A couple of posts ago I metioned my How to find a good lawyer post. What I failed to mention in that post, and in the How to find a good laywer post is that you should regard the task of finding a lawyer as you would finding a contractor to work on some part of your house. When finding a contractor, most people are smart enough to shop around and see what each contractor charges, and how the contractor "feels" to you (ie; does he/she seem honest, or does he/she give you the nagging feeling that you are likely to get shoddy work done in exchange for a cheap fee?).
As I've mentioned before, when meeting with a lawyer, it helps to have a rough draft of a complaint, with copies of a few key items that support your claims. That first meeting might be free, or cost a couple of hundred dollars.
In the first meeting, if the lawyer seems willing to take on the case, negotiate the upcoming fee arrangment, and retainer fee. Many, many people don't realize that they could (and should) do this. Find out if the lawyer is willing to take it on contingency (where he/she gets all their fees at the end of the successful resolution of the suit, plus a cut of your settlement), or partial contingency (a reduced fee arrangement where the lawyer charges only a portion of his/her hourly fees and collects the rest at the end of the successful resolution of the suit...such arrangements may or may not also involve a cut of your winnings. Absinthe negotiated an arrangement where her lawyer does not get a cut of her winnings, and she also negotiated a very low retainer fee and relativly reasonable costs per hour for her lawyer's time).
And don't forget that the retainer fee is up for negotiation as well...lawyers want to see that you are financially able to take on the costs of a typical lawsuit. If you don't have $20k for a retainer fee up front, but expect a steady flow of income to support the costs of the case, say so, and insist that the cost of the retainer be lowered. If the lawyer refuses to negotiate the retainer fee and can give no valid reason for not wanting to negotiate it, go elsewhere.
Be aware that most lawyers will not take your case on full contingency (unless they are crusaders for civil rights, and even then they usually don't for discrimination cases). The reason is that discrimination cases are rarely sure to prevail, and have a fairly high failure rate (sorry, but it's true).
Once you have found a lawyer that you are comfortable with and have retained, make sure you stay involved in every step of the lawsuit, and give your input. The lawyer works for you. Don't forget that. If your lawyer is taking a tactic that you don't like, say so. You wouldn't just leave a contractor completely unsupervised from start to finish to work on your house, nor should you leave your lawsuit unsupervised in the hands of a lawyer. Insist that the lawyer explain to you the reasons behind the tactics being taken, insist on knowing what options are available at each stage of the suit, and insist that all the legalese be explained to you.
Also, insist on getting detailed statements of the legal fees as you go along. If there is a fee there that you think is outrageously high, negotiate it with the lawyer. Absinthe's legal team had a junior lawyer who was a little too eager and, for no apparent reason, decided to re-write Absinthe's complaint (and completely buggered it up and made it unreadable in the process). Absinthe immediately called her lawyer (the senior person on the team) and told him that she wanted the complaint returned to the original wording, and that she also was not going to pay for the time the junior lawyer spent rewriting the complaint for no reason. Both things were done.
The whole point of this post is that from day one when you meet with a lawyer, you should mentally compare the process of hiring, retaining, and working with a lawyer to hiring and working with a contractor on your house. The lawyer works for you, and you, if you wish to exercise it, have a say in controlling everything that lawyer does. Most of the time it is wise to let them do their work (they after all have a legal degree and you don't), but there are times you really have to step in and say what you do or do not want done. Just remember to keep it polite...you don't want to be at odds with your legal team.
