Thank you for scheduling a consultation with Leslie Copeland Law & Mediation! You can read more about our attorneys under the Info tab above. 

If you’ve never met with an attorney before, you may be nervous or unsure of what to expect. Don’t worry. We will take good care of you and your case. 

You can do a few things to make your consultation run smoothly. First, be sure to fill out the intake paperwork that has been emailed to you. Second, please email us any paperwork for your case that you may want us to see. Third, make a list of thoughts and questions so that you can make the most of your time with the attorney. 

During your consultation, the attorney will 1) get all the information they need to assess your case for you, 2) walk you through the process, and 3) explain the different options that are available and how much they cost. The attorney will take notes about your case, the advice they give you, and the game plan for your case.

Please do not have anyone else present during the consultation unless necessary. If necessary, please let our office know beforehand. 

When you’re ready to begin, just let us know and we will email you an electronic payment request for your retainer. We accept all forms of payment but prefer eCheck with routing and account number if possible. You will also receive a retainer agreement to sign electronically, and welcome policies for our office. 

When you schedule a consultation with the attorneys at Leslie Copeland Law & Mediation, you and your case are in good hands. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

What are attorney’s fees? And who pays for them? 

Despite the funny image above, attorney’s fees are NOT about winners and losers and often have nothing to do with the outcome of the case.

Each party is typically responsible for their own attorney’s fees. However, the judge has the discretion to order one side to pay a portion (or all) of the other side’s fees. 

In what situations would a court order attorney’s fees? 

The most common situation where the judge would order attorney’s fees is when a party does not do what they are supposed to do. This would include a contempt case, where a party willingly disobeys a court order. A contempt case can also carry more serious consequences, such as jail time. 

This could also include a motion to compel where the other party did not answer discovery like they were supposed to, either by not turning over information that was requested, or by not answering by the deadline. 

The judge can also award attorney’s fees if a case was not filed or litigated in good faith, meaning that it should not have been filed or pursued in the first place. 

Also, if one of the parties acted so badly or testified so falsely that the judge wants to punish them for their behavior, then the judge can award fees in that situation too. 

Lastly, in a divorce case where a spouse has depended on the other party for support during the marriage, the judge can award attorney’s fees similar to alimony.

How much would the attorney’s fees be? 

The judge has wide latitude and discretion in ordering the amount of attorney’s fees to be paid. An award can start as little at $150 for a minor infraction and go up to $5,000 or more for a major infraction. 

How common are attorney’s fees? 

Attorney’s fees are not commonly awarded. You should expect to pay your own attorney’s fees. You should also be on your best behavior and follow the court’s orders and deadlines so that attorney’s fees are not ordered against you. 

Any other questions? 

Just let us know! The attorneys at Leslie Copeland Law & Mediation are here to help. 

In most cases, we know where to find the opposing party to serve them. We typically serve them at work or at home. In rare cases, we can’t locate them anywhere! So we serve them in the newspaper by publishing a “warning order.” How does this work? I’ll show you!

What is a warning order?

A warning order is a legal notice published in the newspaper, warning a party to a lawsuit that if they do not answer the lawsuit that a judgment will be entered against them.

How do you get one?

First, you have to have the judge’s permission. To get that, you have to file an affidavit, swearing that you have made a “diligent inquiry” into the other party’s location and that their “whereabouts are unknown.”

What is a “diligent inquiry”?

A diligent inquiry means that you have really tried to actually find the other party. You have called their last known phone number. You have emailed their last known email address (if any). You have looked for them on Google and Facebook. You have reached out to friends and family to try to find them. You must have tried ALL OR MOST of these things, and you still couldn’t find them.

If you know their city and state, but not their exact address, you may have to hire a private investigator to try to find their address.

What else do I have to do?

After you have the judge’s permission to serve them by newspaper, you also have to send a copy of the paperwork to the person’s last known address, wherever that might be. We will send it to them by certified mail in the hopes that they get it and sign for it. Yes, you still have to send the mail even if you know for sure that they no longer live there.

How much does it cost?

