When Life Gets Legal

David Wiley spends a lot of time on the phone talking to people who say they’re frustrated by how hard it is to hire a lawyer. So even when he doesn’t agree to represent them, he tries to demystify what’s going on behind the scenes.

“Hiring a lawyer is a little like buying a house or getting married,” says Wiley, a Dallas attorney who represents workers in employment matters.

“How often in life do we really do those sorts of things? For potential clients, they’re going through something frustrating with their job. Maybe they’ve just been fired. It’s so rare in life that we really need a lawyer, so people aren’t really familiar with the process. ‘Do I call? Do I get to speak to a lawyer? Do they have me fill out questionnaires online? Am I just going to hear back from a paralegal or secretary? Will they return my calls at all?’ And the lawyers themselves are not really uniform in how they do it, so it’s a real frustrating process.”

Wiley doesn’t have a website, just a LinkedIn page with his phone number, but that phone is always ringing. When the person on the other end of the line complains that they’ve already spoken to five lawyers and can’t understand why no one will help them, he tells them they may have to speak to 20.

“If you have a $50,000 retainer and you can pay a lawyer $500 an hour, you’ll get them lined up like ducks in a row outside your front door,” he says. “But who can afford that? You have to keep in mind there’s a real shortage of worker-side employment lawyers and you’re asking for something big, because what you need isn’t just a lawyer. You need a lawyer with experience in this area who is willing to help all the way through trial—not just: send a demand letter and run for the hills if it doesn’t work out.

“That’s a big ask, so you have to be patient, you have to be tenacious, you may have to speak with a lot of lawyers. Sometimes it’s just blind luck.”

When do we need a lawyer in life? Super Lawyers chose four of the most common moments—situations involving personal injury, divorce, employment, and death—and spoke to some of the most experienced lawyers in Texas in these areas. One thing they all agree on: Finding the right lawyer can be a rigorous process that requires persistence.

1. Getting Legal Help for Personal Injury

Mark Lanier is a nationally known Houston personal injury attorney who has received close to $20 billion in verdicts, including some of the biggest awards related to the opioid crisis and asbestos exposure. But early in his career, Lanier says one of his first big wins—a $480 million jury verdict—happened only because the plaintiff was persistent.

“Three law firms had turned him down,” Lanier says. “I was the guy’s fourth choice. If you got a good case, keep knocking on doors. This fella hit the wrong door three times.”

Finding the right door takes research and asking questions—including if they’re likely to refer the case to someone else. That’s not a bad thing, Lanier adds, but he’s had clients who were frustrated to find out an initial, referring attorney would get part of the fee. He says personal injury lawyers fall into two camps: the chicken catchers and the pluckers. “Some people are really good at catching chickens, and some of us rely on the catchers,” he says. “Advertisers are typically chicken catchers, not pluckers.”

Frank Branson, a celebrated Dallas trial attorney with 40 years experience trying personal injury lawsuits—everything from vehicular accidents to airplane crashes—is wary of what he hears in some TV advertisements for personal injury attorneys.

“Some of them say they can tell the client the value of their lawsuit on the initial interview. After over four decades of experience handling personal injury lawsuits, I would be uncomfortable with any lawyer who claims to be able to give the client the value of their lawsuit on the initial phone call,” Branson says.

“There are multitudes of facts that would not be available in the initial phone call. For example, the insurance coverage for the negligent parties. For another, often, on the initial call, the client may not know the extent of their injuries. Or you may well find, when you investigate the case, that a truck driver, for example, has a number of DUIs and should never have been hired by the trucking company. All of this would have an important role in evaluating the case. There are just too many facts that come up during the discovery process that could affect the value of the case.”

Most lawyers look for integrity in clients, too. In that initial interview, they’re trying to determine if the potential client is honest and trustworthy.

Lanier learned that lesson the hard way. Early on, he had a client who made bold claims, including that he was involved in the CIA assassinations of foreign officials, that struck him as odd. “I was young and I thought, ‘I guess this is the way life is,’ so I took the case,” he says. “I spent two or three months before I realized the client had been lying through his teeth to me. Then I had to back out and lose all the money. That’s when you start paying attention to what kind of person you’re dealing with as a potential client.”

