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Tips for Your Initial Meeting with an Attorney (Employment / Wrongful Termination Case)

  • Prepare a brief but sufficiently specific chronology of relevant events. This chronology may consist of three columns: 1. date of event; 2. specific nature of the event; 3. names and titles of people involved.   
  • Prepare a list of witnesses that might support your side of the case with names, phone numbers and what they know exactly. If you can contact them in advance to find out if they would be willing to talk to your attorney, that would be very useful. 
  • Gather and make copies, if possible, of all the relevant documents that support your employment claims or your version of events of why you were fired. For instance, if this is unpaid overtime or misclassification case, prepare a summary of overtime hours you worked and haven't been paid for, and bring as many pay stubs as you can to the meeting, as well as your job description v a list of duties you actually performed while working for the employer. 
  • If this is a disability discrimination case, bring a copy of your termination letter, performance reviews, at least one recent paystub, medical documentation reflecting your medical condition, limitations and notice of need for leave or any other accommodation requested from your employer, and/or FMLA request and approval paperwork, as well as any relevant e-mails between you and your employer reflecting discussions of your medical condition, medical leave and need for accommodations, as well as any e-mails or other writings suggesting some kind of animosity toward you because of your disability or medical condition, or because you asked for accommodations or disability leave.  Make sure to also bring your basic workers comp paperwork, if you filed a workers comp claim within the last 1-2 years of being terminated.  
  • If this is a retaliation case, make sure you also bring any documents that show that you engaged in a protected activity, and that the relationship between you and the employer has deteriorated shortly after, such as performance reviews before v after your engaging in that protected activity.    
  • During your meeting with an attorney, avoid using such generic terms as "harassment", "abusive", "unfair", and "hostile". Instead, describe specific words and actions that took place that suggest discrimination/retaliation. For instance, telling your attorney that your boss called you a "fucking nigger" in front of your co-workers is a much more compelling evidence that simply saying that your boss racially harassed you. Likewise, telling the lawyer that your manager took your hand and put it on his crutch forcefully, while saying "you want it; don't you?" is much more meaningful for the purposes of proving a sexual harassment case than simply saying that your manager was acting inappropriately.   
  • Share with your attorney openly and honestly any potential issues with proving your case. Every employment case has facts that help your case and also the facts that make your cases harder to prove. Pretend that you are your employer's attorney for a moment, think of the arguments they are going to make to defend the case and share that with your attorney. The more information your attorney has about what to expect, the more effective his representation will be. 
  • Prepare a list of questions you might have to your attorney about your case and what to expect during the process of pursuing your case. 

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Law Office of Arkady Itkin - San Francisco & Sacramento Injury and Employment Lawyer
We represent employees and employers in employment and wrongful termination cases, as well as victims of serious injuries in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Palo Alto, San Mateo and throughout Northern California. We all represent businesses and start-ups in a wide range of business and employment issues and disputes. 


57 Post Street, Suite 812, San Francisco, CA 94104; Tel. (415) 295-4730; Fax. (415) 508-3474; [email protected]
  • Home
  • Employment Law
    • Wrongful Termination >
      • At-Will Employment
      • Termination After Unfair Warnings and Write-Ups
      • Union Grievance, Workers Comp and Wrongful Termination
      • Labor Code 970 Claims
      • Promissory Estoppel and Employment Contracts
      • Implied Contract Claims
    • Discrimination >
      • Proving Discrimination
      • Age Discrimination
      • Disability Discrimination >
        • Protected Disabilities
        • Medical Leave / Disability Accommodations
        • Job Reassignment As A Disability Accommodation
        • SSI Disability Benefits and Your Court Case
        • Sample Request for Reasonable Accommodation
      • Pregnancy Discrimination
      • Race Discrimination
      • Sample Discrimination Complaint
      • DFEH and EEOC Investigations
    • Retaliation >
      • How to Prove Retaliation
      • Dealing with Retaliation While Still Employed
      • Retaliation for Complaining
      • Whistleblower Retaliation
    • Harassment
    • Defamation at Workplace
    • Prof. License Defense
    • Leaves of Absence >
      • Medical Leave as Reasonable Accommodation
      • FMLA Entitlement and Reinstatement to Work
      • CFRA Leave
      • Employers' FMLA Notice Obligations
      • Paternity Leave (FMLA)
      • Sample FMLA Leave Request
    • Wages / Overtime Claims >
      • Wage Claims
      • Employee or Contractor
      • Exempt / Non-Exempt >
        • Admistrative Exemption
        • IT Support Specialists Compensation
        • Computer Professional Exemption from Overtime
        • Recruiters / Account Executives Exemption
        • Complaining About Being Misclassified
      • Vacation Pay / PTO
      • On-Call Time Compensation
      • Deductions fr. Commissions
    • Unempl. Benefits Appeals >
      • Tips for EDD Phone Interview
      • Unemployment Benefits Appeal Hearing Representation
      • CUIAB Hearing Tips
    • Employment Law Blog
    • For Employers
  • Personal Injury
    • Five Tips For Injury Cases
    • Slip-and-Fall Injuries
    • Assault and Battery
    • Recorded Statements
    • Repairing Your Vehicle
    • Unpaid Medical Bills
    • Injury Law Blog
    • Medical Malpractice
    • Police Excessive Force
  • Practice Areas
  • About
  • Results
  • Submit Case
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Consultations
    • Workplace Rights Checklist
    • Deposition Tips
    • Mediation Tips
    • Effective Mediator
    • Suing Current Employer
    • Severance Agreements
    • Workplace Investigation
    • Arbitration
    • Statutes of Limitations
    • Healthy Litigation Mindset
    • Trial Tips
    • Working Remotely
    • How To Find The Right Lawyer For Your Case