I don’t know how many law firm webpages I’ve read where the lawyers tout their absolute relentlessness. “I’ll fight for you!” “When you need a bulldog in your corner, we’re your law firm.” “Dogged representation for the toughest cases!” I certainly understand the desire to get a “bulldog” for your case, especially when you’re looking for an appellate lawyer. After all, if you’ve just lost your case and need an appeal, you inevitably feel like you were “in the right” and that the case was lost because of something else — like a lawyer who didn’t go the extra mile.
And, it’s certainly true that sometimes trial lawyers don’t go the extra mile. Trial work can be overwhelming, which means that sometimes a case doesn’t get a lawyer’s full attention, particularly when that lawyer has a lot of other clients. In handling hundreds of appeals, I’ve read hundreds of trial transcripts. Sometimes a lawyer’s lack of effort jumps off the page, so yes, it does happen.
On the other hand, you’ve no doubt heard the expression “don’t throw good money after bad.” Yes, you want an attorney who will go to the mat for you and who will leave no stone unturned. I absolutely pride myself on that level of effort. Nonetheless, sometimes a case just does not have merit — or, the chances of success are just terribly low. At that point, an attorney’s tenacity on your behalf can actually start to work against you, because he is “fighting” for you (which means he’s billing you) for work that won’t likely get a good result.
At our firm, we pride ourselves on giving the clients an honest assessment of their case. If the chances of success don’t justify the full appeal, then we might recommend that you drop it and save your money. For example, in a recent criminal case where we had estimated the total life-of-case costs as between $15,000 and $20,000, we reached that point after about $5,000 has been expended. At that point, I had reviewed the transcript and court file, done research on possible topics, and come up with a list of issues. The evaluation required that first $5,000 in fees and costs, but after it came up largely empty, the client did not waste more money on a lost cause. I refunded the rest of his initial retainer, and we dropped the appeal. In the end, he at least had the peace of mind that nothing could be done for him.