When you pay an attorney, you are paying for their knowledge, skill, and experience. How does an attorney charge for these intangible services? Almost invariably by charging for their time. So when it comes to working with your attorney, efficiency is your friend. Here are five simple things you can do to save your attorney time, and keep more cash in your pocket:

Consolidate:

There is a lot going on in your life, and much of it is emotionally difficult. Sometimes, you’ll want answers immediately. You can send an email every day, and most likely get a response on all of them. But if you can wait and ask all your questions at once, chances are your attorney will be more efficient in answering them, which will save you money.

Use the Paralegal:

Have a question about which legal option to take? Send it to your attorney. Have a question about when your court date is and what will happen there? Send it to your paralegal. Paralegals can’t give legal advice, but they are a wealth of information when it comes to the confusing procedures and the status of your case. In most firms, their rate is also quite a bit lower than the attorney rates, so when you have a question they can answer, it’s best to try them before asking your attorney.

Thems the Facts:

Attorneys know the law; they don’t know what happened to you last Friday until you tell them. Your attorney can only apply the law to your situation if you provide them the facts of your specific situation. How do they get these facts? By talking with you and by reviewing your documents. One of the most time-consuming things for attorneys and paralegals is reviewing documents that are out of context, incomplete, unreadable, or difficult to gather. How can you help reduce the time it takes them?

In a paperless firm like Gant Law, send your documents electronically whenever you can. Most of your documents are going to start electronic anyway (like bank statements you get through your bank’s website), so there is no need to print them and drop them off only to have us scan and shred them. Just save the electronic files then email or send them through the secure client portal.

In that same vein, it’s easier for your attorney and paralegal if you send separate documents as separate files. If you have 10 documents and you scan them all into one file, the paralegal will need to split them up, and that takes time. Similarly, if you can label your documents so it’s easy to tell what’s what, then there’s less renaming your paralegal will need to do.

Let Go of the Small Things:

Nothing in your case is “small,” per se. This is your life, your family, your livelihood. But some things in your case are not worth trying to control. A good attorney will help you highlight these things—the hills you should not die on. Take a breath, and some time, to truly consider your attorney’s advice. Focus on your future, not your past. If you can let go of the things you can’t control, you will save yourself both emotional pain and money.

Choose an Efficient Team:

Is your attorney still drafting letters when an email could do? Printing letters and signing them by hand? Dictating them to their paralegals? If so, you might be in an outdated office. These things take unnecessary time, and attorneys have little incentive (though their morals should be incentive enough) to streamline these processes when they charge by the hour.

Contact Gant Law today to learn how we innovate, automate, and update in order to save our clients on costs.