We’ve met with thousands of new clients over the years, and for many new clients, coming to us was their first experience talking to a lawyer.

After all, hiring a lawyer isn’t a something you do regularly.

What can you expect when meeting with one of our BC personal injury lawyers during a free consultation?

There’s nothing for you to prepare

Don’t worry about having to prepare anything or bringing in a large file.  Any paperwork you don’t bring to your first meeting can be provided to us in the future.  We understand that you’re going through a difficult time and the last thing you need to worry about is preparing to meet with your lawyer.

However, if you are the type of person who prepares, the following items and information  can be helpful:

• Your BC driver’s licence
• Your BC Health Care Card (MSP card)
• Your ICBC Claim Number (if you have one)
• The statement you gave to ICBC if you gave a statement
• Names of witnesses
• Names of all doctors and treatment providers you’ve seen since the you were injured.

Photographs

If you have photographs, whether printed or stored digitally, you can certainly bring them along.  Photographs can be helpful.

Again, if you bring none of the above, that’s okay.  It doesn’t affect the first consultation.  It’s information we can easily gather at a later date.

The interview

Do you have an questions?

If you have questions, we welcome you to ask us at any time.  You’re meeting with us to get information and you hire us in part to advise you about your injury claim.  We’re happy to answer all the questions you have, if we can.

2 questions we can’t answer at a first consultation:

1. How much money is your claim worth?
2. How long will it take to resolve your claim?

The answers to these 2 common questions simply cannot be answered in the early stages of an injury claim in BC.  We wish we could answer them, but we can’t.

That said, in some cases we can give you very rough ideas based on similar cases.  That said, each case proceeds in its own way.  Therefore, despite our extensive personal injury experience, we don’t have a crystal ball to answer those questions with any amount of precision.

We’ll ask you some questions

In order to learn about how your injury occurred and the nature of your injuries, we’ll ask you some questions.  The interview doesn’t take too long, anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes.  Of course, if you have plenty of questions, it could be longer, which we welcome.

Let us know if you don’t have much time

If you don’t have much time, just let us know and we’ll get the basic information from you so we can get started if you decide to hire us.  We can always meet with you again to obtain the rest of the information.

Generally we plan on spending 30 to 90 minutes with a person during a first consultation.  If there are two or more people attending (i.e. a family) who were involved in a car accident, the initial consultation could take longer.

No obligation on your part

You are under no obligation to hire us if you meet with us for a free consultation.

What if you have questions after the initial free consultation?

If more questions come to you after you meet with us, feel free to e-mail or call us and ask.  We won’t charge you if you have an follow-up questions.  Call us or e-mail us at any time.