Dallas trial attorney Steven Aldous doesn’t even take clients who aren’t referred by someone he knows. He thinks clients should be just as discerning. “I would say try to find a lawyer you trust—a family friend or a referral from a friend,” he says. “Because even if that person can’t handle it, they can usually get the client to the right place.”

When Aldous does take on new clients, he’s careful not to overpromise. However long and frustrating they think the lawsuit may be, there’s a chance it’ll be worse, and he can’t know for sure what the jury will do. “I’ve won cases I shouldn’t have won, and I’ve lost cases I shouldn’t have lost,” Aldous says. “That’s what I tell everybody.”

2. Getting Legal Help for Divorce

Houston family law attorney Lynn Kamin says the same advice applies to finding a divorce lawyer: Seek referrals, talk to multiple people, ask a lot of questions, trust your instincts, and be wary of anyone who makes big promises.

“I always say if some lawyer guarantees you something, walk out fast,” Kamin says. “Because none of us know. The only thing someone can guarantee you is a promise to work as hard as they can on your case, and keep you informed, and you’re going to be part of it.”

Unlike personal injury lawyers, who tend to work on contingency—where they’re paid a portion of the winnings—family law attorneys generally charge an hourly fee. This leads some people to wonder if they can’t handle the divorce proceedings themselves and avoid the expense.

“People think it should be easy: ‘What’s so hard about dividing up an estate?’” Kamin says. “I find some of them so unrealistic about the process, why it takes so long, and why the other side needs the documents. It’s just a misunderstanding of how this process works.”

Dallas family law attorney Aubrey Connatser knows it can be a slog; one of her cases took seven years. She agrees the level of invasiveness—into not only finances but text messages and therapy records, and a witness list that may include their kids’ teachers and principal—often surprises clients, as do the rules around fault and how that affects who gets what.

People assume that Texas being a “no fault” and “50/50” state means assets are always split down the middle, she says, but “no fault” only means you don’t have to prove fault to get a divorce. “The court does have leeway to give a disproportionate division of assets to one or the other spouse, and that often comes as a surprise to people,” says Connatser.

Evidence of cruelty, violence, fraud and adultery can all play into who gets what. That’s why it’s so important to Connatser that a potential client be honest when asked: What is the worst thing the other side is going to say about you?

“If anybody is hesitant to be forthcoming in an initial interview,” Connatser says, “it’s a red flag.”

That doesn’t mean she’s looking to represent only people who haven’t made big mistakes. “There’s a lot of redemption in the courthouse,” along with empathy for people willing to admit their shortcomings, she says. “People think they can’t have ever done anything wrong, and I find that to be far from the truth. I say let me talk to your therapist and get them to testify to how hard you’ve worked to be a better parent. It would be unusual for someone not to be depressed or anxious going through divorce.”

Kamin herself is a case in point. Before she went to law school, she went through her own divorce. “I was scared,” she says. “I had a 4-year-old child and a soon-to-be ex-husband who was very angry with me for deciding I needed to get out of the situation we were in. I understand how frightening it can be.”

Despite the intense emotions, Kamin always tells clients to take a step back and try to work with their exes on custody issues, if possible. “In Texas, we have jury trials for custody,” Kamin says. “People shouldn’t do that to their children unless their spouse has serious psychiatric problems—or the lawyer on the other side does.”

Connatser likewise tells clients the courthouse is the most unpredictable place to take the most important decisions about their children and money. “If you go through mediation or collaborative law, you can cut your deal with a scalpel and be very precise,” she says. “If you take it to the courthouse, the judge is going to cut it with an ax because there’s only so much the law allows them to do. It’s also a privacy thing. Our courts are open. Anybody can walk in and hear you arguing with your spouse about your kids and personal finances. Wouldn’t you rather have that done in a private setting?”

Not all lawyers would agree with her, which is why it’s all the more important to understand who you’re working with and what you’re getting when you choose a lawyer.

“You don’t want to go to some scorched-earth scary person if you don’t have a stomach for confrontation,” Connatser says. “You have to find a lawyer that can meet you where you are and understand what your ultimate goal is. A lot of times the ex has a completely different take and will drag you to the courthouse and want to be contentious all day long. You have to deal with that, too, and hope you can find someone who can defuse those fights—if you want them defused.”

3. Getting Legal Help for Employment Issues

And then there are the problems we encounter at work.

