employment lawyers won’t talk to me until I’ve already been fired — how do I find a legal consult now?

by Alison Green on April 8, 2026

A reader writes:

I’m a long-time reader. I often see you advise writers to get advice from an attorney. You even once covered how to tell your current employer you are bringing in an attorney.

I’m seeking advice on an ADA matter, but I’ve run into a weird issue. It seems these days, most firms have a policy where they simply won’t talk to you about your current employer. I’ve actually been told by multiple firms to “call back when I get fired.” If there is a possibility I’m in the wrong, I’d very much rather know now, before it gets that far.

I suspect this is a result of firms using a contingency model where they only get paid if you win a lawsuit or settlement. That’s great if you already have a case to file (such as being wrongfully fired) but not great if you are still trying to avoid one and just need some advice.

I tried to find a firm that might let me pay a fee for an hour but have not been able to find any. Is there anything else I can do, or am I out of luck? Do employment lawyers just not do advice anymore?

I asked employment lawyer Jon Hyman of Wickens Herzer Panza, who writes the incredibly useful Ohio Employer Law Blog and is the author of The Employer Bill of Rights: A Manager’s Guide to Workplace Law, to weigh in on this. Here’s his very helpful answer:

Much of the plaintiff-side employment bar has moved to a contingency model. No termination, no clear damages, no case — at least not one they can monetize. So they screen aggressively. Pre-termination counseling? That’s harder to value, harder to win, and harder to scale.

But that doesn’t mean advice has disappeared. It just means your reader is looking in the wrong places.

First, not every employment lawyer works on contingency. Many — especially management-side lawyers — bill hourly and regularly advise on ADA compliance, accommodations, and interactive process issues. Yes, they typically represent employers. But plenty will consult with individuals on a paid basis. Your reader isn’t asking them to sue anyone, but for guidance.

Second, look beyond “employment litigation” firms. Search for “employment counseling,” “HR compliance,” or even “labor and employment boutique.” Those practices are built around advice, not lawsuits.

Third, consider bar association referral services. They often steer you to lawyers willing to do short, paid consults.

Lawyers still give advice. You just have to find the ones who get paid to prevent problems instead of profit from them.

{ 113 comments }

{ 113 comments… read them below }

  1. Alton Brown's Evil Twin*

    Any firm with lots of billboards and TV ads is probably not the right firm for OPs situation!

    1. LippyTappyTooTah*

      Similarly, if a firm has thousands (or, frankly even hundreds) of reviews online, that is all fake engagement.

  2. Forrest Rhodes*

    I want to put Mr. Hyman’s final paragraph on a plaque and hang it somewhere. No offense to the legal profession, but those two sentences are absolutely perfect advice.

    1. Not Tom, Just Petty*

      I’m a fan of this part:
      “Lawyers still give advice. You just have to find the ones who get paid to prevent problems instead of profit from them.”

      1. Do these bananapants make my butt look big?*

        YES! and, as one of those, let me just say – the ones you need are the ones that spend more time doing transactional work, rather than litigation. There is an entire category of us who actually do spend our entire career writing stuff to prevent problems. As noted, we tend not to have billboards and 1-800 numbers!

        1. nona*

          I don’t think people appreciate that BOTH types of attorneys are needed. Yes, you can “spend [y]our entire career writing stuff to prevent problems” but that doesn’t mean there will not be problems. And when there are problems, most transactional attorneys want nothing to do with going to court, so then you need a litigator. By all means, please hire the transactional attorneys to give you advice and draft your documents! But its a different skill set than litigation.

          Also, let’s not pretend that ONLY litigation attorneys profit from their clients. Transactional attorneys make money too. (This is directed at Attorney Hyman, not your reply bananapants.)

          1. Anon for this*

            Exactly! This is especially true in estate planning. Some firms strictly do the documents for you, and don’t litigate. Some are specialists in probate litigation. Ideally the former set up a body of documents that stand up to a test easily.

      2. Malarkey01*

        I also think there’s a ton of misconceptions out there about free consults. Everyone likes to say the majority of lawyers give free consults and that’s not true, especially for non-contingencies.

        The other thing really misunderstood is how much it will costs out of pocket. In the vast majority of cases it just isn’t worth the outlay unless you have a very high income and it’s usually cheaper to find a new job.

        1. Anon for this*

          People forever want free consultations in family law. There is no profit to be shared at the end of a case. There is no way we are going to work for free on the chance your spouse will be ordered to pay attorney fees. I know some family law firms will do a quick 15-minute chat (usually with a paralegal or associate) but if you want actual advice, you need the hour. And the hour costs money.

          As to your second point: lord have mercy, divorce is expensive! I had no idea before I started working as a paralegal in this field. People have no idea. I get daily calls where people choke on the consultation fee, and if they make it past that, they choke when they ask what the retainer is and I can give them a general range. I can’t quote, obviously, but, somewhere from $6k – $8k is our starting retainer for divorce. Most people usually get all the way through it and have to pay more. Unfortunately the legal profession has absolutely gate-kept this process so even a simple divorce is hard to get finished without legal help. You can fill out the forms from the clerk’s website, but the lore? You need the lore for your county, your judge, your clerk and that’s not published anywhere.

          1. Red Reader the Adulting Fairy*

            I’ve been fortunate enough (sort of) to be divorced twice and not needed legal assistance in either case. But we didn’t have property or children in either case and more or less agreed to just take our own stuff and get out of each other’s lives, which definitely helped.

          1. Malarkey01*

            To start a one hour consult isn’t going to get you much at all unless the case is obviously baseless. If it’s someone who has no idea what basic employment law is the facts of a case can be gone through and an incredibly clear “this is nothing” given in an hour. It’s going to be market specific (and how established the firm is) but my experience is $200-$350. So paying around $300 to be told this is nothing.
            But the law is so incredibly fact specific so anything that would be a potential case, an hour isn’t enough to nail down facts, do any research, look into options, and an attorney isn’t going to be able to give an opinion without that. What I typically see is a $2k-$8k retainer that would be in the realm of severance negotiation or navigating FMLA/ADA or negotiating unemployment.
            So unless you’re in a high paying job where a few additional months severance far exceed that, you aren’t going to be seeing much ROI.

            1. Malarkey01*

              Sorry I just wanted to clarify the low end of that ($2k) is just the amount to do the research to tell you what they’d recommend and then you’d go up from there based on how you wanted to proceed with their help and they’d outline the additional cost for that.

  3. Dulcinea47*

    This is very interesting. Similarly, when I was looking for an attorney to talk to about illegal things my landlord was doing, I couldn’t find one who would even talk to me. But if you’re the landlord doing illegal things you can have all the lawyers you want.

