A virtual consultation with a lawyer gives you the same advice as one at the office, without travelling: 30, 60 or 90 minutes by telephone or videoconference, from $175. Prepare your questions and your documents to make the most of every minute.
A legal consultation is billed by time. That is excellent news for the prepared client: every minute spent hunting for a document or piecing together a chronology from memory is a minute of advice lost. Here is how our most effective clients approach their meeting, and leave with a real plan of action.
Clarify your objective above all
There is a difference between “I would like to talk about my commercial lease” and “my landlord refuses to renew my lease, which expires in four months, what are my options?”. The first framing leads to a general conversation; the second, to actionable answers. Before the meeting, write down in a sentence or two the decision you have to make or the problem you have to solve. That simple exercise steers the whole consultation.
What can be looked at during the meeting
A consultation is for answering your questions, not for analyzing a lengthy document. A specific clause, a one-page formal demand, an extract from a lease you do not understand: those are easily looked at together, live, and you leave with an answer.
Beyond that, the arithmetic changes. A ten-page contract is not read while the meter is running, and a reading done in a rush is not worth much. That is exactly what our contract review package covers: the lawyer reads the whole document, writes up comments clause by clause, then presents them to you during a 30-minute consultation included in the price. Our article on reviewing a contract before signing explains what is checked first.
The practical rule: if your question fits inside a conversation, book a consultation. If it assumes someone will read a document in full, book a review. You will avoid paying for reading time at the consultation rate.
Prepare the chronology and the figures
Legal questions live in the details: who said what, when, in writing or orally, for how much. Prepare a short chronology of the facts with the key dates, and have the relevant figures at hand, the value of the contract, the sums claimed, the revenue at stake. You will avoid the “I will get back to you on that” which pushes the answer to later.
During the meeting, aim at decisions
Ask your questions in order of importance, in case time runs short. Do not hesitate to ask for things to be put in plain terms: good legal advice is advice you understand well enough to act on. And before hanging up, lock down the next steps: who does what, by when, at what estimated cost. A successful consultation ends with a plan, not with “it’s complicated”.
The virtual format works in your favour
By videoconference you consult from your own desk, with all your files within reach, with no travel and no waiting room. You can share your screen to point at a particular clause, and bring in your partner or your accountant at the right moment. Distance takes nothing away from the confidentiality of the exchange: professional secrecy applies in the same way whether you are in our offices or in your kitchen.
What a consultation can, and cannot, settle
Setting that limit at the outset avoids disappointment. A consultation is meant to orient you: understand your situation, identify the options, weigh the risks, decide how to proceed. It produces an opinion and a plan, not a complete file.
Some things fit easily into one meeting: reading a contract of a few pages and spotting the problem clauses, choosing a legal structure, how to proceed in the face of a formal demand, weighing a risk before signing, preparing a negotiation.
Others do not fit and call for a separate mandate: drafting a tailored agreement, conducting a negotiation in your place, bringing or defending a proceeding, carrying out due diligence. There is nothing disappointing in that, provided you know it: the consultation often serves to determine whether a mandate is needed, and which one. Leaving with “here is what has to be done, here is what it involves, here is what it costs” is a perfectly useful result.
Professional secrecy, and what can weaken it
What you confide to your lawyer is protected, and that protection is one of the strongest in Québec law. It applies identically at the office, on the telephone and by videoconference.
It does, however, carry sensitivities few clients know about. The presence of a third party during the exchange may, depending on the circumstances, affect its reach: inviting your accountant or your spouse to the meeting is sometimes useful, sometimes ill-advised, and it is discussed at the start rather than along the way. Likewise, forwarding to other people the written opinion you received may, depending on the context, weaken its confidential character.
Two practical habits follow. Use an email address you alone have access to, rather than a shared address or an employer’s. And if you would like someone present during the consultation, say so at the outset so the question can be dealt with knowingly.
The questions to ask before hanging up
Four questions, in one minute, considerably increase the value of what you take away.
“What assumptions does your answer rest on?” An opinion given in an hour necessarily rests on what you recounted. Knowing which facts, were they different, would change the conclusion lets you come back to the lawyer at the right moment rather than at random.
“Is a time limit running?” This is the most profitable question of all. Certain rights are extinguished with time, and a comfortable situation today can become one without remedy in a few months. That piece of information is on its own worth the price of the meeting.
“What can I do myself?” A good part of the administrative work does not require a lawyer, and an honest professional will tell you so. “And if I do nothing?” Finally, knowing the do-nothing scenario lets you set priorities clear-eyed, which is often necessary when the budget is tight.
When to consult
The rule of thumb fits in one sentence: consulting before signing costs a fraction of what consulting afterward costs. Before, you negotiate a clause; afterward, you try to get out of a valid undertaking, which is an altogether different exercise.
The moments when an hour of advice pays off most are fairly predictable: when you choosing whether to incorporate, before going into business with someone, before signing a lease or an important contract, when an investor arrives, at the first hire, on receiving a formal demand, and when a business becomes valuable enough that selling it one day is on the table. Our article on the common mistakes when starting out describes what happens when those appointments are put off.
Frequently asked questions
How do you prepare properly for a legal consultation?
Write down in a sentence or two the decision you have to make, prepare a short chronology of the facts with the key dates, have the relevant figures at hand, and ask your questions in order of importance in case time runs short.
Is a virtual consultation worth as much as a meeting at the office?
Yes. Professional secrecy applies in the same way whether you are at the office, on the telephone or by videoconference. The remote format also lets you share your screen and keep your files within reach.
Can I have a contract analyzed during the consultation?
A specific clause or a one-page document is easily looked at live. Beyond that, a reading done while the meter runs is not worth much: the contract review package applies, written comments and a 30-minute consultation included.