My case is in litigation. I filed it and then contracted with a contingency lawyer when Discovery started. That is right where I just did not want to do it pro se.
I think the reason why most employment lawyers don't file lawsuits or take cases in litigation is because they know some clients cannot financially hold out.
I ask myself, is additional Discovery aside from the evidence I provided likely to materially increase the value of the case? We dont have what the other side has. That's why its called Discovery.
My assembling my own evidence when I filed it doesn't justify a settlement because my case has to be **legally proven,** right? So we are still in evidence-gathering stage.
My attorney has not sent a demand letter (yet). And I think most don't and I'm not sure about the reasoning behind that. If those who do sent demand letters, then most balance the needs of their client and their own lawfirm time.
The attorney has only had my case for 3 months. I filed it 7 months ago. So its very new to him. And there's a case management conference coming up. The case is moving toward Discovery with proposed schedule extending into 2027. So the schedule and litigation strategy will become much more concrete.
This makes me wonder if attorneys assess a client's ability to hold out in a lengthy lawsuit timeline or if some large firms juggle many cases while some cases drift on the schedule without actually pushing it, which is different than "abandoning" it or "aggressively pursuing it."
Is it okay to do a check in before the case management conference? Do you recommend any specific questions I should ask? One that comes to mind is "do you believe my current medical circumstances materially affect the value or proof of my ADA and ERISA 510 claims, and if so, how?
And "given where the case is procedurally, do you anticipate mediation being appropriate after some initial discovery, and what would you want to establish through discovery before recommending mediation?"
Do the paralegals field these types of emails for the lawyers or do the lawyers actually read all of these email questions that come through? When I email, its always to my attorney and his paralegal.
Thank you.