How to Prepare a Case Prior to Hiring an Attorney
When You Begin to Worry About Your Job, Make Sure You . . .
The first step if you are still working in your position is to get all of the relevant documentation you have out of your office or work space. Documents are difficult to argue with, and can be the most important evidence your case will eventually feature. If you do not secure any documents relevant to your complaints, performance pressure or the abusive or harassing acts, they may disappear as soon as you are terminated or while you are placed out of administrative leave. You do not have to identify the documents well, you simply have to secure all of the documents related to any matter that you are seeking legal advice for. Take a box to work, and take the documents home with you when you leave. You need to print out the emails, or secure electronic copies. You will have to copy anything that is not electronic, and leave the employer with access to the documents as well.
It is important as well to secure a copy of your employer’s employee manual or policy book. You may not need to if your employer makes the policy book available on its website, but you should check and make sure. Typically, the employment manual or policy book provides the terms of any contract you have with the employer.
Another part of this process is securing any audio evidence that might occur between you forming a belief that your job is endangered and when you go to the attorney. In New Mexico it is legal to audio record any conversations that occur in open air (as opposed to on a phone line or even a Zoom chat). So if you have a meeting with your supervisor about your performance, or maybe you have to go into the bosses’ office where they will try for the third time to sexually harass you, go ahead and record those conversations with you cell phone in your pocket. Before you do so, please remember to check the employer’s policy book to make sure open-air recording does not violate the employer’s policies.
Finally, while you do all of the above, please remember that the reason that you are securing documentation is because you fear for your job. Please attempt (understanding that you will create problems for any lawyer who accepts your case if you do not) to maintain your calm and composure, particularly when your employer is mistreating you. Do not argue. Do not yell. Do not go on a rant. Typically, all complaints are best made in writing anyway, and you can think through your words then, and make sure you are saying exactly what you want to. Related to this step, if you are at the place of making a formal complaint, you need an attorney right away.
If you have a case at school, make sure you . . .
First of all, you need to determine whether or not the issue is arising in a public or a private educational setting. If the setting is a public school, you have to make a record of your complaint with the superintendent of schools. Please sit down and write up the event, making sure that the factual events you are complaining of are specifically described, just as the harm your child suffered should be specifically described as well. For a public school to be held liable for any damages it causes, the school supervisors need to be aware of the condition causing the harm before the harm occurs. You need to take your specific, factual write-up and provide it to your school. Please realize that this is often done by email now, and that an email complaint has many advantages over dropping off a written complaint, and one of them is that you have a written, verifiable record of when the communication occurred.
It is good for any school case that you have good communications with your child. Usually your child will have to tell you that the condition or harm has happened again, following your emailed complaint, for any case to be possible. Please understand that good, honest and open communication with your child will be necessary because your child will have to be able to coherently recount to you what has happened (which can be difficult for many children), when the child has already identified the harmful condition for you.
The harmful conditions could be an abusive teacher, a group of bullies, or an improperly maintained playground. Generally, for any public school to be held liable for any injury of your child, you will have to prove that the school’s supervisors knew of the harmful condition, and had a chance to eliminate the harmful condition, before you can recover for your child’s harm.
It may be necessary to secure a lawyer’s advice before you turn in your complaint about the harmful condition to the school’s supervisors. Clearly, stating what is wrong is a consequence of understanding what is wrong, and it is common for non-lawyers to provide complaints that are not specific enough to secure better treatment for the involved children.
Please Call Sooner Rather than Later
In abuse circumstances and employment and school cases, typically the harmful condition persists and happens day-after-day, or week-after-week. It can be hard to want to call a lawyer, precisely because it can be difficult to admit to yourself that the matter now feels well beyond your abilities to manage or control. If you have read through this website, you already know that the first thing I concentrate on in any case is securing the relevant evidence. And that the relevant evidence is defined as anything and everything that has bearing on the events you are complaining of, and the specific injuries you have suffered. Such injuries can be economic, emotional, or physical, and can be for injuries you have suffered in the past, as well as events likely to occur in the future. They simply have to be directly caused by the wrong-doer. It is not unusual for potential clients to call me, and realize after talking to me that they thought they had a discrimination claim, but what they actually have is a breach of contract case. How can you know what evidence to gather if you do not know what your potential claims are?
There are other advantages to seeking legal assistance earlier in any matter that involves a continuing relationship. For instance, in a retaliation claim one must complain to the employer or other public entities about a matter of public concern. Clearly, formulating your complaint appropriately is an important step because the complaint is the starting point for a retaliation case. Of course, coming forward with a complaint of public concern is a difficult action, and a good attorney in your corner can help make sure that you preserve your rights while protecting the public.
Finally, introduction of evidence is governed by the Rules of the various Courts. One must know the rules to adequately secure evidence so that it is most likely to be admitted in a future court case. If one does not know the rules of evidence, how will you know how to secure the evidence in a manner that violates no rules, and best ensures that you can use the evidence at trial?