When you first contact Wigdor, provide your name, a personal (non-work) number to contact you and receive private messages, and a brief description of your situation.
One of our lawyers will get additional information about you, your workplace, work history and the facts. Next, a prospective client usually will have an in-person meeting with a Wigdor lawyer. Think through the issues and facts. If requested, draft a chronology of the facts of your case including a history of what happened, when each incident occurred and who was involved in the events that prompted you to seek legal help.
Write up the facts on your own time and at home or in private, NOT at work and NOT using your employer’s computer.
If you have copies of documents, emails, handbooks or employer policies relating to your potential case, hold onto those and ask whether to bring them to the meeting for our lawyers to review. At your meeting with a Wigdor lawyer, remember that the lawyer is not your legal representative.
We treat everything you tell us as protected by attorney-client privilege to the fullest extent. However, if you email us from your employer’s computer, the privilege may be waived unintentionally.
Contact us only using a personal phone. Never email us from a computer, network, or email address owned by your employer.
The meeting is an important chance to get to know us, ask all the questions you want and ensure that you feel comfortable with us. We will explain everything thoroughly. Bring everything you’ve collected to the meeting: written chronology (if requested), related emails, documents, notes, handbooks or policies, and anything that might help you remember what happened and when (a diary or calendar showing events and meetings).
Do not destroy or erase any documents or information that may affect your case. When telling us the facts of your case, share all of the relevant information.
We must know the good and bad to develop the best strategy to represent you and avoid potential pitfalls. Once we have reviewed your information, our partners will meet and decide whether we can represent you and on what terms.
If our law firm can represent you, we send an engagement letter, or a contract, describing the terms and scope of our role as your legal representative in the matter.
We promise to fight tenaciously on your behalf to obtain your best outcome. Most of our individual representations are on a contingency fee basis: we are paid a percentage of the recovery if there is a successful outcome. If you don’t recover anything, we don’t either.
In some cases, we work on an hourly basis and require an up-front, refundable retainer. Whether contingency or hourly, you must pay out-of-pocket expenses such as overnight mailing fees, filing fees, transcripts and expert witnesses.
Once you have retained our law firm, we first try to resolve your matter amicably and privately by usually sending your employer a letter explaining the situation and the potential liability they face. Most matters are resolved prior to instituting legal proceedings.
Decisions on settling the case and the course of the case, such as whether to use a mediator or whether to file a lawsuit against your employer, are made after consultation with you.
Wigdor is well-known for its unrivaled trial skills and negotiation capabilities. While our lawyers are always trial-ready, the vast majority of cases settle before we start litigating.
In some cases, litigation is necessary. A typical single-individual employment litigation matter can take two to three years to become trial ready.
Throughout the matter, you will be prepared as the case moves forward and updated. Litigation can sometimes get nasty, but Wigdor will protect you. During litigation, the parties exchange documents and emails (“discovery”) and take sworn testimony from witnesses (“depositions”). After this is completed, employers often make a motion to dismiss the case (a “motion for summary judgment”). The judge determines whether there are enough disputed facts and evidence to require a trial in the case.
If you are successful at trial, the types and amount of damages that you may receive depends on the laws and type of harm in your case.
Once your case is resolved, Wigdor supports and empowers you with resources and advocacy to help you begin the next chapter of your life.
Our role as zealous counselors does not stop when your matter is resolved. We pride ourselves on our client service that extends to providing assistance after their matters have closed.
We offer bespoke resources and advocacy which allows clients to gain much-needed closure and chart a new path forward with clarity.