Description

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Lawsuits are stressful and costly. By having a good lawyer on your side, and with the guidance in this book, you can help reduce your stress and costs and be a more effective participant in your case.

Most good lawyers firmly believe in preparing their clients at the beginning of any representation for the difficulties inherent in legal processes. Nonetheless, it so very often happens that events occur during a case which cause difficulties. Perhaps they arise from the inherent limits of the system itself; perhaps they arise from the methods and strategies the lawyer employs in pursuing the client's interests; perhaps they arise from the client's own attitudes toward their own case or the opposing party.

If the client is not at least "primed" to know that difficulties and frustrations frequently occur, or that there are time, cost and strategic considerations to every step in the process, the client may immediately feel that his or her lawyer is not diligently pursuing the case or is not "tough enough." If the client is already feeling that way before hearing the lawyer's explanation of the particular situation, such explanations may sound more like "excuses," needlessly undermining the lawyer-client relationship.

A lawyer cannot cover with every client every potential aspect of a client's matter at the beginning of the case. This book serves as a primer and should be required reading before a lay person seeks the assistance of an attorney to address legal issues. By being better prepared for the experience of going through the legal process, you, the client will be in a position to better "hear" what your lawyer explains to you along the way; you will be in a position to stress less over the inevitable frustrations; and, you will be in a position to assist your lawyer more in pursuing and protecting your cause, and thus save costs.

About the Author

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Francine R. Tone is a lawyer, licensed to practice law in the State of California and is the managing partner of the law firm of Tone & Tone, Attorneys at Law. She is also an Appellate Law Specialist, certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. She has also sat as a judge pro tem for almost 20 years. Ms. Tone has been practicing law since 1989. During the early years, she was a trial attorney handling business and real estate matters and was often hired by family law and probate lawyers, as well as lawyers in other legal disciplines, to handle real estate related litigation. Together with her law partner (and husband), her firm has cumulatively 70 years of experience. Today, Ms. Tone's firm handles appeals from a variety of fields and handles business and real estate litigation and transactions. Ms. Tone now primarily devotes her practice to appeals and providing services to trial attorneys to develop and preserve technical legal issues for trial and for pursuing or defending an appeal.