How do I prepare for my first meeting with a lawyer?

Verified 1 August 2026 · Law of Quebec and Canada · Free tool · nothing is sent

Réponse courte

Write the events in the order they happened, list the documents you have and the ones you are missing, and prepare your questions. The Barreau du Québec suggests bringing “contracts, invoices, wills, deeds of sale, photographs, letters”, writing down “all the elements of your situation or all the events in the order in which they happened, and describ[ing] them in as much detail as possible”, and asking for a fee estimate, detailed invoices and written confirmation of the mandate. Everyone gives that advice; this tool puts it on a page.

What this tool does, and what it does not do

It sorts. It does not advise. It does not say whether you are right, what your case is worth, or what to do — that is exactly why you are going to see a lawyer.
It does not pick your lawyer and recommends none. To find one, go through the Barreau du Québec or your regional referral service.
It calculates no deadline. If a limitation period is approaching, say so in plain words on the first call — it is the first thing a lawyer will want to know.
Nothing is sent or stored anywhere else. You are writing sensitive things here: they stay in this browser, and “Clear everything” deletes them.

The tool: your page to set on the table

1. What you want

One sentence. It is what the lawyer reads first.

My goal

In one line, what happened

Is there a pressing date? Optional — but if there is one, write it here; it changes the conversation.

2. The facts, in order

One fact per line. Short. The lawyer will fill in the rest out loud.

Date

What happened

3. My documents

What you have, and what you are missing. The Barreau names: contracts, invoices, wills, deeds of sale, photographs, letters.

Document

I have it

4. My questions

Three are already there: they are the ones the Barreau recommends asking. Add your own.

My question

Keep my preparation on this device when I close the page
Unticked, everything disappears on closing. Ticked, it is saved in this browser only: nothing goes to a server. One word before you tick it: if this device is shared — the family computer, a tablet everyone uses, a library workstation — someone else can reopen the page and read what you entered. In that case leave the box unticked and download the file instead.

Sources

Barreau du Québec — The first meeting with a lawyer: documents to bring, events in order, questions to ask, fee estimate, detailed invoices and written confirmation of the mandate

Going further

My chronology of facts — if your story is long, build it there first
My exhibit list — if you are already filing documents with a court
All the free tools

You have your sheet. What now?

This tool settles one task, once. It needs no account, it keeps nothing anywhere but on your device, and it will stay free: come back as often as you need.

What a file kept over time adds, and a sheet cannot: holding every exhibit in one place from one hearing to the next, finding a date without reopening six documents, and seeing at a glance what is still missing. That is what Preuve en main does — on your device too.

Open Preuve en main See what it does, first

Free, with no account and no email address to start. If this tool helped, the link to this page can be shared as is: it exposes nothing you entered.