Is A Second Opinion Important For My Case? What Does It Entail?

Should I get a second opinion on my criminal case? Let me give you a scenario that happens very often in criminal law. We get a phone call from a client of another lawyer, and they’re saying, look, you know, I’ve got this lawyer, and they’re not communicating with me. They’re telling me, I don’t have a very good case to win. Blah, blah, blah. They’ve got all these sorts of complaints about the lawyer, and, you know, I won’t even know the lawyer. First of all, I tried to reassure the client. Look, this is a very good lawyer, and I’m sure that their opinion is probably quite valid, and the client’s still not assured. Should that person get a second opinion? Well, sometimes lawyers are busy. I mean, they’re, they’re, how can I put it? They’re not overly communicative. But they might be very good lawyer, and that lawyer has given them an excellent opinion. When I say the client, look, you should communicate with the lawyer, talk to them, go through the communication that you’re concerned and express that to him. If you’re truly wanting a second opinion, you can play the explain that to them. I can tell you this, I’ve heard of that lawyer. I know that lawyer. Their opinions probably perfectly valid, but it gives assurance to the client. So sometimes a client will hire us, will give the opinion, and in most of the cases that I done a second opinion, that’s a ton of my career, but quite a few the lawyers right, the second payment is quite valid, so it does give that level of assurance for a person for that. Now, sometimes an extremely complex case, a second opinion is valid because it can, get different thinking and different strategies. Not every there’s more than two ways to skin a cat. There’s more than two ways to win a case. So sometimes a second opinion can be valid even when you’re happy with your lawyer, just to get a different angle on it.  Within our law firm, for example, I will often bounce my ideas off the other lawyers. So, there’s kind of a second opinion a way to get some clarification or to get some different angles of ways of winning. So, there’s different situations where a second opinion may be called for. A lot of people are, you know, lawyer, there’s some exceptional lawyers out there, I might add, who they’re not that communicative with their clients and the client’s not assured, but that the opinion is beautiful. It’s totally correct, but obviously you hope you’re with a lawyer who does both the communication and does exceptional work, so you’re totally confident in that lawyer. Now I can tell you this. What does the second opinion entail? Well, the second opinion lawyer that you’ve retained, they’re going to need to get all of the disclosure, every document. They’re going to get your statements. You’re going to have to tell them your complete version of events, and only after all these documents and review, which may take hours. In some case, it may take 100 hours in a complicated fraud case, it depends on the complexity of the case in order for them to give you the opinion about the strategy and whether your personal lawyers opinion is perfectly valid, I can tell you, in most cases, it’s an unfortunate reality in our criminal justice system that I’m not saying this is correct, but a lot of lawyers are very busy, and they give their opinion the client, they review things carefully, they’re just not communicative enough. If you have a lawyer like that, you should talk to them, him or her about it, and maybe you can open up the lines of communication. And, you know, resolve that, because they may be open that. But you have to be open and honest with your lawyer. You need to tell them, Look, I’d like a second opinion. I’m hoping you’d be cooperative in it. You know, I’ve had clients approach us for second opinions. I’m perfectly open to it. I’m very confident our opinions and I want the client reassured, and we’re willingly will give the disclosure to the new lawyer. And I can tell you, I’ve never had a case. I’ve only had this happen a few times, but I never had a case where the second lawyer differed with me. It was the same opinion, but, but there you have it. There are certain situations where you may want to retain a second lawyer, but be open and honest with your lawyer. Try and keep the channels of communication open. And it’s not necessarily situation, just because your lawyer’s not communicating with you doesn’t mean they’re not a good lawyer, let me put it that way. But you need to approach them and ask, look, we get more clear communication so I understand what’s going on with my case.