It always surprised me when a debtor would contact our offices after we garnished their wages, or their bank account. I never understood why they would ignore the claim that we served. Did they think we were kidding? We are a law firm, we don’t believe in jokes. Just kidding, we do, but not when it comes to our clients’ matters.
I’ve written before about not ignoring your lawyer when it comes to corporate record keeping, but what about litigation matters? It’s definitely not a good idea to do that either.
Our law firm is known to be tough, and once we have the momentum on a matter, we need to keep that up. When a claim is not defended, we note the defendant in default right away, and proceed as quickly as we can to get Judgment.
When the matter has been defended, the next step in litigation is Discovery and the exchange of Affidavit of Documents. In litigation matters, a Discovery Plan needs to be agreed to between the parties. Again, this is something we move quickly on. We don’t let the other side drag their heels. We pick realistic dates in which to complete the necessary steps to get the matter to the Pre-Trial Conference. The Discovery process is a very important process and can take months to complete, which is why we want to get those dates “written in stone” so to speak. That way, if a party doesn’t comply, we have a basis to make them comply.
When sending those documents for you to review, don’t sit on it. The quicker we get through this Discovery Process, the quicker we can get to the end of litigation, whether it be a settlement at the Pre-Trial Conference, or Judgment at Trial.
We always have your best interest at heart, and we make sure the other side knows that.
Christine Allan, Law Clerk