, don’t be that person who is adamant about going to court. It’s not the best way to resolve a case. And if the attorney sees that you’re hell-bent on going to court, they might not want to take the case because it’s not really in the best interest of the client—or the attorney.