Consultations – what are they?

What is a consultation with Studio Legale Metta? 

A consultation is a meeting with one of our lawyers to discuss your matter and receive advice on options that may be available to you, based on your particular circumstances.

It is the first step to talk through any matter at SLM.  The consultation is just a one-time meeting (with no commitment beyond that), in which you can explain what you’re trying to do, ask questions and then be ready to start (or continue) with your plans. And during the consultation, the lawyer would gather information so that afterwards, you’d know what our fees would be should you choose to hire us to do the work on your case.

How do I book a consultation?

By using this link.

You will be prompted to make the following choices:

• Service:  remote or in person
• Duration: 30, 45 or 60 minutes
• Lawyer
• Upgrade to a ‘premium’ consultation – includes review of documents before the consultation and a follow up email summary

Your options to pay will be debit card or credit card.

Once you’ve paid, you’ll receive a confirmation email from your lawyer with the details of your booking and a separate calendar invite. 

I see I can ‘upgrade’ to a Premium consultation. What does that mean?

• Standard legal consultation: no document review; no follow up email summary;
• Premium legal consultation: includes review of documents before consultation and follow up email summary. At the end of the booking process you will receive a confirmation email. In such email you will find the information to submit documents that you wish to be reviewed;

I upgraded to a Premium consultation, when can I expect the post consultation summary from my consultant?

You can expect a follow-up with 2-3 days.

I’d like my husband/wife/children/family members to be a part of the consultation. Is that possible?

Yes! If you have chosen a video consultation (Zoom, Teams etc.), feel free to share the link you receive with anyone you want to join the discussion. You’ll also see a field to add additional email addresses for video consultations. If you’re doing a phone call, you can add people to the call.

How can I pay for a consultation?

Your options to pay will be debit card or credit card. The amount will be in USD with no option to pay in other currencies. Our consultations are offered in a collaboration with a US entity (The Italian Bureau) which is why the currency for our consultations is in US Dollars only.

What are the options to connect for the consultation?

We can meet remotely using Zoom, Microsoft Teams (no accounts needed) or phone call. We also offer some in person consultations.

Is there a recommended way to connect for a remote consultation?

Based on feedback from clients, a video call seems to provide a better experience than a phone call and additionally, you can share the link we provide with anyone else you would like to join the consultation. But the choice is yours, if you prefer to connect via a phone call, that works too.

I booked a consultation but need to cancel. What is the cancellation policy?

Our cancellation policy is super flexible! See it below and you’ll also see it during the booking process.

Cancellation policy:

-Cancel any time up to 1 hour prior to your appointment time and receive a full refund within 2 business days. Please use the cancellation link in the email confirmation you received upon booking (or email the consultant with whom you have an appointment).  Any cancellations within the 1 hour window will receive a 75% refund. Cancellation of a rescheduled consultation will also receive a 75% refund.

–No shows – if you do not cancel or reschedule your appointment and do not attend the meeting, you will receive a 60% refund. 

What’s the most economical way to book the consultation? I have a limited budget.

Options to tailor your pricing include: remote vs. in person, standard vs. premium, choice of lawyer and length of time .  If you’re just looking to talk and don’t need follow-ups or document review, go for the standard consultation at 30 minutes. That will give you the most economical option.

How do I know which consultant to book with?

On our booking page, you will have options to start your booking:

• start with the topic you want to discuss
• start with the name of the consultant if you already know who you’d like to book with
• start by seeing all consultants and their areas of focus

If a person has a paid consultation (or even just an email exchange or a phone call) with a consultant of Studio Legale Metta, is that person automatically a Client?  At what point does a person become a Client of Studio Legale Metta?

A person who has had a consultation or has only exchanged email correspondence with Studio Legale Metta is not automatically a Client of Studio Legale Metta.  However, all information shared with Studio Legale Metta representatives is handled with upmost confidentiality, regardless of whether they come from a Prospective Client or a Client. A Client of Studio Legale Metta is a person who has completed the initial SLM compliance screening (e.g. conflict of interest and anti-money laundering), the SLM client registration and retainer payment, and has signed an Engagement Letter with Studio Legale Metta.

Is there a charge to book a consultation? Is there a charge to ask a question?

When you have a legal question, a question about your specific case (your individual set of circumstances) and you need advice that requires talking to one of our lawyers, there is a charge for their time.

When you have an administrative question, our staff can answer it. Or when you’re just looking to do some research on your own, please use the search function on our website as we publish tons of information you can use as a resource at no cost.