“You shouldn’t ignore unlawful behavior in the workplace,” says John Wenke, an El Paso employment attorney who headed the Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of Texas from 2021 to 2022. “If you do, it’s going to continue, and it may affect any future legal claims you have because the argument is going to be you didn’t bring it to your employer’s attention prior to the termination. I always suggest if you’re experiencing discrimination, make the complaint in writing.”

That not only gives the employer a chance to address the issue, it creates added protection against retaliation. If things are so bad you’re on the verge of quitting, speak with an employment attorney first.

Wenke says he offers a consultation to only about one of every 20 people who complete a detailed screening questionnaire on his website. Of those, he only accepts about a third. There’s good reason for that.

“Most terminations are not unlawful,” he says. “I always try to explain there’s a difference between what’s unfair and what’s unlawful.”

Wenke adds: “We live in an at-will employment state where an employer can terminate you for good or bad reasons or no reason at all. It may be unfair but that doesn’t mean it’s unlawful. Most individuals that contact my office won’t get past the initial screening of potential discrimination. It’s better to tell someone early on they don’t have a legal claim. You don’t want to end up wasting your time or the client’s time with false expectations.”

Andrea “AJ” Johnson is an employer-side employment lawyer, but, on rare occasions, fields calls from employees. She says finding the right lawyer is a little like buying a car: “You’ve got to go around and kick the tires,” she says. “If you don’t trust the person from that human connection, then don’t use them. Period.”

4. Getting Legal Help for Estate Planning

With a little luck, some of us may never have to navigate divorce, discrimination, or injury, but there’s one inevitability no human being can escape.

Yet people find all sorts of reasons to delay making a will, says Molly Abshire, a Bellaire elder law attorney. “One [excuse] I hear over and over again is, ‘We couldn’t agree on who the guardian should be,’” she says. “If you don’t have documents, then the court decides. Surely you can reach a decision better than a stranger.”

Abshire says everyone should have a will, ideally when they turn 18, executed by a board-certified lawyer for whom estate planning is their primary practice. The whole process can take as little as a month from start to finish, which will save your loved ones a lot of time and trouble down the road.

“I’ve met a lot of people over the years who tell me ‘I don’t have a will,’ and my response is usually something to the effect of, ‘Yes you do. The State of Texas wrote it for you, and you may or may not like the terms very much,’” says Christine Wakeman, an estate planning attorney in Dallas, who works with high net-worth individuals.

“Doing nothing is a choice, but step one is to understand what the law says if you do nothing,” Wakeman adds.

For example, when you get married in Texas, there’s a presumption of community property. The burden is on you to prove any separate property—like an inheritance from your family. Because under that default prenuptial agreement, any income from that separate property is community property. “That’s an easy and important topic to address in a premarital agreement: to say, ‘This asset I got from my family, that’s separate property.’”

Similarly, when someone dies in Texas, people are often surprised to learn that things don’t always automatically pass to their spouse. “You have to make it very clear if you want things to go to your spouse,” Wakeman says. “If you don’t, there are some strange rules that are not super intuitive. For example, if you die in Texas and you have separate property—like you owned a house prior to marriage—even if you have 50 years of marriage and kids all by that marriage, that house doesn’t pass to your spouse automatically without a will.”

Another nuance unique to Texas is being sure to put the words “independent administration” in your will to prevent the executor of your estate from having to play “Mother May I” with the court for every single thing.

“A couple of simple steps can make things a lot easier for your loved ones,” Wakeman says.

But do you need a lawyer to take those steps, or can you make the will yourself?

“There are plenty of products out there that tell you you don’t need a lawyer,” Wakeman says of will-creating software. “But as with many things, you don’t know what you don’t know about estate planning, and you don’t know who’s drafting those and you don’t know how much experience and knowledge they have about Texas law. I’m generally pretty fearful of them. I’ve had clients over the years generate wills online. When I look at them, I almost always find serious holes.

“Is it better than not having a will? Probably, in most cases. But do you want to trust your family and your money to a nameless, faceless corporation that says they’re not giving legal advice but are producing a legal document for you? There’s a cost benefit analysis for people there.”

Find an Experienced Lawyer, Regardless of Your Legal Issue

Whether your legal problem has to do with family members, injuries, work, end-of-life, or any other aspect of your personal life, you can visit the Super Lawyers directory to begin your search for a qualified attorney in your area.