The 2:00 p.m. Signing That Never Happens on Time
A 63-year-old client with limited English proficiency and significant hearing loss arrives at 2:00 p.m. to sign a settlement release. The attorney is 25 minutes late and will be at least another 30. The client has brought her 12-year-old grandson to interpret. On arrival, the receptionist spoke to her loudly and slowly and told her she “needs to come back next week.” The client is now crying in the lobby, saying she will sign anything to be finished, and mentions that a friend told her she should not have to pay the firm's $3,200 in outstanding costs out of her settlement. Mid-conversation her cell phone rings: it is her adult son, who says he holds her power of attorney and demands to speak with the attorney immediately.
1. What do you do in the next ten minutes, and what do you not do?
Read the worked answer
Do:
- Move her out of the lobby to a private conference room, with water and tissues. A crying client in a public waiting area is a confidentiality problem as well as a human one.
- Apologize for the delay and give her a real time. “The attorney is running about 30 minutes late. I'm sorry - that's on us.” Offer to reschedule only if she raises it; do not send her away because the receptionist already did.
- Arrange proper communication. A 12-year-old may not interpret for a legal signing: he cannot be counted on for accuracy on technical terms, he is being pulled into an adult role, and disclosing settlement terms to him is a disclosure to a third party without the client's informed consent. Use a qualified telephone interpreter or a staff member fluent in her language, and confirm how she prefers to receive information given her hearing loss.
- Check for an accommodation need. Law offices are places of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA, which can require an auxiliary aid at the firm's expense - a sign-language interpreter, a real-time captioning app, or a written summary. Ask; do not assume.
Do not: let her sign while she is upset and not understanding. A release signed under visible distress and linguistic isolation is exactly the document a later challenge targets, and a paralegal should never present a settlement document for signature without confirming understanding.
2. She asks whether she really has to pay the $3,200 in costs out of her settlement, and says her friend told her she doesn't. What do you say?
Read the worked answer
Do not answer as a legal matter, and do not make a promise about money - but do not stonewall either.
Say: “I can't tell you what you're required to pay; that's a legal question and it depends on your agreement with the firm. What I can do is get the fee agreement and go through the costs section with you line by line while we wait, and I'll make sure the attorney answers your question directly before you sign anything.”
Then:
- Pull the signed fee agreement and the cost ledger. Point to the specific clause rather than paraphrasing from memory.
- Show the itemization behind the $3,200 so she can see what she is being charged for.
- If she disputes an entry, write down the dispute verbatim and give it to the attorney.
- Do not waive, discount, or “work something out.” Under Rule 1.5 the fee is the attorney's to adjust, and a promise from a nonlawyer can bind the firm in the client's mind even if it does not bind it in law.
Why this matters: a client signing a release while believing she has been overreached on fees may later claim the settlement was not knowing and voluntary. Ten minutes with the actual document prevents that.
3. The son, who says he holds her power of attorney, demands to speak to the attorney immediately. What do you do?
Read the worked answer
Verify before you disclose, and let the client - who is present and speaking - control.
Ask the client first. “Your son is on the phone and says he has your power of attorney. Would you like to speak with him, and may I discuss your case with him?” If she says no, that ends it: tell the son politely that you cannot discuss the matter and offer to take a message. Her instruction, contemporaneous, beats a document.
If she consents: get it in writing or document it in a memo with the date and time, and keep the consent specific to what she agreed to share.
If she is unable to express a preference: request a copy of the POA, confirm it is durable and unrevoked, and check whether its scope covers legal matters before saying anything. Then route the decision to the attorney - whether to recognize an agent is a judgment call, not a reception decision.
Do not hand the phone to the attorney mid-appointment, and do not confirm the settlement amount, the signing, or even that she is a client before the attorney is in the room.
Afterward: document the sequence - the receptionist's instruction, the delay, the interpreting arrangement, the costs conversation, and the son's call - because the client's experience today may become the subject of a bar complaint or a fee dispute.