Find an experienced attorney. Does this sound familiar? You have some idea of what you are facing, but you want a sharpened focus on finding the right employee labor law attorney for specific needs-whether it’s a workplace injury, retaliation in the workplace, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, or a series of issues all related to employee labor law. But how to start? There is a discipline for this choice as well, albeit one you might not have discovered yet. Enter Wing Tsun Kung Fu, an Asian martial art that has much to say on the subject of offering options to those who practice it. The school of Wing Tsun Kung Fu I attend has 10 disciplines that must be mastered to become proficient. The last of these is known as “Mouk Jong.” In this context, “Mouk” means to be aware; to carefully observe and listen to a situation, and then adjust your response accordingly. A “Jong” is a stance or position. Standing still or standing one way holds no value unless it adapts, like water, to the needs of its environment. This particular school refers to it as “the strategic model,” and in so doing, hints at the direct application of Wing Tsun Kung Fu in the business world, and the world of law. There is no business, and no legal strategy, without being aware of the environment as it is. Awareness of your current situation is key to succeeding in any discipline, and it also gives you insight into when and how to adapt to succeed. Dealing with a corporal function, be it a workplace accident or a potential lawsuit, is no different. We can apply what Wing Tsun Kung Fu teaches in our lives. How we adapt a Wing Tsun Kung Fu lesson to the legal process is where you begin to see results. By applying Wing Tsun Kung Fu principles to the selection of your employee labor law attorney, you have a chance to be proactive as a business and defensive as an individual.
Being aware What does it mean to find a specialized employee labor law attorney? For many attorneys, 90% of their time and effort is spent on the 10% of business that is critical to their clients. In the same way, you will need to focus on that 10% of labor law issues that will fulfill 90% of your legal needs in any given year. With a labor law attorney, it is important to find a legal specialist. Not every attorney specializes in every aspect of labor law, and the specialists can almost certainly meet your needs.
Weigh your options Once you have found a number of potential attorneys, it is time to weigh your options. We already mentioned that your legal situation is dynamic and requires appropriate responses. In the same way, the potential employees (vendors, clients, contractors, subcontractors, and so on) you may deal with are equally dynamic and require an assessment of how you will work with them as a business partner. When you meet with an employee labor law attorney, be sure to discuss your potential points of conflict. This could be in regard to a potential lawsuit, or it could simply be a way to land on a strategy you can both agree to. Understand what the attorney’s strengths are, and compare them with what you need.
Alignment What does living in accordance with your conceptualization of labor law mean? Does each attorney you meet with have the same ideas and principles you want to apply? Do they fit those principles into the legal options they provide? Like a work-life balance, you want the alignment of what you do for a living and the interests of the law; you get this when you align yourself with the right attorney. When you meet with a new employee labor law attorney, be prepared with questions regarding potential points of interest and concern. Be clear on which aspects of labor law you want to explore in the next year. Try to articulate the level of service you hope for, the longevity of your commitment, and be aware of your own expectations for your legal representation. Hit the attorney with questions, and observe how they adapt to those questions. Like a martial artist, they should be water, adapting to the container of your legal issues and their solutions.
Do you speak my language? Every martial arts school has a dialect, a way of teaching that is unique to their school’s instructors and material. To understand them, there is a language barrier that must be overcome; this process is significantly easier when the school’s students translate and modify the typical martial arts vocabulary. Like martial artists, most attorneys use jargon and legalese in every conversation they have with clients. While an example is important, an attorney’s ability-and willingness-to depart from their routine and explain definitions thoroughly and accurately is just as important. If you can’t understand your lawyer, you will struggle to follow through with their agenda. The agenda may be the right one for your needs, but if you can’t translate the language, you may be unable to fulfill it-that is to say, it becomes useless. An attorney who can adapt their terminology to yours, one who asks questions to clarify anything said, and one who can stop, review, and adjust when something is unclear, gives you an attorney who will better serve you than one who only gives pre-prepared answers to your questions.
Both parties should be rewarded When we practice Wing Tsun Kung Fu, we operate on the principle that both the teacher and the student should benefit from the experience. Likewise, when you hire an employee labor law attorney, you should be sure that the attorney will learn something they did not know before. As always, be prepared to ask questions and to listen to the answers. Virtue is not random, but there are occasions when any class that appears to be virtuous is actually practicing a form of luck. Good fortune comes to those who are already diligent, but being totally diligent is another matter. When you work with your employee labor law attorney better than they do with you, both parties are diligent, and hence, both parties are lucky. It may be nothing more than luck, but it stands to help in difficult situations: Employee Labor Law attorney.