It amazes me how often people seek legal advice and then just simply disregard it. Sometimes it is because business or personal realities trump the niceties of legal perfection. I understand that. Especially when the questions I get are not usually things like “if some jerk in a BMW cuts me off, am I legally justified in taking a tire iron to his head?” (just in case you are wondering – no!).
But sometimes, one has to wonder why they come ask in the first place, unless they are hoping we will simply tell them what they want to hear.
One lawyer I know summed it up as follows: “people don’t want advice, they want vindication!”
But let’s keep it in perspective: Would you go to a car dealer, plop down 40 grand for a car, then park it never to be driven? Not likely.
Sometimes we are the bearer of bad news. In litigation, it is usually after the disaster has struck. The most frustrating situations are where the person enters into a significant business deal, but does not want to pay for legal advice before signing on the dotted line. The whole thing blows up and now the person is sitting across the table from a litigation lawyer who is explaining the costs of going to court and the uncertainty of result.
Everyone, like Humpty Dumpty, will, at some time find themselves sitting on a ledge. But if he had sought advice in advance, he would have at least been told to wear a tether and a harness, and then he might not have needed all of the King’s horses and all the King’s men….