The costs vary slightly but usually the newspaper notice costs about $115 and the certified mail costs about $15. A background check by a private investigator costs about $25.

Any other questions?

Just ask! We are here to help. If you need to serve someone by newspaper, be sure to follow the proper steps and let us know if you have any questions.

So you are scheduled to go to court or mediation, but it’s going to be by… video? How does that work? Well, let me tell you! It is not perfect, but it is the safest option for everyone involved, and there are definitely some things you can do to make it run more smoothly.

1) How do I use Zoom?

First, install the Zoom app on your phone, tablet or computer.

You will receive a link to the Zoom meeting in your email prior to to the event. You might get it the week or day before, or maybe not until the morning of. Don’t worry, it’s coming.

When you sign in to the meeting, be sure you have your full and correct name spelled out and it doesn’t just say, “iPhone” or “iPad.”

Be sure that your video is turned on, and that you are unmuted when it is your turn to speak. If you are in a court hearing, then it is a good idea to stay muted until it is your turn.

2) What do I need to do to prepare?

First, make sure that you are in a good location to participate. Ideally, this is somewhere quiet where you will not be disturbed and where you have a good internet connection. Feel free to test this out with a friend before mediation starts to test your connection, sound, microphone, and video.

If you are at home, then please arrange for childcare and secure your pets.

If you do not have access to a good location or device, then let your attorney know. There are other devices and locations available that can be reserved for you.

Have any documents you might need printed out in front of you, or have another device available if you need to look at documents on a computer.

Make sure you have lots of good light on your face. Facing a window is ideal. You can stack your device on top of books to raise it up to eye level. Also consider using headphones so that you can hear well and we can hear you.

Dress appropriately in business attire.

3) What about during the meeting?

During the meeting, you need to speak very slowly and clearly. There is often a lag or connection problem, but if you speak slowly, we will still be able to hear you.

If you are in court, only speak when spoken to. If there is an objection, then stop talking until you are told to continue.

You might consider changing your view to “Gallery View” rather than “Speaker View” if you want to be able to see all participants at the same time. You can see directions on how to do that here.

Zoom meetings are never perfect, but let’s all do our part to be patient and kind as we navigate this together. The good news is that we can still resolve your case even in the midst of a pandemic. If you have any questions about your particular situation, please ask. I look forward to working with you!

As you can imagine, the way that we communicate in this day and age has changed the way that judges, attorneys, and the court system operate. I’ll put it this way: clients these days put a lot more in writing than they used to!

If you have text messages on your phone that could be used in court, then your attorney will need you to download or screenshot those messages for printing. (Yes, we still use paper in the courtroom.)

Ideally, you would have one long PDF file of your entire conversation with the other party. Then you would send that PDF to your attorney along with a list of the most relevant texts that they should see. This way, all of the messages are in order, time-and-date stamped, and have context. What a dream! Unfortunately, this isn’t very easy to do.

If you have an iPhone AND a Mac computer, then all you have to do is open the Messages app on your computer, choose the conversation you want to print, then press COMMAND+P and choose Save as PDF. Voila!

If you don’t have an iPhone and a Mac computer, then you will likely have to download a program to get your entire conversation from your phone to your computer. Clients report success with iMazing, which you download to your COMPUTER and works with iPhone.

If you don’t have a computer, then your only option is to screenshot your messages and email them to me. When screenshotting, try not to have much overlap, and try to get times and dates in there as much as possible. Please keep your messages organized by re-naming the files or keeping them in folders with dates. I use Google Drive and so you are welcome to upload the messages in an organized fashion to a Google Drive folder and share it with me. Please also feel free to give me any notes to provide context to the messages.

If you want to take it a (very helpful) step further, then you can stitch your messages together using this app for your phone, which will organize all your messages into a PDF file for me. I love it! It only costs $2.99. Be sure to choose the option of PDF - Multiple Pages as shown below.

If you cannot figure it out, that’s ok. Just send what you have to the attorney in the best order that you can. No one is perfect!

Organization is the key to success in life and in court. Make your attorney’s life easier (and your case better) by trying some of the suggestions above. You’ll be glad you did.