Receiving the parties is the first step in the process of handling the case, and its importance needs no more words. Its effect may affect the success of case entrustment. For paralegals and trainee lawyers, this is an important learning content, while for independent lawyers, this is the first knocking skill in your life and career, which directly determines whether you have your own career and clients.
The following combined with the characteristics of the reception of the parties, fat lawyers are divided into three stages:
I. Reception before entrustment
This stage is generally a telephone consultation, mostly through the website, media, acquaintances and other active contact with us. Whether it is a paralegal or a young lawyer, it is necessary to make records first, so as to sort out the case, report the work or pay a return visit to train potential parties.
Answer the phone or meet for the first time, pay attention to briefly introduce yourself and the team of the law firm. Secondly, we need to focus on recording and learning three things:
First of all, I can listen.
We should listen carefully to the statements of the parties, understand their psychology, guide the rectification in time, and know what the parties need. We should be good at listening and fully show respect, understanding and sympathy for the recipients. What kind of situation does it belong to according to the description of the parties? What happened at what time and place?
Second, I will ask.
Because most of the parties have no legal thinking and have no comprehensive understanding of the case, they often don't know what to say and what to pay attention to, and even consciously or unconsciously avoid the importance based on the psychology of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. They said a lot of things they shouldn't have said, but they missed some important information. This requires us to listen patiently, not interrupt easily, grasp the reception efficiency, ask and guide skillfully in time, objectively analyze, judge and complete incomplete information with our own experience and professional knowledge, and restore the true colors of the facts as much as possible.
In this process, listening and asking are interactive, and the most important thing is to ask questions in time (ask clearly: who is the protagonist? What are the charges involved? What is the main plot? What kind of help can we provide? What is your intention? ) record the names and contact information of the parties and form the corresponding case report.
Third, I will answer.
If the lawyer in charge receives the consultation, he can put forward preliminary opinions on the situation of the parties, seek * * * knowledge and promote the case. If only the paralegal advised not to answer questions but to report the case to the lawyer.
Help him sort out the relationship with the professional knowledge he has learned in his mind, and ask him in an inquiring tone: "Did you just say that?" With the approval of the client, answer his questions quickly in short and professional language, such as "according to the criminal law and judicial practice, this case may be released on bail pending trial, so I suggest that the materials for bail pending trial be prepared as soon as possible." After the answer, ask the client if he has any written materials at hand, and if so, take them to the law firm to help him look at them in detail. Then write down the contact information of the client and tell him your own contact information (some clients forget to call the consulting lawyer because they were nervous during the consultation, so they can't contact the consulting lawyer afterwards). After the appointment of the meeting time, the telephone consultation is over.
It should be noted that the time from answering the phone to hanging up the phone should not exceed too long. For simple cases, it is suggested that the initial control should be 5 minutes. Answering customers' inquiries in professional language in the shortest time will leave a good first impression on customers. In addition, telephone consultation cannot answer all the questions of the parties. If the case can be entrusted, the purpose of telephone communication is to make an appointment for an interview.
Second, consultation and reception during the meeting
In this process, lawyers are the main ones and paralegals are the auxiliary ones. Paralegals should study more and observe the number, gender, age, experience, identity, personality, mood and relationship with clients as a reference for the success or failure of entrustment.
After making an appointment with the parties, we should do some detailed work in advance. The first is the time, place and case information required for receiving consultation; Secondly, we should make necessary modifications to our clothing image to be solemn and tidy.
It is very important to do a good job of legal knowledge and case sorting in advance.
Before the telephone consultation, the lawyer has a general understanding of the case, and can learn the details of the case again according to the lawyer's ideas, and read the written case materials patiently and carefully. Even if he knows something, he should try to stay in front of you for a while, which shows that the lawyer attaches importance to this case. Most of the parties in criminal cases are in urgent situations and involve detention. In this process, it is necessary to control the time, remember that the parties are chattering, ask and guide in time, and conduct telephone consultation before digging.
There is also a very important job throughout the reception process. It is necessary to make a good reception record, which is convenient for systematic case sorting, for self-memory, for communication with lawyers handling cases, and for forming legal opinions.
The next thing you must not forget is to confirm the facts and needs of the case to the parties, and use an overview to see if there are differences with the intentions of the parties. If there are no questions, you need to answer the parties with professional knowledge. When answering, we should pay attention to the key points of the dispute, answer concisely, and try to answer in easy-to-understand words so that the parties can understand. When answering, lawyers should point out the infringement suffered by the parties to the case and try to stand in the perspective of the parties and answer them one by one with the law. When necessary, they can cite some effective cases to analyze the case for the parties; Finally, according to the needs of the parties, the scheme of the whole case is given. When the client approves the plan you gave, the lawyer's reception is half the battle.
After the negotiation, some parties will take the initiative to ask whether it is necessary to entrust, and what is the agency fee, indicating that they are willing to entrust. It is not far from winning the commission, but some customers will try their best to ask all the questions they don't understand now or in the future. At this time, don't collapse and don't be impatient. Try to answer his questions patiently in short and accurate language and remind them that these things belong to my lawyer's business scope. Don't hide when answering questions. You know, there are no stupid people in this world. If your client feels that you are deliberately avoiding his question, we should be honest with each side regardless of whether the agency in this case is successful or not. Sincere credit is not only the purpose of receiving clients, but also the fundamental purpose of being a lawyer.
The negotiation of case agency fee is a key link in reception. Whether the work done in the early stage is perfect is reflected here, and some methods and skills need to be mastered. Hiring a lawyer is a purchase of legal services and a consumption behavior. Therefore, in addition to being innocent, it should be genuine and the price should be reasonable. The pricing of attorney fees should consider not only the price guidance of the original lawyers association and the industry situation, but also the situation of the parties. After all, the money was paid by the client.
After the case consultation is completed, some parties may go through the entrustment procedures on the spot, while others need to go back and think about it before deciding whether to entrust. Regardless of whether the parties entrust or not, they should show basic respect and patience. Practice shows that a lawyer who leaves a good impression on his client will not hesitate to introduce you when his friend has something to do in the future, even if he has not established an entrustment relationship with his client this time.
After sending the parties away, you should call them back every few days to ask about the progress of the situation and express your concern about the situation, and avoid directly asking "whether to entrust me to handle this case" and so on.
Third, the reception after the entrustment
After the successful entrustment, it began to enter the stage of handling cases, and the reception in handling cases was particularly critical. It requires lawyers and paralegals to communicate with the active party, so that the parties can know the progress of the case, the interests and evidence materials existing in the litigation process. Criminal cases go through three stages: investigation, prosecution and trial, and each stage has different arguments, which require the cooperation of the parties. Fully understand the intention of the client, so that the lawyer and the client stand on the same line; Communicate the details of the case in depth to maximize the legitimate interests of the parties.
In the process of handling cases, some clients or consultants will complain about the lawyers they hired before. After signing the power of attorney, the lawyer didn't communicate with them much and didn't know what the lawyer was doing. Apart from the irresponsible part, there is actually a misunderstanding. Many lawyers think that legal services are professional, clients don't understand them, and there is no need to participate in cases too much, so they reduce communication with clients and work hard on their own cases. This kind of working thinking and attitude is extremely wrong. Although lawyers are professional in the legal part, they are absolutely not clear about the facts of the case. After several receptions or consultations, it is impossible to fully grasp the plot and details of the case. Communicating the progress of the case with the parties can help lawyers dig deep into the details of the case, seek the most neglected important facts and evidence, and grasp the case more prepared. Fat lawyers believe that this is the difference between barristers and ordinary lawyers.