Ask the man who bought a parcel of land and then consulted his local attorney
, only to learn that the lot could not be reached from the public road. Or the customer who agreed that if she fell behind on payments for a new color TV set, the seller could repossess the set and any other merchandise he sold to her on credit. Or the accident victim who began to feel pain after she had released the negligent party's insurance company from any further liability. They will tell you the time to see your lawyer is before not after you get into legal trouble and certainly before you sign any legal document that commits you to a major obligation or signs away your rights.
The situations which arise in life which call for good sound legal advice are many. Sad may be the person who simply puts off seeing his lawyer until it's too late or who is too quick to assume that everything is in good legal order when in actuality it is not, or the person who tries to be his own lawyer rather than go to the trouble or expense of getting professional advice. There is an old saying: He who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client. More often than not, the "client" ends up the worse off financially.
Of course, as any lawyer will tell you, many people who arrive in attorney's offices with trouble at their heels are perfectly innocent of any intentional oversight or procrastination. They simply failed to recognize and to heed the warning signals which said there was legal trouble ahead.