I need a lawyer but do not know which practice area applies. What documents should I prepare first?

Key takeaways

• Lead with the source document and date that changed the position.
• Describe facts and relationships before assigning a legal label.
• Prepare one chronology linked to a small indexed core bundle.
• Include the forum, reference number, stage and every stated date.
• List all people and entities before sending confidential detail so conflicts can be checked.
• Separate money, authority-to-instruct and missing-record schedules where they matter.
• Ask the first practitioner to produce an issue map, urgency assessment and referral plan.

How to use this guide

That information helps a verified practitioner distinguish, for example, an employment dispute from a company dispute, a property transfer from a lease conflict, a family issue from an estate issue, or a civil claim from a criminal or regulatory process. It also exposes mixed matters that may require more than one workstream.

If a summons, order, notice, hearing date, arrest, eviction step, dismissal, appeal record or safety risk exists, show that item first. Do not delay urgent triage while trying to make the file perfect.

1. Put the triggering document first

The most useful first item is usually the record that created, changed or formalised the problem. It may be a contract, lease, employment letter, insurance decision, will, court paper, demand, disciplinary notice, charge sheet, municipal account, company resolution, public-body decision or medical record. If no document exists, write a short note identifying what happened, where, when and who was involved.

Keep the complete original. Record when and how it was received, and keep proof of delivery or service. You may highlight a working copy, but do not alter the source file or discard envelope, email-header or delivery information that may later matter.

The document does not automatically select the practice area. It provides the forum, relationship, procedure and task from which a practitioner can classify the matter.

2. Write a one-page factual problem statement

Use neutral facts rather than a conclusion such as “I need a commercial lawyer” or “this is definitely fraud.” Cover:

1. what occurred and what changed;
2. the people, organisations or public bodies involved;
3. the legal or practical relationship between them;
4. the document, transaction or decision at the centre;
5. what has already been sent, filed, signed or paid;
6. what result is needed immediately; and
7. what remains uncertain or disputed.

This statement is a routing tool. A shareholder dispute may also involve employment, restraint, tax or criminal allegations. A separation may also involve property, company, pension and child-related work. The first classification should identify each stream instead of forcing everything into one label.

The legal-service selection guide explains how event, forum and required task fit together. Your pack should provide the facts needed to use that framework.

3. Build a sourced chronology

Create a table with one material event per row:

Do not fill gaps from memory. Mark them. Keep the first chronology short enough to read before a consultation, then maintain a fuller source archive separately.

The evidence-pack guide provides a more detailed indexing method once the relevant legal stream and adviser are clearer.

4. List parties and their relationships

Prepare exact names for individuals, companies, trusts, employers, unions, insurers, public bodies, estates, family members and prior advisers. Add registration numbers or case references only where needed. Explain the relationship: employer and employee, buyer and seller, landlord and tenant, shareholder and company, spouse and spouse, creditor and debtor, patient and provider.

This list supports a conflict or eligibility screen and often reveals the practice-area boundary. Give names first. Wait for the prospective service to confirm a secure channel before distributing identity numbers, bank records, medical records or a complete unredacted file.

5. Add the records that created the relationship

Include the instrument that governs the relationship where available:

• employment terms, policies or collective agreements;
• sale, lease, loan, service or shareholder agreements;
• title, transfer, bond or body-corporate records;
• marriage, parenting, maintenance or divorce orders;
• wills, trust deeds, executor or representative appointments;
• insurance schedules and policy wording;
• company constitutions, resolutions and statutory records; or
• official licences, permits, assessments or decisions.

Do not assume a missing signed contract means no legal relationship exists. Record what is available, who may hold the missing record and when it was requested.

6. Separate formal process papers from background evidence

Create a front section for documents that may control procedure or timing: pleadings, notices, orders, rulings, referrals, objections, appeals, hearing notices, warrants, disciplinary documents and proof of service. Record the issuing body, case or reference number, stage and next stated date.

Do not calculate a universal deadline from a general article. Courts, tribunals, commissions, regulators, contracts and statutes use different rules. Ask a verified practitioner to read the actual paper and identify the controlling route and date.

If the papers identify court litigation, use the first-litigation-consultation checklist to organise the court-specific front section without changing the original records.

Background evidence—emails, messages, photographs, invoices, recordings, reports and witness names—can follow in an indexed bundle. Preserve complete threads and original files. Do not delete inconvenient material or edit a recording.

7. Prepare money and loss schedules where relevant

If the dispute involves payment, loss or property, make a simple schedule showing the amount, date, source record and calculation. Separate invoices, payments, interest, deductions, repair costs, income loss, benefits, offers and disputed amounts. Do not combine personal and company figures without explaining the distinction.

The schedule lets a practitioner determine whether the issue is primarily debt, contract, employment, insurance, tax, property, damages or another stream—and whether the value affects the practical forum or service route.

8. Prove authority to give instructions

Where the matter belongs to a company, trust, deceased estate, minor, body corporate or another represented person, include the authority you actually hold: a resolution, appointment, mandate, guardianship record, power or court order. Do not manufacture authority that does not exist. Flag the gap so the adviser can identify what must be regularised.

9. Make a missing-items register

For each missing record, note the likely custodian, request date, expected response and whether preservation may be urgent. Examples include CCTV, hospital files, employment records, bank statements, official reasons, company registers or correspondence held by a former adviser.

This prevents the initial consultation from becoming a scavenger hunt. It also lets the adviser distinguish records needed for immediate triage from material that can follow later.

10. Ask for a routing output

The first bounded review should leave you with a written record of:

• probable legal stream or streams;
• forum or process controlling the next step;
• earliest date requiring verification;
• immediate protective or information-gathering task;
• documents still needed;
• work the practitioner can accept;
• work requiring a referral or additional professional; and
• who, if anyone, has accepted responsibility for a deadline.

Before relying on a name, use the practitioner-verification guide. LPC status is a threshold check; the document pack is what allows you to test relevant experience and scope.

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