Confirm Consultation Price and Scope Before Sharing the File
A Denver office might waive a charge for an initial conversation, but only that firm can confirm its current terms when the appointment is booked. Request the meeting price, allotted duration, participants, included topics or document review, cost of any follow-up work, and cancellation or rescheduling conditions. Do not assume that a consultation creates representation.
Use a Booking Script That Produces Written Answers
Request confirmation of price, format, duration, participants, document limits, conflict-screen needs, recording policy, interpreter or accessibility arrangements, and expected next step. Personal injury attorneys may use consultations differently, so distinguish a short intake screening from a substantive legal meeting or paid record review.
Before sending sensitive material, ask what identifying information is needed for conflicts and what secure channel the firm uses. Provide enough to identify parties and deadlines, but avoid assuming every disclosure has the same confidentiality status in every circumstance. The firm should explain applicable boundaries and any nonengagement terms.
Know What the Initial Meeting Can and Cannot Decide
The conversation may gather a chronology, parties, event type, injury and treatment status, reports, policies, communications, expenses, work effects, deadlines, and client goals. It can identify missing information and urgent preservation tasks. It may not permit an immediate acceptance decision, legal conclusion, value estimate, or prediction.
Counsel may need documents, conflicts clearance, research, expert input, or internal approval before offering an engagement. Ask whether the firm will send a written engagement, a nonengagement notice, a request for more information, or a referral suggestion, and when that follow-up is expected.
Leave With a Defined Follow-Up Status
At the end, record what documents remain due, who will review them, whether the firm has accepted any task, which deadlines the client still controls, and the next communication date. Until a signed agreement says otherwise, continue required reporting, medical, insurer, employer, agency, or court obligations.
Three priorities are to verify the consultation terms in writing, use the firm’s secure intake route, and obtain a clear engagement or nonengagement status afterward. Save the booking confirmation and follow-up notice with the intake chronology so the representation boundary remains documented. Record any deadline the firm expressly did not assume responsibility for. That checklist answers the practical booking question without inventing a free-consultation promise or guaranteeing acceptance. At S&S Law, we help Denver clients with consultation terms.