What We Do
What We Help You With
Legal coaching is a collaborative approach to legal representation where the client retains ultimate control and responsibility for their legal case, and the lawyer helps from the background.
As such, what we do will vary depending on the needs of the client. We will identify these early on and formulate a plan.
Some examples of what we can help with include:
- Assistance with the completion of court forms and documents
- Assistance with the preparation of affidavits
- Obtaining general legal advice and information on relevant case law or legislation
- Assistance responding to letters from a lawyer or another person
- Accessing self-help tools, legal information, websites and other resources
- Assistance preparing for mediation, hearing, or trial, including how to address people, what to wear, what to expect and how to organize written or verbal presentations, including chances to practice and get feedback
- Strategic guidance in dealing with the strengths and weaknesses of a case and any burden of proof that must be met
- Legal research
What We Do Not Do
As the client retains ultimate control and responsibility for their case, some responsibilities usually taken by lawyers in traditional, full-representation client-lawyer relationships don't make sense in legal coaching. Therefore, we do not perform the following tasks:
- Taking control of the case or responsibility for its conduct, timeline or outcomes
- Attending Court or hearings, mediation or negotiation sessions
- Going on the record of the case
- Putting our name to any Court document or correspondence
- Speaking or taking action on a client’s behalf
- Communicating with the other side generally (we do for specifically-defined matters)
- Accepting service
Questions to Consider
If you are considering legal coaching, but are not certain if it is a good fit for you, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have the time?
- Are you detail-orientated and organized?
- Are you prepared to take responsibility for the deadlines and requirements of your own case?
- Do you already possess some skills that could help you represent yourself, such as writing, public speaking, research, anything legal, negotiating, investigating, etc? Although any skill can be learned, having some existing relevant skills might make you a better candidate for legal coaching.
- Are you self-motivated and responsible?
- Do you like the idea of being in control of your own case?
- Can you remain calm under pressure or high conflict situations?
- Even if thinking about your case can bring up emotions, can you put those aside and look at your case objectively?
- Are you comfortable asking a lot of questions and learning new things?
How to Get Started
- Step 1: Book a consultation. Send us a message under 'Contact Us' or an email at admin@empoweredlegalcoaching.ca. We will arrange a time and video-conferencing method. We will take a little information from you to conduct a conflicts check.
- Step 2: Conflicts check. Before you tell us too much about your case, we must conduct a conflicts check to make sure we don't have a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict, we can proceed with the scheduled consultation.
- Step 3: Consultation. In this free, 20-minute session, we will tell you more about legal coaching, what to expect and assess whether it is right for you and your case. Like all our sessions, this will be a video-conference.
- Step 4: Book a coaching session. After your consultation, we will email you with instructions for booking your first session. No payment is required at this point.
- Step 5: Prepare for your session. You will receive an email with information about how to prepare for your first session. You can gather and organize any documents related to your situation and make a list of key facts and events organized by day. We will also have you fill out and return our new client questionnaire, as well as read our retainer agreement, which we will discuss in our first session.
- Step 6: Meet with the lawyer over video. The first session will include a discussion about the terms and conditions of the engagement, but may also cover identifying the legal issues, aims, options and next steps. We will email you a summary of the session.
- Step 7: Invoice and payment by e-transfer. You only pay at the end of the session, no upfront retainer payment is required.
- Step 8: Book as many or as few sessions as you want or need. For example, you could make an appointment every time all the ‘next steps’ from your last session are completed and you have gathered a new series of questions for the next stage, with additional dedicated sessions to learn and practice new skills you will need for trial, like cross-examination or making your argument.