    1. LiberryPie*

      I had a similar situation when I was having a conflict with my neighbor and talked to a real estate lawyer. Granted, I wasn’t that clear on what I wanted (clarify my rights to me? explain them to my neighbor in writing?), but mostly they told me to get back in touch if anyone sued me or fined me. I did talk to one who went close to the line of how much advice he could give without me retaining him, and I liked him, and it made me feel much better to have his name in case I did get sued (which luckily I didn’t). But the experience also made me wonder about Alison’s frequent advice to talk to a lawyer, because this wasn’t looking to me like how lawyers work.

      1. Do these bananapants make my butt look big?*

        Hi, you were looking for me. This is literally what I do. When things get icky, i have to send people off to a litigator, so my entire job is trying to keep people from getting sued.

        The issue is, we tend to be expensive. My best suggestion is to ask friends and family for names, and when you call, be clear that you are hopeful this WON’T be a big issue, but you are scared and you would be delighted to pay a retainer and hourly for the lawyer’s time. Most of the time the reluctance to deal with these situations stems not from a lack of desire to help, but from the competing desire to get paid. My intake for calls like this is to get to my hourly rate VERY QUICKLY, and let the caller decide. Is your problem $1000 scary? Then yes, I’m going to help you and – bonus – if things deteriorate and you DO get sued, now you have a person to run to, immediately, who knows the situation. Receiving a complaint is f’ing terrifying – it’s got time limits, it’s in bold type, ugh! You send it to me and I will deal with it – even if it’s just to get a litigator pal to get you a better referral and an extension of time to respond!

        1. Glitsy Gus*

          What is your title/kind of firm?

          I get asking friends, etc. but the times I’ve needed advice, I didn’t know anyone who had needed to get legal advice in that arena before, so I was on my own. It would be good to know what KIND of person to look for, especially for renter stuff.

          1. Do these bananapants make my butt look big?*

            i’m at a mid-size firm that has many different practice areas. I do transactional real estate. We get cold calls all the time and that’s not a great intro. But if someone calls or emails me directly, I will always respond, and especially if they say “so and so gave me your name” or some other connection or read a thing I wrote online. I’ve never had someone call because the bar association sent them but i’d likely call that back, too.

    2. Bored Lawyer*

      The system is admittedly very broken. Your landlord likely has an attorney on retainer, so she can call and spend 15 minutes on the phone with her lawyer, and her lawyer can just bill her for those 15 minutes.

      If you don’t already have a lawyer, or a relationship with a lawyer in the type of law that you’re dealing with, it’s a bit of a mountain to climb. If you cold call or email a lawyer, you’re going to get screened. The first question is “is this something we do?” If I primarily do medical malpractice, and you call me for a landlord/tenant issue, we aren’t going to waste our or your time for a meeting that will go nowhere. The second question is (and this is absolutely not a comment on you) “does this person sound reasonably sane?” There are people who serially call lawsuits about things like “I need to sue my landlord because they let aliens into my house.”

      Even if those questions are satisfied, the way firms work still disincentivizes something that will only take an hour or two. For every new client at my firm, we have about an hour of admin work before even meeting the client. We need to run a conflict check to ensure that we haven’t previously represented someone adverse to you. If you pass the conflict check, then your information gets sent over to billing to get you all entered into the system. Then you come to my assistant to book an initial meeting and request any paperwork (like if you have a letter for your landlord that I need to review before our meeting). If we meet for an hour, and I give you advice, and that’s it, then we basically need to reverse the process. My assistant will write you a closing letter and send you back your documents and file. The billing department puts together your bill and charges your credit card. The booker will update our internal systems closing the matter. It’s another hour. And god forbid we actually have to chase you to get you to pay or something.

      If our feeling is that the one meeting will be the only action, yes, I get paid my $400/hour for that hour of advice. But, we’ve got a lot of clients and I could have just billed someone else and not used one hour of my time and two hours of staff time on getting you in and out.

      This is absolutely not to say that you don’t deserve access to a lawyer. You do. Just the way it works disincentivizes small matters. The advice others have given about looking into legal clinics at law schools, or referrals from the state bar are good. Your state’s attorney general’s office, or city attorney’s office could have good resources, too.

      1. Red Shirt Alert*

        I’m so glad you laid this out in detail. Many of us don’t think about the “other” time involved. I’ve tried explaining to higher ups that successfully receiving full Medicaid payments involves more than just simply keying 500 monthly online invoices. There is gobs of prep, gobs of complex regulations and even a little difference in service can significantly impact billing & actually getting paid. And don’t get me started on idiots who think their disagreement with a reg matters to authorities.

        1. KaciHall*

          Tricare and medicaid requirements for background checks are so picky and make me crazy. Sure, require Statewide criminal history searches when the states don’t offer one. We’re doing the national and county searches for every bit of address history the applicant has, but require something that doesn’t exist and make it the health care provider’s problem. (Who makes it my problem, because I work for the company doing background checks.)

        2. Lifelong student*

          Well having been both a paralegal and currently a CPA- I really do think some “consultations are overbilled. My documents- wills,POA’s, living wills, medical powers of attorney were all prepared by an experienced and qualified attorney who is out of state and is a family member. I would expect that attorney to do most, if not all of any legal work necessary when I die. However, since that out of state attorney need local advice with regard to deadlines, etc. I wanted to have a local attorney somewhat familiar with me for the out of state person to consult with. We met with a local attorney I was familiar with- in fact- when I was a paralegal I trained him in local procedures! Yes, we met for an hour- but he prepared no documents, although he did read through the documents I had. I was suprised by the size of the bill I received. I may have used an hour of his time, but I did not use his legal expertise- unless his confirming that my papers were all in order was using his expertise. I suppose an argument could be made for that.

          1. General von Klinkerhoffen*

            It’s a bit like when the locksmith takes thirty seconds to unlock your door and charges you a hundred and fifty — you’re not paying for the thirty seconds so much as the ten years of experience that enabled him to be so good at it.

            I’m a paralegal. There’s a simple procedural task I routinely perform which takes me typically under ten minutes in total, and for which we bill the equivalent of about $165. That sounds absolutely outrageous … until you realise that it can go wrong, and then you’re paying for my decades of experience to prevent your seven-figure income stream from going up in smoke, and for the various systems I have in place to prevent such a problem in the first place, not to mention our indemnity insurance and disaster recovery measures and so on.

            Clients are paying to have the buck stop with us, and not with them.

          2. anonymous today*

            I get that everyone hates lawyers, but more than an argument could be made that you used the attorney’s expertise.

