First, I want to state that I don’t believe everyone needs a franchise tax board lawyer to handles their California state tax issues. One of the main reasons that I started blogging was to help people. I wanted to motivate “self-help” style legal solutions by taking the knowledge that I had an as an attorney and making it available on the web. Indeed, if you take the time to read much of what I have written on the blog, you can almost become as knowledgeable as I am on many of these same subjects (although I have an experience edge dealing with this stuff in practice).
However, I am cognizant of the fact that there are some situations where it is beneficial to hire a franchise tax board lawyer to handle your California state tax issues. I am not talking about routine collection issues, where most people with some basic financial knowledge can work their way through. Rather, I am talking about more complicated matters where having a franchise tax board lawyer can really make the difference. Although I am certainly available to help you with any Franchise Tax Board matter (see my California state tax attorney services page), I realize that not everyone is comfortable with the virtual law office model and I wanted to take the opportunity to provide you with the things that I think are really important in hiring a good franchise tax board lawyer. I think many of these factors are applicable to hiring attorneys in general as well, but specifically I wanted to give you some practical advice on hiring someone to handle your California state tax matter.
California Franchise Tax Board Lawyer Hiring Tip 1 – Your Rapport
When asked what I believe the number one hiring criteria for selecting a lawyer, even more than a person’s experience, education, or pedigree, I believe it is the rapport that the client has with the lawyer. Dealing with a lawyer is like any business relationship in that you need comfort and harmony to effect things efficiently. As such, if you do not have a level of comfort and trust with your franchise tax board lawyer is not there then there is no basis for any sort of attorney/client relationship. Trust and rapport is something that can be gauged in the first meeting or contact with the attorney. Does this person sound like they know what they are talking about and do they give complete and full answers to the questions being asked on them? Do I believe the answers that this person is giving me? Do I feel comfortable with this person and do I believe I am being treated honestly, fairly, and ethically? These are all factors that go into whether or not you have a rapport with you franchise tax board lawyer. If you can answer each of these questions in the affirmative, then I believe you are more than 50% of the way to finding a franchise tax board lawyer you can trust. Yes, 50%. That’s how important I believe rapport is.
Continue to more on how to hire a Franchise Tax Board attorney.
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