You can think of our consultations as made up of two parts:

1. The lawyer asks questions needed to profile the case.  Those profiling questions are asked in the moment, based on the information acquired as the conversation unfolds.  Each case therefore prompts its own and unique set of questions.

2. Once the lawyer has received sufficient information, he/she will give answers based on how the client responds to those questions.

The consultation is needed to allow that initial profiling conversation which then becomes the basis from which we will be able to provide advice.

Some people think that when we recommend a consultation to get the answers they want, we already have those answers and just want their money to release the information. It is important to understand that actually we do not have those answers yet and that we need to profile their case in order to give the answers specific to their situation.

Therefore, whenever we recommend a consultation, it is explicitly because we need to ask those profiling questions first.

I just have one quick question, why do I have to pay for a consultation?  

Getting genuine legal advice from lawyers with years of education and experience in the field has a cost.

And we’ve also found that there are almost never any quick questions because in order to give you good advice, valuable advice, our lawyers have to gather all the details about your personal situation before recommending a course of action.  Because it actually makes a difference in what advice they give, all the details they compile when talking with you gives them the information to make a personalized plan for you.  And that’s where the value comes in.  Because you can do tons of research on your own about visas, purchasing property in Italy, etc. but not until the lawyer has a complete picture can they make sure to leverage everything that’s available to you.

When it comes to your legal options, details matter.

My question doesn’t need a lawyer to answer it. Why can’t I just get an answer without doing a consultation?

We offer 2 options for getting information at SLM.

1. Visit our website for content we provide at no charge. This is a great place to do some research on your own. We have a set of Q&As on various topics and you can also read more about our practice areas (what types of matters we handle, some estimates of costs, etc.).
2. Book a consultation. Any discussion of your personal circumstances needs to be answered by our legal team, meaning in a consultation with one of our lawyers.  The administrative staff are not able to provide guidance on legal matters or answer what might appear to be simple questions that have legal implications.

Can I talk to a lawyer without paying a fee?

We don’t have any options to discuss your case with our legal team at no charge.

I’m going to be purchasing real estate in Italy. At what point in the process should I book a consultation or be thinking about involving a lawyer?

It’s hard to know when you might need legal advice as you look to purchase a property.

Here is our approach:
Booking a consultation is what you’d want to do prior to starting your search (or as close to the beginning as possible) so that you can establish a relationship with a firm before you’re actually ready to buy something and so that you can receive insight and advice about options that you have, choices to make, strategies to put in place early on, etc., for a smoother and more cost-effective transaction.

The consultation is just a one-time meeting (with no commitment beyond that), in which you can explain what you’re trying to do, ask questions and then be ready to start (or continue) your search better prepared with a plan like pitfalls to avoid, things to keep in mind, early negotiations, etc. And during the consultation, the lawyer would gather information so that afterwards, you’d know what our fees would be should you choose to hire us once you’re ready to buy.

It’s the best way to quickly get valuable insight and to determine if you feel comfortable with the firm (ours or any other one) and to find out what the costs would be up front. Often a consultation well in advance of getting the point of signing a purchase offer might provide value to better prepare for property hunting, planning, early negotiations, etc.

Does the consultation fee exist even if you cannot provide me with any solutions? Is the fee simply for the time of the lawyer, or for legal advice?

The fee is for the time. Post consultation feedback we receive from clients is overwhelmingly positive in terms of value provided.

What is the value of doing a consultation if you tell me I can’t do what I want to do?

The value is that, many times, there are options available to you (based on your particular circumstances) that are unknown to you so you might walk away with new avenues to explore. But there is also value in the peace of mind you get, in understanding that you now know legally what you can or cannot do. Or you might find that you can ignore certain bureaucratic concerns and that you can move forward in whichever other route is needed to process your case in a different way.

Can I engage your services without doing a consultation first?

Technically you can but we don’t recommend it.

When people review our Engagement Letter for the first time, they tend to have questions about what options to choose, based on their personal situation.  For example, even if you choose a Service Plan, those include additional services that you choose.  Clients report that 1) the assessment during the consultation, the opportunity to discuss goals and strategies to achieve that goal as well as ask questions and 2) receiving a recommendation for services based on a personalized plan is helpful when deciding what choices to make.  And because these services can also be engaged as add-ons to the Service Plan, our lawyers can help you determine the most economical choices based on your needs.  But the only way to do that effectively is to have that initial consultation that allows our lawyers to prepare a personalized recommendation on how to do the work on your case.