            Anyone can look over legal documents from another state, but not all of them can tell you whether those documents meet your current state’s requirements without legal expertise.

            If you thought the consultation rate was too high, you could have decided it wasn’t worth the cost.

            Do you, as a CPA, review your clients’ documents from another CPS who prepared their documents last year for free? Or is it part of the service that you bill for to prepare this year’s documents?

            1. anonymous today*

              Adding that of course a lawyer is going to bill you their full hourly rate to just look over documents. If they didn’t, they would be giving up the opportunity cost of what they could have earned working for a paying client.

          3. jack russell terrier*

            But I expect proper oversight. When Mum died the British solicitor had solely three things to do.

            Two of those we not done correctly. One was changing the ownership of the flat into my name only.

            One was DWP – they messed up getting the amount of the pension ‘clawback’ to me. I ended up dealing with that

            The only one they didn’t mess up was changing the bank account solely into my name.

            This is the simplest of convening. Needless to say, I had something to say about the invoice.

            The solicitor obviously didn’t double check the work properly.

      2. Dulcinea47*

        I can definitely see why they would think that would be a waste of their time, it just really left me screwed. I make too much money to use a legal clinic but not enough to own my own home. The state atty general here (Kansas) is one of the worst human beings on the planet, I am not exaggerating. Basically all I needed was someone to tell them that they couldn’t give themselves blanket permission to come in my apartment any time they wanted (one of the very, very few rights renters have here) and I was in fact willing and able to pay for that. Instead I moved to a much more expensive apartment with an even worse corporate ownership, but they haven’t tried to do anything illegal yet.

    3. Heather*

      Technically, anyone can have all the lawyers they want. It’s just that it’s not cheap.

  4. RedinSC*

    Also, if the LW has access to and EAP, there is often legal advice available there, a certain amount free, and then paid for continuing service.

    1. EmF*

      While it’s true that EAPs do offer legal advice, they would not touch this with a ten-foot pole due to conflict of interest. The one I worked for did not do anything at all regarding labor law or anything workplace-related.

      1. EmF*

        (They _would_ offer OP other types of assistance, though. Financial advice along the lines of “hey, if you’re worried about being unemployed, let’s see if we can build up a nice cushion and a bare-bones budget”), nutrition advice (‘here’s how to make cheap meals’), other general things that would make losing a job suck a little less.)

      2. NotAnotherManager!*

        Ours does not provide legal counsel but does offer a referral service to various types of law.

        1. EmF*

          That’s what mine does, but they won’t refer to labor lawyers. Don’t even have them in the network. EAPs are confidential and private, but it’s still a huge conflict of interest.

      4. RegBarclay*

        Yup, when my employer was selling my division to another company and I needed help understanding the overly broad non compete clause in the employment agreement, the EAP at my old employer wouldn’t help. My impression is that employment law was completely off limits.

    2. allathian*

      One word, unions. I could retain a lawyer through my union. The initial consultation is free, later fees are reasonable.

  5. PlainJane*

    This may sound weird, but it might not hurt to talk to the company’s legal people, unless they’re directly involved. I mean, I don’t know your company culture, but I work for a city and recently had the opportunity to talk to someone from city legal. I brought up something that had happened several years earlier (an administrator had told me that I wasn’t allowed to ask for light duty and should inform my doctor–after abdominal surgery–that was I fine on doing whatever), and she completely blanched, said, “That *definitely* shouldn’t have happened,” apologized, and presumably ripped someone a new one for risking a lawsuit.

    1. jez chickena*

      Yep. I worked for a small family-owned ISV that did all kinds of crazy and I learned to ask our in-house counsel if I was having issues. He stepped in for me more than once and had the founder apologize to me.

    2. Do these bananapants make my butt look big?*

      DO NOT do this if your issue is WITH the company!! In-house counsel represents the company, NOT YOU. If they’re good, they will remind you of this up front and cut off the conversation.

    4. QED*

      It completely depends on who the issue is in your organization. If your boss is saying that FMLA isn’t real or something that’s equally pretty clearly wrong and illegal like the boss from a recent letter who was changing the LW’s timecards, then it’s worth going to HR or your general counsel’s office. In that scenario, it’s better for the organization/company to resolve the issue (and not get sued), so you could get what you want, especially if it’s pretty clear that your boss was wrong. But if it’s more ambiguous, HR is the problem, or your organization has a history of being bad on the issue you’re raising (like ignoring retaliation), then you should definitely not talk to their legal department. Even in scenarios where it makes sense to raise the issue to HR or the GC’s office, you need to remember that they represent the company/organization, not you, so there’s no confidentiality, they don’t have to give you good advice, and they don’t have to act in your best interest.

  6. Asloan*

    There’s a problem in a lot of fields where nobody wants to do the smaller standalone jobs, or at least not for anything less than the highest cost. The relatively small hourly amount they can charge doesn’t feel worth the activation, apparently. I run into this with even like smaller household projects. It seems like these days there’s often a third-party model to “bundle up” smaller jobs (aka the Task Rabbit / Angi’s list / Fiver or whatever). Is there such a thing for legal services? Of course you often don’t get the most experienced practitioners that way.

    1. Wednesday Wishes*

      This is very true! I am a freelance bookkeeper and my business thrives on clients who only need an hour or two of bookkeeping per month- because no one else wants such small jobs I’ve built a great business specializing in just that.

    2. Another One*

      I imagine people also run into the issue of attorneys assuming people are looking for free advice.

      I’m non-practicing, but still get legal questions from friends cuz I’m available and free (cuz friend). And a friend asked a really specific question on behalf of a former colleague. It was something I couldn’t answer without all sorts of information (and ironically a background in labor law, which I don’t have.)

      But I was honest with my friend that her former colleague needed an attorney to get a real answer to this question and that it would cost. Not read the contract and give an opinion cost. But having to do research cost.

      And the difference between the two is significant.

      1. Another One*

        I should be clear that former colleague seems aware this is gonna and I did suggest that she speak with other colleagues who might be similarly situated so they could split the attorney’s bill.

    3. Cmdrshprd*

      “at least not for anything less than the highest cost. The relatively small hourly amount they can charge doesn’t feel worth the activation, apparently.”

      The problem with that is that a mix of often the 1hr they charge you for is not actually what it takes to do the job for them, there is the drive time, initial setup/consult, admin work, drive back etc…..

      So even a 1 hr $100 an hr charge for light fixture install is going to take them 1 hr of background work, when they could spend that same hr on a $200 job.

      they are a business is they have 5 other jobs that they can make more money on, yes your/mine $100 job is not worth it.

