The Three Questions

In life, and in practicing law, every event or piece of information should prompt these three questions:

·                 What does this mean?

·                 What should I do?

·                 What can I do?

Facts often seem neutral, or self-explanatory:  My client is a jerk.  But, ask: “Why is he a jerk?”  Maybe it’s the result of a brain injury.  Or being unjustly fired.  Or finding out his spouse is cheating on him.  The reason behind his jerkishness may make all the difference to the case. 

Good lawyers notice things.  They don’t assume (it makes an ASS of U and ME).  I once had a client who repeatedly sniffed and asked if we had a dog in the office.  No.  When I asked, he said he could smell “wet dog”.  He even claimed to smell the cow manure from dairy farms about 50 km from my office. He said it was funny, but ever since the car crash his sense of smell was “very sensitive”.  I tested him.  Turned out, his nose wasn’t “sensitive” for nice things: peppermint, vanilla, flowers, etc.  He just believed he could detect foul smells – that no one else did.

That meant he had “parosmia” – phantom bad smells.  It’s a classic sign of a brain injury.  That led us to send him to the right medical experts who could examine him for brain injury.  His previous lawyer had missed it.

Knowing what we should do is sometimes simple: get financial compensation for an injury; sort out a reasonable parenting schedule; resolve a family’s fight over their parent’s estate.  Sometimes what we should do sounds like a Miss America speech: Solve world hunger; Establish world peace; Give every child an education. 

If only we had a magic wand.

What we can do is usually more limited.  It always means making a plan.  It always means taking one step at a time.  Progress builds on progress, as we work toward our ultimate goal.  Solving world hunger isn’t accomplished by making soup for 9 billion.  It starts (maybe) with giving money to our local food bank.  Or maybe with giving money to pay for crop seeds in famine areas of Africa.  One step at a time.

Getting fair compensation will mean we have to interview witnesses, send our client for medical exams, make choices about what we can prove and what we can’t.  Getting a reasonable parenting schedule will mean we have to understand why Mom wants this, but Dad wants that.   Resolving an estate dispute almost always means figuring out the emotional issues of every one of the fighting heirs.  Understanding their wants will help us figure out what we can negotiate – and what we can’t. 

At Clear Legal we have been helping clients since 1990.  First, by noticing what matters.  Next, by understanding why it matters. Third, by seeing where the goal is.  Finally, by taking concrete steps towards that goal. 

Clear vision and Clear thinking: It’s who we are.