Can I bring a friend or family member to a first meeting at your law firm?

Going through a divorce by yourself is very scary for people. It’s sometimes not something you want to do alone and for that reason, a lot of people want to bring a friend or sister or a mom to these hourly consultations. And I understand that, but it’s usually not a very good idea to do that, at least for the entire meeting. There might be some information that that friend has that would be helpful for the attorney to know. And so sometimes it’s a good idea for a portion of that meeting for that friend to be there. But generally speaking, that needs to be a private meeting. A meeting between you and the attorney.
And the reason for that is not to exclude that very helpful family member, it’s to preserve what’s called the attorney-client privilege. If you waive that privilege, if you allow that friend to be in that meeting, then perhaps some of the things that you’ve talked about in that meeting with the attorney are waived for the entirety of the case and you do not want that.
So you can have a friend be very helpful and maybe drive you to that meeting or participate in a portion of that meeting, but it’s usually not a good idea to have lots of friends and family members in that very important, one-on-one meeting with the attorney.