      I’ve gotten to know some contractors who, will absolutely do a $20 electric outlet install, but they will charge you the $100 or $150 call out fee, so you pay $170, or you can bundle those smaller things and have them spend 1-3 hrs and pay $500.

      If I ever have a bigger job I try to go around and think of all the other smaller minor things I might want to do that requires the same kind of contractor (electrician/plumber etc) and try to bundle them all. An $1k electric panel replacement and a new outlet I just pay the standard $20 outlet install x 5, and not a call out fee.

      1. I don't work in this van*

        Where I am, it’s difficult to get people even for 3-5k worth of home projects. It’s either an entire kitchen remodel or nothing.

    4. anonymous worker ant*

      I would say in a case like LP’s to see if there are any local legal aid places. If you don’t know where to start, ask you public library.

      These are often local places that have lawyers working pro bono hourly law clinics, and they love a quick and easy query on something like “is my employer violating the ADA?” If they don’t have people who can help or think the issue is to complex for them to handle, they will often be able to refer to someone who will, and they will have directories and so on as well. My library’s go to is The People’s Law Library of [State], a nonprofit funded by the state judiciary just for things like this. If there’s a law school nearby, you could also try there – they also often offer free short consult clinics to help train students.

  8. Ellis Hubris*

    I needed an employment lawyer when I was navigating FMLA, an ongoing illness, and my company wanting to push me out. It cost a pretty penny but paid itself in droves. My attorney was able to steer me in how to navigate a much better settlement and was ready to step in if the company got combative. I found my attorney through someone I knew but I’m quite sure it’s a boutique employment firm. I’m sure this attorney advises large companies all day. What I most appreciated was the insight into what the company was doing and thinking. Quelled my fears as I plainly responded to the situation.

  9. No Longer a Bookkeeper*

    Sorry, OP, this sounds so frustrating! I’ve also heard of colleges having clinics where people can come ask legal questions and it’s a lot more affordable than a lawyer who’s passed the bar. (Kind of like how it’s cheaper to go to a student in dental school than an actual dentist.) I’m not sure if that’s dependent on the college having a law school attached, but it might be worth checking out if you’re having a hard time finding someone.

    1. NotAnotherManager!*

      State bar organizations often publish lists of these organizations, as do the law schools that offer them. Students are typically supervised by a barred attorney. Our local court also offers a drop-in clinic once a month, and the clinic provides referrals if the problem is more complex than they can handle.

      I agree with the response, here, though – contingency is not the way to go if you’re just looking for advice. Advice is done on a fee-for-service basis.

  10. LemonTaffy*

    I emphasize using your state bar’s referral program. I used it and got in touch with a knowledgeable lawyer for free who gave me useful advice and allowed me to make a plan moving forward. The program had a small form to fill out so they know what kind of lawyer you’re looking for. It saved me a lot of time going through Google and websites trying to find and vet someone who would be appropriate and useful to me.

    1. Fungus Among Us*

      Can confirm! I’ve used that service in my state a few times and it’s excellent, because they can refer to the most appropriate type of lawyer/firm based on the info you give them. No guessing on your part!

    2. Me*

      +1 for bar associations. they may also have information for free / low cost legal services in the area and publications on certain types of smaller legal issues that many people face, like landlord tenant issues

  11. Name*

    I was able to talk to an employment lawyer before my position ended. I was being laid off because a grant was ending. Problem was, I was not in a grant funded position and my position should not have been eliminated.
    Down side is that I spent 12k to be told that I was right, I had a case, and that all I would get is my position back. No guarantee they wouldn’t find cause to fire me later (which would eliminate my ability to get unemployment) and no recourse to get financial compensation or attorney’s fees (state law for the specific industry).

    1. ButYouLookFine!*

      Wow, I am so sorry you went through that — what industry is this? Is it state-specific for that industry or no?

  12. Boss Scaggs*

    The advice sounds good but depends on the OP not having really done her research. OP says they have contacted firms and none of them will accept an hourly fee, so hopefully she only contacted a couple.

    1. fhqwhgads*

      Depends on if whoever she contacted were all the same types of firms/lawyers. If she contacted more than a couple, but they were all the kind the advice who focus on litigation, then the advice is still useful because the problem is needing to seek out those who aren’t primarily litigators.

  13. Anne of Green Gables*

    Many states’ state bar associations have a matching service with a set fee for an initial consultation. In my state, it’s 30 minutes, I think that number is fairly standard. I’ve seen the flat fee anywhere from $25-$50. In my state, you enter your general type of law and your zip code, and they give you matches. You need to contact the firm, but if you say you found them via the state bar association, you get that flat fee.

    I have used this as a way to get advice. In my case, it wasn’t employment law, but this is what is meant by the “third” section in the answer above.

  14. happy red panda*

    If there is a law school in your state, they probably have at least one free legal clinic run by law students. You can contact them for guidance or for help getting in touch with an attorney.

  15. Office Manager*

    Ok this might not be the most PC advice but I just went through pregnancy discrimination at my job and negotiated a layoff and severance without talking with a lawyer for this reason.

    I used ChatGPT! I ran scenarios, asked for different points of view (boss, lawyer, mine), worked out messaging to use, etc.

    It meant at times I had to separate emotionally from what I was going through and focus on the problem and making sure to keep at top of mind that ChatGPT is a bot and that I need to close any loopholes, but it was really helpful and I don’t think I would have navigated it as well without it it.

    1. Suspicious_Swan*

      You can definitely do this, but be careful. If you eventually need a lawyer, courts have ruled that the other side can get your AI records since there’s no attorney-client privilege.

      1. Perfect Door Stop*

        Really? Your records from personal ai use? Or only ai you access through your employment?
        I’m finding it hard to get around the idea that anything I write using a generative Ai tool is something I could legally be made to show others. What about all the people using chatbots as a diary, as emotional support, etc? I have imagined up until now that no one would ever have access except me, unless I used the AI through an employer.

        1. B’Elanna*

          If the circumstances are right, your actual diary can be subpoenaed. Your emails certainly can. It requires a court order, but it’s not privileged information like talking to an actual lawyer (or therapist) is. Just because someone uses AI “like” a lawyer or a therapist does not mean it’s privileged in the same way.

        2. ursula*

          Yes, this has come up in a bunch of jurisdictions (at least in the US and Canada). Personal AI records treated like other telecomms records (emails etc).

