You do not need to be fired to need an employment lawyer. Most of what decides how these situations end happens while you are still on the job, in the emails you send and the meetings you sit through. Flat fee for defined work, hourly where the scope genuinely cannot be fixed in advance, quoted before any work begins. The first call is free.
Many of the calls this firm gets arrive after the moment that mattered. Someone sat through an HR interview and answered questions they did not have to answer. Someone signed a performance improvement plan that recited facts they disagree with, and said nothing. Someone asked for time off for a medical issue in a hallway conversation that created no record at all.
None of those are catastrophes on their own. All of them are considerably harder to fix afterward than they would have been to handle correctly at the time, and each one hands the employer a document that will be read back later.
The first call is free and it is diagnostic. Its purpose is to work out what you actually need, which is sometimes nothing beyond a suggestion about how to word an email.
Defined work is a flat fee, quoted before it begins. Preparing you for an interview, drafting a written response to a write-up, framing an accommodation request, reviewing an agreement. You will know the number before you commit, and it does not change for the scope quoted. If the work expands beyond that scope, you will be told and re-quoted first.
Any limited-scope engagement is defined in writing before work begins.
Open-ended counsel is hourly. Where a situation is genuinely unfolding week to week and the scope cannot be fixed in advance, hourly is more honest than a flat fee that would have to be padded to cover the uncertainty. You will be told which applies and why.
Most defined advisory work is turned around within about three business days, and faster where a meeting or deadline is imminent, subject to the scope of the work and current caseload. Timing is confirmed on the first call. If HR has told you to come in tomorrow, say that when you call.
Nothing is sent to your employer unless you decide to send it. Your communications with the firm are confidential and protected by the attorney-client privilege, subject to the narrow exceptions the ethics rules recognize. Most of this work happens entirely behind the scenes, with the client sending the emails and the lawyer never appearing. Whether to reveal that you have counsel is itself a strategic decision, and the answer is often not yet.
Every matter is different. Descriptions of typical timing, fees, and outcomes are general and do not guarantee any particular result in your case.
Sometimes an advisory call surfaces something bigger: a pattern that looks like discrimination, discipline that started only after a complaint, a leave request that was quietly punished. When that happens you will be told, along with a candid view of what it is realistically worth and what pursuing it would actually involve.
Claims worth pursuing are generally handled on a contingency basis rather than a flat fee, so the fee conversation changes at that point. What does not change is that you get an honest assessment first. See wrongful termination, retaliation, and employment discrimination.
And frequently the answer is the other one, that there is no claim here and the right move is practical rather than legal. That is a useful answer too, and it is cheaper to get now than after you have acted on a guess.
Yes, and it is usually the better time. Most of what determines how an employment dispute turns out happens before anyone is terminated: what you put in writing, how you respond to a write-up, whether you request an accommodation in a way that creates a record, and what you say in an HR interview. Advice at that stage is generally cheaper than untangling the same problem afterward, and there is usually more that can still be done about it.
Preparing for an HR or investigatory interview, responding to a write-up or a performance improvement plan in writing, framing an accommodation or leave request so it is legally recognized, deciding whether and how to report something, reviewing an employment agreement or offer before you sign, and building a documentation record while you still have access to it. It also covers the honest read on whether you have a problem worth acting on.
Flat fee for defined pieces of work, quoted before anything begins, or hourly for open-ended counsel where the scope genuinely cannot be defined in advance. You will be told which applies and what it costs on the first call, and a flat quote does not change for the scope it covers; if the work expands beyond that scope you will be re-quoted before anything further is done.
Not through this firm. Your communications with the firm are confidential and protected by the attorney-client privilege, subject to the narrow exceptions the ethics rules recognize, and nothing is sent to your employer unless you decide to send it. A great deal of advisory work is done entirely behind the scenes, where the client sends the emails and the lawyer never appears. Whether and when to reveal that you have counsel is a strategic decision, and often the answer is not yet.
Most defined advisory work is turned around within about three business days, and faster where a meeting or deadline is imminent, subject to the scope of the work and current caseload. Timing is confirmed on the first call. If you have been told to attend a meeting tomorrow, say so when you call.
Then you will be told, along with a candid assessment of what it is realistically worth and what pursuing it would involve. Claims worth pursuing are generally handled on contingency rather than a flat fee, so the conversation shifts. Plenty of advisory matters end with the honest answer that there is no claim and the right move is a practical one rather than a legal one.
Thirty minutes with attorney Sean H. Sobel, at no cost, to work out what you actually need. If there is a meeting or a deadline in front of you, say so when you call and the firm will try to move you up.
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