Employment Law Consultations

A consultation is an initial meeting with a lawyer about your legal issues. As explained below, an employment law consultation serves several different purposes, including allowing you to tell your story, giving your lawyer an opportunity to evaluate your potential legal claims, and helping you determine the best way to enforce your legal rights.

One key element of most consultations is that you have an opportunity to describe what happened to you. This typically involves you telling your story, with the attorney asking you questions that focus on any potential legal claims you have.

It often is helpful to provide your employment law attorney a concise, written chronology or timeline of the key events, either at or before your consultation. This helps provide an overview of what happened to you, and can help focus the meeting on the pertinent facts and events. It also can be very helpful to bring key documents to the meeting such as your employment contract, offer letter, performance reviews, employee handbook, or termination letter. For more information, please read our blog article: What You Should Bring to Your Initial Consultation With an Employment Lawyer.

Another important purpose of this initial meeting is to allow your lawyer to determine whether you have any legal claims, and to evaluate those claims for you. For example, our firm can help you determine whether you have a claim of discrimination, harassment or retaliation, or a violation of another one of your employment law rights, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of those claims.

Yet another reason for an employment law consultation is to help you decide the best way to protect your job or enforce your legal rights. 

When appropriate, we counsel employees about workplace issues to try to come up with strategies and opportunities to minimize a problem, or even head it off before it arises.

In other instances, we can discuss the best way to enforce your legal rights. While many clients contact an employment lawyer wanting to sue right away, litigation is not always the best option. There usually are alternatives to consider, such as trying to negotiate a settlement or severance package, or filing a claim with a state or federal agency.

A good New Jersey employment law attorney will help you evaluate the potential costs, risks and rewards of each of your options, and help you decide which approach is the best one for you.

Another purpose of a consultation is to answer your questions about your legal rights. While our website provides information regarding some of the most frequently asked questions we receive from our clients, a consultation allows you to ask your own questions and obtain personalized answers specific to you and your situation.

Yet another benefit of a consultation is to get to know your lawyer before you hire him or her to represent you. Employment law cases usually are very personal and emotionally charged. Lawsuits can take many months or even years. As a result, before you hire a New Jersey employment lawyer you should make sure you trust and feel comfortable working with him or her.

You should feel confident that your lawyer has the knowledge and expertise to protect your rights. Similarly, you should feel comfortable that your attorney understands and appreciate your goals and will work hard to achieve them.

We understand that meeting with a lawyer for the first time can be intimidating and cause anxiety. We will do our best to put your mind at ease so we can focus on helping you move forward.

If you believe your employer violated your employment law rights or you need help with a workplace problem, then you can contact us online or call us at (201) 777-2250 to schedule a consultation with an experienced New Jersey employment law attorney. We offer initial meetings in person, over the telephone, and by Zoom.