        3. QED*

          Yes, those records are discoverable in a lawsuit. There are very specific types of records that are or can be exempt from discovery in a lawsuit, but communications with people who aren’t your lawyer or your doctor generally isn’t one of those categories. Same with personal diaries; those can be discoverable too. None of that changes just because you used AI. This is why there’s a lot of discussion right now in the legal profession about AI use. It’s not just the hallucinations, it’s that while as an attorney my work product is usually confidential, as soon as I share that work product with ChatGPT, it’s not confidential anymore. So I would be very, very careful about asking ChatGPT for legal advice.

        4. Coverage Associate*

          As a lawyer who works on privacy issues and who has signed subpoenas for electronic records: yes, what everyone else is saying

          Something that makes AI particularly unlikely to be protected is that unlike a paper diary, most of the free AI services use everything entered into them to improve the algorithms, or they did until very recently and maintain the right to do so. So, while even something meant to be forever private like a diary can be made to be shared in the right legal circumstances, what is entered into free AI is not meant to be forever private. It’s shared with the AI company as soon as you enter it.

        6. Jaydee*

          It would be more like an email conversation you had about the situation with your mom or your best friend or something. That’s potentially discoverable. What if you told your mom or your bestie (or your AI of choice) certain things and then later your story changed a little or you left some things out or forgot some details that were relevant and potentially not great for your case?

          “Who have you talked to about your claim/about this case?” and “Give us copies of any communications you’ve had regarding your claim/this case” are super common discovery requests.

    2. Ashley*

      As someone who works in publishing, I need to caveat here. In my field, we contend with AI quite a bit because we’re now inundated with writing and research pulled from GAI and we get new stats every week so we can have informed conversations with authors and editors.

      Current stats place ChatGPT accuracy at around 50%.

      PLEASE DO NOT rely on ChaptGPT for legal advice in any way.

      1. MarfisaTheLibrarian*

        Especially given how many lawyers have gotten in serious trouble for relying on AI to write documents absolutely riddled with hallucinations and false information.

        Hallucinations aside, AI is also particularly inaccurate when it comes to the weird local nuance that legal questions rely on. It’s pulling from training data that might include information about federal laws, state laws, the laws in the city 50 miles away, the law that got changed three years ago, but it has no way to pick out which information is accurate to your location.

    4. Do these bananapants make my butt look big?*

      I’m happy this worked for you but in my experience thus far, actual lawyers can tell when you’ve used ChatGPT. You’d be safer to just use plain old Google like the old days to get you to relevant law. Or your state AG’s website.

    5. Another One*

      And if you need anything based on law, you need to make sure that you are double checking it outside your AI bot of choice.

      But I do get the benefit of opting for this if you are on a budget.

      (Though Suspicious_Swan has a really important point that if you are engaged in something that could lead to litigation, you need to be incredibly cautious because this is all discoverable.)

    6. I'm Just Here for the Cats!!*

      This is not the greatest idea. ChatGPT has been known to make stuff up. Lawyers, cops and others have gotten in major problems because they’ve used ChatGPT and it made stuff up. It makes up cases and laws. It might be ok to use to format an email or to give you talking points but you need to make sure that if it says XYZ is illegal that it really is illegal. Remember, one of AI’s points is to keep you engaged, and it will do whatever it can to do that.

      1. Jaydee*

        And it doesn’t just make up facts or misinterpret information. It can make up whole laws and cases. Because these are language learning models, so their job is to figure out what combinations of words go together to make a coherent response in a certain context. So you are in Kentucky and you represent a llama grooming company that’s being sued because a llama they were grooming got out of its restraints and bit a customer who was paying for a bottle of prescription shampoo. You want to know of there’s any relevant case law. Your LLM will try to find appropriate word, so maybe it finds a similar case involving a dog groomer in Mississippi that found the groomer not liable. Great! You ask if there’s any similar case in Kentucky. And instead of saying “no, I didn’t find one” it gives you the case of Davis v. A Cut Above Mobile Grooming Inc., 123 S.W.3rd 477 (Ky. 2019). It made that up completely. But it knows what a Kentucky Supreme Court citation looks like, so it put words and numbers in the right places. (I also know what a citation looks like and made that one up. I’m slower than an LLM but just as good at making stuff up.)

    7. Coverage Associate*

      This is buried below, so I will repeat it here: If your question is “what is the law about x?” a resource designed to help with exactly that question, which no lawyer has ever got in trouble for using (assuming that they followed the basic rules of all libraries) is a law library. Every US jurisdiction has them. In California, they are run by counties and near courthouses. In Virginia, they are run by the regular public libraries but might be in a different building or room than the regular adult nonfiction area.

      The law libraries I have used in California have exactly the same resources lawyers use to do research, and the staff will assist visitors with research. Anyone can visit and use the resources on site like a normal public library, but in California only lawyers can check out books. (Very rare that a full time lawyer has use for a physical book in 2026. We mostly use online databases, and anyone can access the same databases at the law library.)

      1. Freya*

        I’ve had people argue with me about Australian tax law because GenAI told them something, when adding “ATO” to your Google search brings up the literal Australian Tax Office explainer page that agrees with me.

        (To be fair, the ATO website search function is so awful to use that it’s easier to find the information you want by googling and restricting the search to that domain. And tax law changes often enough that I check things every time I do something that might have legal consequences rather than rely on my memory)

  16. Sea Shell*

    For all the downsides of social media, this is the kind of thing where it can be helpful. I’m in a local Facebook group, and people often ask for/give recommendations on all sorts of services, including lawyers. In some groups, questions can be asked anonymously too.

  17. ButYouLookFine!*

    I just went through a FMLA/ADA issue at work and I ran into the opposite issue, I think. They all wanted me to negotiate the severance package. Only 1 lawyer out of 14 that answered the call that day out of the 25+ that I called advised me to reject the severance offer and push for FMLA and STD. He said the worst that could happen is that, one: my STD claim is denied which he thought unlikely; two: I’d get STD/FMLA and at the end of that I’d be right back in the same position, but hopefully in a healthier place physically and mentally.

    It was a godsend because I didn’t know if I was truly sick and tired or just sick and tired of being sick and tired. Such is the case with mental health disabilities, neurological issues, and autonomic system dysregulation that don’t fit neatly into box where it is “obvious” you are unwell. My systems were also seemingly cyclical, but chronic and I thought it was “all in my head.” It was, technically, all in my head, but a combination of medications and specialized treatments helped me make immense progress during the time I was “off.”

    Alison’s advice is spot on. Keep looking. My lawyer was hourly and did remarkable work. He was also the most expensive of the bunch, but if I could pay his fees over double, I would. I wouldn’t be where I am at without his guidance and support.

