Steve Palmer: It is time for lawyer talk. Three things coming at you here from channel Five one one, Studio C on March 10, 2023. And three things for those of you who didn't catch the intro, the Three Things series is designed to give you folks three important things, maybe importance a big word. Three things that you might want to know about a certain topic, particularly from the lawyer, your talk realm about the law or about something I do for a living. And I know three things about a lot of things, but I know a lot of three things about some things. And some things just have three things that you would ever want to know. If you can make sense of that, then go find a different podcast because you're too smart for this one. So three things I was thinking about the three things you would want to know about hiring an attorney in a place where you're not comfortable, in a place where you've never been, maybe out of county. Or say you were driving home from Cleveland and you got picked up for an ovi and here you are in, like I don't know, we'll say like Marion County or Delaware County or whatever. So three things you want to know. So first, just because somebody like me, Steve Palmer here that has my law practice in Franklin County doesn't mean I can't go to counties throughout the state. It does, however, mean that I'm probably not licensed to practice in a different state. So the first thing you want to know is that lawyers in Ohio can't necessarily practice in Michigan or Indiana or California. Now, some of us have licenses in those jurisdictions because maybe we picked up a few cases along the way. Maybe we used to live there, maybe we want to live there.

[0:01:27] Steve Palmer: But generally speaking, we can't do it. We can maybe help you find a lawyer in those jurisdictions. Secondly, not every lawyer is going to be the best lawyer for a small town. Not every lawyer is going to be the best lawyer for a big town. And how do you know the difference? Well, what you want to do is you want to talk to that attorney. You want to figure out how comfortable you think they are, what they say about it. Like, for instance, if somebody calls me and says, look, I want you to go up to Cleveland and it's a problem that requires insider knowledge, well, I'm going to be the first one to admit I don't have insider knowledge on how to get things done necessary in Cleveland. It doesn't mean I can't do the job, but it does mean that I'm going to need to cocounsel somebody up in Cleveland. I'm doing this on a case right now. I found somebody who has that kind of information that I have here in my backyard, like who to talk to to get things done, not nefarious things, of course. And not things that are like bend the rules things, but just getting things done, getting continuance is very on how to get into diversion, doing the kind of things that require a little bit of experience with local practice. So you're going to want an attorney that can do that. And then finally it really doesn't matter all the time. It's not a huge deal.

[0:02:34] Steve Palmer: I go all over the state of Ohio and I practice law regularly. And it's all about personalities, folks. It's all about being able to go in and talk to people and be nice and be genuine and be respectful of their local practices. And I have found over the years, 28 of them to be exact, that it doesn't you know, when I go in and I'm just nice to people and I smile and I ask them how they're doing, they respond. And I'm not doing it disingenuously. I'm doing it because, you know, I you just it's just common human courtesy. And I guess this is the third thing. You don't want a lawyer who doesn't have common human courtesy. And unfortunately, in my profession, there is a lot of that going on. Lawyer become robots, they become assholes, and they think that they're they think that their backside doesn't smell as much as the others. And the point is that you can still be a great litigator, somebody who can go into a courtroom and talk to a jury. But those people aren't the assholes. Those are the people that are likable most of the time. And the idea of a real bulldog going in and slugging it out, sometimes that's appropriate. But when it's not, you don't want somebody who can't shift gears.

[0:03:44] Steve Palmer: So it's all about the personalities and who is comfortable going where. Unfortunately, lawyers don't always tell you which is best and whether they should be going to a different place or not. I will, and there are places that I won't go. There are places that I need help when I do go there. So that's three things you want to know. If you end up trying to hire a lawyer in a place where that lawyer doesn't generally practice, stay tuned. Lots of more three things coming your way here at Lawyer Talk. Off the record, on the air, at least until now.