Most people go to the doctor with an eminently preventive purpose to take care of their health. Equally, it is a common practise to insure the house, the vehicle, the life. However, this preventive culture has not yet penetrated in the field of legal problems. If preventive medicine promotes good health, why are citizens, under certain circumstances, not interested in promoting both the reduction of future litigation and lower legal costs?

Keep in mind that here at RS Chase Lawyers we will offer the assistance you require in order to improve your decisions on a daily basis and we will also offer you the protection you need.

The answer to this question is very complex because we face a problem of social perception. It is a proven fact that the general population considers that lawyers are professionals who should only be consulted as a last resort, when something is already wrong and there is no other way but to seek their advice. The lawyer, therefore, is a professional who serves to solve problems, an “extinguishes fires”. It is then when we consult our acquaintances so that they recommend us to a good lawyer, who unfortunately appears on the scene when the flame has already caught.

Lawyers can save you time and effort in the future

Certainly, it is possible that lawyers themselves have contributed to that vision, since our own professional culture teaches us that conflicts find their solution in the hostile context of the litigation based on the winner / loser axiom, and this is what has always understood our society, but also the citizen has contributed to it by avoiding the intervention of a professional, either because it overestimates their own ability and knowledge to control an operation that has legal fringe (for example, a sale or a lease) or because it decides to save additional costs of the lawyer.

However, all lawyers are aware that this model does not work, as are the vast majority of clients who have had to go through litigation. We live in a regulated society in which the legal conflict can appear around the corner without us having participated in its cause, situations that have to be resolved in a few Courts and Tribunals that are collapsed in all their levels and whose response capacity it is slow and limited; and to make matters worse, the processes are costly and surrounded by a dangerous uncertainty that, whatever the result, always charge a high emotional cost to the parties, not to say economic.

For this reason, it is necessary to look for a different approach for the avoidance and resolution of conflicts, and this new perspective is given by preventive advocacy, which we can define as a way of exercising the profession based on the use of techniques aimed at anticipation and prevention. of legal problems and conflicts and, where appropriate, the minimization of legal risks and maximisation of rights and negotiated solutions to existing conflicts. Therefore, against the reactive approach and based on the management of past events that advocates the approach to conflict resolution, the preventive approach is eminently proactive and aimed at avoiding future conflicts.

On the basis of this definition, we can affirm that the starting point of preventive advocacy lies precisely in that we are aware that the system of conflict resolution, although necessary (and therefore cannot be replaced by another) can be avoided sometimes using other approaches that can achieve greater customer satisfaction.

Tools for legal prevention

The tools with which the lawyer must necessarily have to develop their work of legal prevention are, among others, the following:

• To be trained in an education based on a crisis prevention system instead of the crisis management and solution system.
• Being familiarised with the techniques of negotiation and mediation both for the solution of conflicts with third parties and to convince the client of the value of a negotiated solution and to dissuade him from damaging positions.
• Knowing the client, his philosophy, his values and his needs as well as the scenarios in which the client usually operates.
• He must master the use of caution and prudence in advice based on honesty.
• Finally, he has to use creative thinking, open and oriented in the search for alternatives for the solution of the conflict.

Although both the lawyer and client can initially consider that the advantages of preventive counselling may be scarce and that, in sum, will constitute an unnecessary cost (lawyers reducing the litigation fees, generally more substantial, and the clients incurring unnecessary costs) The truth is that the benefits of this professional practise are obvious, because for the lawyer, preventive counselling is equivalent not only to collaborate with justice, but also to maintain a lasting and not occasional relationship with clients, which implies a loyalty of them with a greater possibility of billing, all without forgetting the reduction of stress and emotional tension that is eliminated by avoiding litigation . Alternatively, for the client, prevention will mean a saving of time, money, and the emotional and psychological wear and tear that supposes to be subjected to the vicissitudes of a litigation for years.

To sum up, stating that preventive advocacy can be carried out in all branches of law and even when the client is presented with a site to answer a complaint, because in such cases, there will always be medium or long-term options to settle the conflict peacefully. Naturally, this does not prevent that in case of sometimes inevitable legal litigation, the lawyer uses his ability, cunning and prestige to successfully defend the interests of his client, or, as Polonio wisely says to his son Alertes in Hamlet: “Guard yourself to enter pendency; but, once in it, work so that it is the opponent who is saved from you “.

Contact RS Chase Lawyers today to learn more about our services and prevent future damages with the help of a truly professional preventive lawyer who can guide you and provide you with top recommendations.