  18. Pink Poly Pocket*

    This is an interesting development in the legal world.
    I wonder if it is specific to a particular context, perhaps US specific. (Which makes sense, given that Ask a Manager is a US entity, of course!)
    Recently I found it straightforward to obtain legal assistance with a work issue, in the UK. There were several firms I could have approached. In the end, I found a small, sector-specific union I could join quickly, where benefits were available to me quickly, and those benefits included a few hours of legal support. I used that option. I know I’m fortunate to have been able to access it.

    1. Retired Vulcan Raises 1 Grey Eyebrow*

      It may well be just in the US.
      I’ve had no problem finding lawyers in the Uk and in Germany for small civil cases whenever I needed one, for a surprisingly reasonable cost, more so in Germany – only a few hundred Eur total in each case, different lawyers, totally worth it, e.g:

      – examining my employement contract and explaining disability rights
      – tenancy / property issue
      – awsome negotiation by phone to get my money back including for a new ipad bought from an internet shop that couldn’t provide internet to my address and totally blanked me.

      For the Uk when my late mother lived there, getting half our money back after a kitchen installer gave up partway.

    2. QED*

      The US legal system is very different from continental European legal systems and even the UK legal systems (despite being based on English common law). For employment issues, a lot of that is related to the decline of unions in the US and the lack of employment contracts. For other issues, it’s that the systems developed differently over time. I wouldn’t take too many lessons from the UK or the rest of Europe into legal assistance in the US.

      1. Coverage Associate*

        UK solicitors also spend less than 7 years at university. Only 3, in fact, I think?

        Almost every US lawyer has a 4 year undergraduate degree and a 3 year Juris Doctor degree.

        Also, I don’t think any European jurisdiction has 57 sub jurisdictions the way the US has states and territories (and that’s not even counting native nations). For something like a wage and hour issue, a NY lawyer is not going to have most of the necessary training if the employment is in California, whereas there’s very little difference in the law in Kent and York.

  19. Do these bananapants make my butt look big?*

    I said similar in a couple responses above, for for the general public wondering how the heck you can get a lawyer to help you if you aren’t a big money contingency case:

    Hi, it’s me. What you’re looking for is someone who does a lot or all transactional work, as opposed to a litigator. My entire job is to keep people from suing or being sued. When someone gets sued, I turn them over to a different lawyer.

    The issue is, we tend to be expensive. My best suggestion is to ask friends and family for names, bar association also, and when you call, be clear that you are hopeful this WON’T be a big issue, but you are scared and you would be delighted to pay a retainer and hourly for the lawyer’s time. Most of the time the reluctance to deal with these situations stems not from a lack of desire to help, but from the competing desire to get paid. The “free” advice folks are mentioning isn’t free, it’s my time away from my kids, and it’s also dangerous from an ethical standpoint. We aren’t allowed to give legal advice to non-clients.

    The thing is, we do tend to be expensive. My intake for calls like this is to get to my hourly rate VERY QUICKLY, and let the caller decide. Is your problem at least $2500 scary? Then yes, I’m going to help you and – bonus – if things deteriorate and you DO get sued, now you have a person to run to, immediately, who knows the situation. Receiving a complaint is f’ing terrifying – it’s got time limits, it’s in bold type, ugh! You send it to me and I will deal with it – even if it’s just to get a litigator pal to get you a better referral and an extension of time to respond.

  20. Unreasonable Doubt*

    Employment lawyer here! (waves) I do not take plaintiff-side cases, precisely because I do not work on contingency. As a result, 85-90% of my practice is counseling employers, since they pay by the hour. The other piece is representing employees, but only in what would be an hourly fee project anyway (reviewing and interpreting non-compete agreements, for example). So basically, I see a lot of discrimination claims from the employer side, but pretty much never do anything from the employee side.

    I often get people who call me wanting advice on what they perceive is unfair treatment at work, and I typically will spend about 30 minutes – unpaid – explaining to them that even if they have a decent case, I am not the lawyer for them. I consider it unethical to take what should be a contingent-fee case (if it’s viable) on an hourly basis, because you could wind up paying tens of thousands of dollars to pursue a case that you might not win or get any reasonable settlement out of. What’s more, it’s not great for an employee to spend money to get advice from me on whether the company is treating them illegally if ultimately they would need to start all over with a new attorney if they get fired or ultimately want to sue.

    I completely get the frustration- I have had many individuals tell me that they want the advice, they don’t want to sue, and they just need some help navigating their situation. And sometimes I do help with that; it really depends on how narrow the scope of the representation is. But here’s the thing: if you are not making a ton of money, paying me to help you navigate a work situation may still be a big ask. Imagine spending $500+/hour for what is good context and helpful strategies, but your employer still fires you at the end of the day. And then, if you want to pursue a case, or just “threaten” one, I’m not going to represent you regardless. It’s just a fraught context- I have had a couple (thankfully not many) clients who REALLY resented paying for my time after they didn’t get What They Wanted out of the situation. Many, many lay people just think, perhaps subconsciously, that when you have a lawyer it means you always (financially) benefit.

    Ultimately, I agree with Jon’s advice that it is possible to find an attorney who will counsel you on an ongoing employment situation, and I completely agree that you should be looking for attorneys who are in employment law departments in multi-purpose firms, as opposed to contingent-fee firms (and bar associations are absolutely a great reference source). But I do think that it is difficult, and it’s largely because attorneys see many, many downsides to doing this work. People who are stressed out by their work situation, and potentially facing termination at some point, are understandably even more scared to commit to paying for a service that may give them great information and even comfort, but will not actually put money or guaranteed employment in a non-hostile environment (something I can literally never promise) in their pocket.

    1. LinesInTheSand*

      So if I wanted to find an attorney who bills hourly — and therefore might be able to review severance agreements, for example — is there some magic search term? Do lawyers advertise their payment models?

      1. Unreasonable Doubt*

        By far your best option, if available, is to get a referral from another attorney. Did you do an estate plan? Have you used an attorney to contest a speeding ticket? Do you have friends who are or know attorneys? Do you have friends who own a small or mid-size business? Ask ask ask. The initial attorneys you get names for (or may have used in the past) are not necessarily the attorneys who can help you with employment, but the hope/idea is that they know an attorney who can. And anytime you can reach out to that employee with the line “so and so gave me your name,” you are already much, much more likely to get a response. And those attorneys may still give you yet another name (I hand out contingent-fee referrals all the time), but it’s still better than Google.

        If you have exhausted those avenues, then yes, you can do an internet search, but there’s no magical term. Look for mid-size firms that handle employment and/or transactional matters for businesses. And as mentioned, local bar associations can also have decent referral networks (depending on your location).

