A consultation is a crucial step involving an initial meeting between you and a civil litigation lawyer to understand and address your legal needs.

This session, scheduled for 60 to 90 minutes, ensures a detailed discussion of your legal matter. It provides you with a comprehensive explanation of your current legal position (standing), the legal options available pertaining to your unique circumstances, the potential strength of your case (e.g., whether it is 10% strong or 90% strong), as well as any potential risks and pitfalls relevant to your situation. Additionally, it covers the civil litigation steps that might be necessary to take going forward, should the matter proceed to formal litigation.

An initial informed and comprehensive step (or, in some instances, a second opinion) is the most critical aspect of any civil litigation engagement. Similar to how a doctor evaluates a patient’s health-related concerns by understanding symptoms, and prior health history, and possibly ordering medical tests, a lawyer evaluates a client’s legal case to determine the essential steps required to resolve the issues. This evaluation forms an integral part of the civil litigation process.

Statistics show that about 90% of legal matters could have been resolved if prospective clients had initially hired a lawyer to go over the potential risks and scenarios. Many litigious issues could have been avoided if clients had received qualified legal advice before engaging in legal matters. Thus, obtaining evaluations and legal advice from an experienced and qualified lawyer can help parties make informed decisions based on accurate information and a comprehensive understanding.

You should consider booking a consultation whenever you find yourself entangled in or foresee the possibility of civil, estate, real estate, or commercial litigation proceedings. Specifically, seeking the advice of a civil litigation lawyer becomes imperative under the following circumstances:

• You are engaged in a dispute or are at risk of litigation over a contract, property, or commercial dealings.
• You’re dealing with real estate transactions or property disputes
• Your business is encountering legal disputes that may involve a breach of contract, partnership disagreements, or commercial disputes.
• You are dealing with disputes over the terms or enforcement of a contract.
• You suspect rights violations or have suffered damages.
• You are considering legal action to resolve a dispute or to recover damages.
• You need legal representation to navigate the complexities of civil litigation, from filing a lawsuit to negotiating settlements or preparing for trial.

In these situations, a consultation with a civil litigation lawyer is key to gaining the insight and strategy needed to navigate your case.

After completing the preliminary mandatory steps required by the Law Society of Ontario, the following can typically be expected from a consultation with a lawyer:

• Document Submission: To enhance the effectiveness of the consultation, we request that you submit all relevant documents (i.e., any formal supporting documents (e.g. contracts, claims), etc, expert reports, correspondence between the parties involved, letters from other lawyers/Counsel, and etc) in advance. This allows the lawyer to familiarize themselves with any official and formal documents relevant to your case.
• Summary of Facts: We strongly suggest that all clients provide a summary of their side of the story for the initial comprehensive consultation. This should outline all relevant factual information deemed critical, including all involved parties, dates of events, and other pertinent details, preferably disclosed in chronological order.
• Focused Discussion: This preparation allows your lawyer to delve deeper into the matter during your meeting, avoiding the need to spend time gathering basic information. This way, the lawyer can start offering tailored solutions, advice, and strategies to resolve your issues during the meeting.
• Volume of Materials: It is important to be upfront with the lawyer if you plan to submit a large volume of legal materials. No lawyer can realistically review thousands of pages (e.g., 3,000-4,000 pages) if you are already in the midst of litigation proceedings. For such comprehensive reviews, we provide a different type of retainer (i.e., limited scope retainers) where we do review all available materials in-depth first and then engage in detailed discussions address all major issues.

An initial consultation with a lawyer refers to the initial 10–30-minute case evaluation consultation with a licensed professional. However, at no time during this consultation is a client-solicitor relationship formed.

The primary focus of an initial case evaluation on the lawyer’s part is fact-finding and evaluating whether the lawyer has the capacity and experience to take on the inquiries case, as well as being effective in advancing the prospective client’s matter.

Please be mindful that during initial case evaluations, ME Law’s lawyers, or any of its staff, will not review any documentation with the purpose of forming a legal opinion on the inquiries matter. Legal opinions and thorough reviews of supporting documentation are only formed during Independent Legal Advice (ILA) consultations, or as part of limited-scope retainer engagements.

Essentially, the reason for the above is that ME Law does not believe that such rushed consultations can serve any useful purpose for either the prospective clients or the lawyer, based on the limited amount of information, as well as the inability to review it in a reasonable manner. Lawyers typically need a comprehensive review of documentation to provide a legal opinion or assess the current legal standing of the inquiry matter. Each case involves unique circumstances that require careful consideration. Therefore, rushed discussions without formal documents should not lead to speculation, second-guessing, or confusing prospective clients. Instead, the goal is to provide a detailed evaluation of the case, identifying potential pitfalls, risks, strategies, chances of success, and relevant case law, and explaining the civil procedural steps involved.

However, ME Law litigators can inform prospective clients if they have handled similar cases in the past, address the preliminary assessment of whether the lawyer and prospective client can potentially work together, explain their typical operating style and how the engagement process will be conducted, and offer standard information on the retainer required to initiate a formal agreement, as well as the terms of their hourly rates.

Absolutely — that’s not a problem at all. We’re fully equipped to conduct consultations remotely or in person, depending on what’s most convenient for you.

In fact, we find that about 70% of our new clients prefer to meet in person for their very first consultation, as it allows them to get to know their lawyer and our team better.

The remaining 30% choose to meet remotely, often to save time on commuting or scheduling — and we’re perfectly happy to accommodate that. All necessary documents can be securely shared through our online facilities and encrypted portals.

After the initial meeting, most clients tend to prefer continuing their work with us remotely — through phone calls, Zoom meetings, and email updates — and only visit our office when preparing for longer hearings, examinations for discovery, or trials.

Our office is conveniently located in Yorkville, with ample parking available behind the building and easy access by TTC. If needed, we can also arrange for a lawyer to come to you; however, please note that travel time will be billed accordingly.

Whether in person or online, our goal is to make the process as flexible, efficient, and comfortable for you as possible.