        1. metadata minion*

          Wow, I’m glad to know that. I’m infuriated to know that, but at least now I know that if I ever need a lawyer it’s going to be yet another thing that depends on weird social things rather than just looking up the person who specializes in my problem and calling them.

          1. Heather*

            The same can be said for any professional – we usually take suggestions from those we already know who’ve used those services. But your local bar association (in my state, it’s by county) should offer a referral service to the type of lawyer you need.

            It’s not always easy to just search by practice area because everything is so specific and attorneys often don’t feel the need to craft a website and/or search engine hits to send people their way. Or some might send you their way when they don’t actually do the type of work you’re looking for.

            1. metadata minion*

              Sure, if I need a plumber I can ask my friends if any of them like theirs. But I don’t need a referral from a current client or other plumber to ensure that they’ll deign to talk to me. And they usually advertise, unlike pretty much any lawyer except sketchy-sounding personal injury firms.

              Thanks for the tip on the bar association; that’s definitely good to know!

  21. Clown Eradicator*

    Thank you for posting this. I’m in the midst of an ADA claim myself and struggling on my own. Haven’t had luck finding an attorney to help with advice since I’m still employed. Filed with the state and finally heard back and need to form a rebuttal.

  22. Fablei*

    We’ve run into this also – we have what we believe is sting FMLA+ADA retaliation and every attorney way we’ve spoken two – nearly two dozen now, has said “you probably have a case but we’re at capacity try this attorney” and then one offered a consult for a thousand dollars. We’re now waiting to talk to the EEOC because supposedly that will make it more likely to find help. So frustrating!

  23. LinesInTheSand*

    I also have questions about this. I was laid off and I had 7 days to sign the severance agreement. I wanted to find a lawyer to just look it over, and I called many offices in a large metropolitan area. The responses were one of:
    “We don’t do employment law, despite what it says on our website and bar association referral site.”
    –no response for 3 days–
    “We have a $1000 minimum retainer and a 2 week wait.”

    I don’t understand how people are supposed to vet their severance agreements in this particular market.

    1. Bored Lawyer*

      Your employer likely knows that 7 days is not a reasonable time frame for finding someone to review that agreement. This isn’t my area of law, but unless that 7 day period is required by law it’s likely just a made up thing to coerce you to sign. They know they have you over a barrel because you also have the time pressure of needing the payout from the severance.

      The minimum retainer and 2 week wait isn’t surprising (and frankly, quick). Looking at my calendar, between client meetings, court, and actually having to draft documents I think I’m quoting out 6-8 weeks. Our firm’s leading divorce lawyer has about a 6 month waitlist, and between her calendar and the tremendous backlog in our underfunded and understaffed court system, she’s basically telling everyone that if you come in, today, you’ll likely not be getting divorced for 3 years.

    2. Nope*

      Yeah, I had this experience when my employer served their employees with a forced arbitration agreement that we could either sign or quit. I reached out to the bar association in my state and several lawyers and friends who knew lawyers and couldn’t find anyone before the two-week deadline they gave, so I ended up just not signing but not resigning either, so my employer counted that as just agreeing. Hopefully it never comes up, but, if it does…

  24. No Robes No Masters*

    I’m a workers’ comp lawyer representing injured workers under a fee-shifting statute (meaning if the worker/my client wins, the employer pays my fees…in theory, but it’s never that easy).

    Some context is needed here – with the caveat that I can only speak for the environment in the world of workers’ comp under fee-shifting statutes, but I suspect the environment in broader workers’-side employment law (and labor law) has similar challenges.

    Basically, it has become so difficult to get paid for our work even when we have an order from the court telling the employer to pay that we have had to make changes to the kinds of cases we take on. Otherwise we won’t be able to help anyone because we’ll be out of business entirely. Some examples:

    Employers/insurance carriers and their attorneys are dragging out fee disputes for months in court. Those attorneys get paid hourly, so it actually benefits those firms to drag those disputes on and on and keep billing. Meanwhile, workers’ side attorneys do years of work upfront for no pay, then get dragged through months or even years of court proceedings (also for no pay) trying to get paid for their work long after our clients have gotten their settlement and moved on.

    For smaller claims, we’re finding that Employers/carriers are unwilling even to discuss settlement without doing months of discovery, medical exams, and depositions, all of which is a lot of time and work. When we do finally get a response to our settlement demands, they offer a pittance knowing full well it’s not enough. Increasingly, Employers/carriers are dragging what should be straightforward small claims primed for settlement to trial, which is yet more time and work. At the end of it all, we’ve amassed appropriate fees for years of work from intake through trial – but the Employer/carrier balk at our fees for being too high for the size of the claim (which, yeah, that’s why we wanted to settle a year ago before racking up all these fees), then negotiate us down or drag us to court in a fee dispute.

    This is to say nothing of our ethics rules in the profession writ large, which add another layer of complication. Giving legal advice to someone, even for free, generally establishes an attorney-client relationship and makes a lawyer vulnerable to malpractice suits – unless the lawyer makes crystal clear that she is not establishing an attorney-client relationship with the advisee and is not engaging in representation of the advisee by giving this advice. Usually this isn’t a hindrance to lawyers because we know the rules and how to navigate them, but times are tough and no one can afford to take risks.

    All this to say that when you can’t get paid reliably in the course of your usual work, you are forced to draw stricter boundaries around the kind of work you do. We still do free initial consultations as much as we can because access to justice is a huge issue in our legal system and we’re trying to be part of the solution. But we also have to be cautious. I hate that I can’t take on certain kinds of claims anymore. These workers have a statutory right to file these claims and receive compensation for their work injuries. Employers/carriers are relentless in their efforts to dismantle the system from within by making it so miserable for both workers and workers’ side attorneys to file claims that they won’t even try. I’m trying to do my best for workers, but I can’t afford to work for free.

    Again, this is workers’ comp law, which is separate from employment law. But in general, being a lawyer on the side of the worker is devastatingly hard work these days. We do a lot unpaid or underpaid because we genuinely care about our clients and about workers’ rights on the whole. So please don’t default to the tired myth that lawyers are just money-hungry and running up fees. Mostly we just want to buy dinner and pay the (astronomical) rent. :)

  25. I'm Just Here for the Cats!!*

    I’d also like to plug in to check to see if your city has free legal consults. There’s an attorney in my city who meets a few times a month at the public library (YAY libraries!!) and at the renters resource center. Mostly it’s things like landlords doing shady things, family law, or other small claims things. But it’s open to any questions and they can point people to the right person if they need something more. I’d search Free Legal services and your city and see what you can find.

  26. Coverage Associate*

    As a lawyer who only works for corporations, I refer friends to the bar associations’ referral services frequently. Note the plural: bar associationS, because in California, where I am, those services are at the county level through the voluntary county bar associations (except in the most rural counties). I have talked to the lawyers who get clients through those services, and they are diligent about providing real services for the nominal referral fee, and not just dragging it out so that people hire them for more services.

    On hourly rates, consider: The hourly rate probably has to cover wages for 3 people, plus all the overhead, like office rent. The US lawyer has a 4 year degree and 3 more years at university for the law degree, so just one year less education than a doctor without a specialty. The paralegal probably has a 4 year degree, and the support staff probably has 2-year degrees or 4 years. Hiring a whole small office team, which is what you usually do when you hire a lawyer, is going to be expensive. Even other professionals, like doctors, are often surprised.

    The availability of lawyers who specialize in the kind of services you need is going to vary by region, similar to medical specialists. In my major urban area, there are 3 teaching hospitals. Patients outside HMOs can choose from several hospitals for almost all services, and there will probably be choices for any legal specialty in all 9 counties. My friends in Wyoming have to leave the state for certain specialty medical care. It wouldn’t surprise me if they told me that the usual lawyer referral services had no one to refer them to. Even in California, in the rural counties, the referral services are thin.

    Back to urban California. With 3 or more law schools in San Francisco, plus several nonprofit law firms representing residential tenants, every residential tenant gets some sort of legal representation, often for free. There are often tenants’ unions in cities who can provide free advice and referrals.

    They are not as common as they used to be, but we also have programs called “lawyers in the library” where people can get 30 minutes of free legal advice if they sign up and complete the intake paperwork in advance.

    Finally, every US jurisdiction has specialty law libraries. In California, they are run through the courts and have to be near courthouses, by law. In Virginia, they are run through the regular public libraries. Law libraries are available to anyone who could go to a normal public library (I once saw someone get kicked out of San Francisco’s law library for sleeping, for example) and often have formal or informal referral services.

  27. Coverage Associate*

    On lawyers’ hourly rates: The rate usually has to cover wages for at least 3 people plus overhead, like office rent. A US lawyer has almost as much education as a medical doctor without a specialty, and his support staff are usually also college educated. If you think about it as hiring a whole small office team, the rates might make more sense. Many lawyers who work for individuals don’t make tons of money. Last I checked, the average was $90k/year, which is low for someone with a professional degree. They are generally not gauging clients.

  28. Coverage Associate*

    In San Francisco, with at least 3 law schools, every tenant gets legal representation, sometimes for free, through law school clinics and nonprofit law firms. Many cities have renters unions that can provide free advice and referrals.

    The San Francisco Bay Area also has more than 2 teaching hospitals, and patients outside HMOs usually have a choice of a handful of hospitals for standard, even specialist care. My friends in Wyoming have to leave Wyoming for a lot of specialty medical care.

    Which I mention as an analogy to what referral lawyer referral services are likely to be able to offer. In the Bay Area, probably all 9 counties’ legal referral services have a range of specialists enrolled. (Though I imagine a lot of immigration attorneys aren’t taking new clients.) The service that covers Humboldt or Calaveras County? Probably not.

  29. Donna Moss*

    I was happy to see bar association lawyer referral service recommended because that is what I was going to suggest.

    I would suggest googling: “*Name of the County you live in* county bar lawyer referral service”

  30. QED*

    I agree with looking at multiple bar associations for referrals; for example, both the NYC bar association and the New York State bar association have referral services through phone and online, so if you live in NYC, trying both and seeing who gets back to you first can be a good strategy (I used NYC as an example, but any major city should have their own bar association, as will many counties). There’s usually a small fee (in NY it’s $35) for a short consultation. Law school clinics can also be helpful, but many clinics cover specific issues and topics and help certain types of clients, so you need to do some research. The American Bar Association also maintains a virtual legal advice clinic called Free Legal Answers in 39 states and the US Virgin Islands for low-income folks where you can ask specific civil legal questions to an attorney for free. Your local legal aid organization may also have a helpline or clinic hours for certain types of legal problems.

    In general, outside of legal aid and other nonprofits, in civil litigation plaintiffs attorneys work on contingency and defense attorneys are hourly. In general, as others have mentioned, plaintiffs aren’t willing (or possibly able) to pay for the costs of a lawsuit as they go along, so it makes sense for the attorney to take a percentage of any settlement or judgement. For something discrete like looking over a letter or answering a specific question, a referral service or clinic, where there isn’t ongoing representation, is always going to be a better bet than trying to retain an attorney privately. Some nonprofits and bar associations will host one-day clinics where attorneys from law firms will meet with clients for an hour or two on a specific, short matter and only have an attorney-client relationship for that day. Big law firms have historically liked using these to fulfill pro bono requirements because they don’t create ongoing responsibilities. Hourly billing works best when the client has a larger matter and the attorney is going to bill a number of hours over a longer period of time.

  31. Coverage Associate*

    I’m getting ads for a reputable plaintiffs’ side firm. I don’t know if they do employment at all, but I know that they have a minimum very rough case value that they will take, and it’s probably 6 figures.

  32. SMEs FTW!*

    It’s always nice to see a subject matter expert brought in to answer questions in their area of expertise.

  33. Golden Retriever*

    I recently had to find a lawyer because I was fired and found it harder than I thought it would be — lots of pre-screening to even get a consult, and even then it seems like it’s a sellers market right now when it comes to employment law. In one instance I paid $300 to be referred to another attorney. ‍♀️ The theory that I’ve heard is that the current administration has emboldened malfeasance by employers.

  34. a new name*

    I haven’t read all the comments and apologize if this was discussed above, but how does working on contingency account for resinstatement as a remedy? If someone is fired for an illegal reason, and what they want is their job back, there’s no money at the end to share with the law firm, right? Do lawyers just not take cases where people want their jobs back? Meaning that employers can fire people for illegal reasons and then maybe have to pay those people and their lawyers a settlement, but never have to give people their jobs back?

    1. Katie Impact*

      Everything I’ve ever heard is that suing to get your job back is usually a bad idea; even if you can get it, the court can’t make the employer want you to be there. Even in jurisdictions where it’s possible for a court or tribunal to order reinstatement, they’ll usually prefer to award financial compensation instead for that reason.

  35. Orora*

    LW (and everyone): If you haven’t already, visit the Job Accommodation Network at askjan.org. It’s an invaluable resource for both employees and employers about navigating the ADA, including the interactive process and possible accommodations for different disabilities. I’m in HR so I used it to navigate situations for my employer and I’m also using it to advocate for accommodations for my own invisible disability. I can’t recommend it enough.

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