McKey Law Founder Bracken McKey Discusses the Importance of Client Preparation

Lake Oswego attorney Bracken McKey explains why organized information, honest communication, and thoughtful questions can help clients make better use of their time with an attorney.

LAKE OSWEGO, OR / ACCESS Newswire / September 16, 2026 / Hiring an attorney is often one of the first steps people take when facing an unfamiliar or stressful legal situation. While much of the attention naturally falls on the attorney's experience and preparation, McKey Law founder Bracken McKey says clients can also play an important role in making the attorney-client relationship more productive from the beginning.

Preparation does not require clients to understand the law or arrive with every detail perfectly organized. Instead, McKey recommends focusing on the information that can help an attorney understand what happened, identify important questions, and determine what may need further investigation.

"A client isn't expected to walk into my office knowing which facts have legal significance," McKey says. "What helps is having an accurate picture of what happened. If you can tell me the sequence of events, bring the records you have, and be candid about what you know and what you don't know, we have a much better starting point."

Start With a Timeline

One of the simplest ways clients can prepare is by creating a basic timeline of events. Dates can become difficult to remember during a long conversation, particularly when several people, documents, or incidents are involved.

McKey recommends identifying the major events in chronological order before meeting with an attorney. The timeline does not need to resemble a formal legal document. A simple list containing dates, people involved, and a short description of what happened can provide useful context.

"When you're living through a stressful situation, everything can start to blend together," McKey says. "Writing down that one conversation happened on a Monday, a document arrived three days later, and another event occurred the following week gives us a structure. We can always fill in the details from there."

Creating that structure also lets the attorney spend more of the meeting discussing meaningful questions rather than reconstructing the basic sequence of events.

Bring the Documents You Have

Documents can provide context that is difficult to capture through memory alone. Depending on the legal matter, useful records could include correspondence, notices, contracts, photographs, reports, court documents, text messages, or other materials connected to the situation.

McKey cautions clients against deciding on their own that a document is irrelevant simply because it appears minor.

"I would rather know a document exists and determine that we don't need it than learn about it much later," he says. "Something that seems routine to the client may answer a question the attorney has about timing, communication, or what another person understood at a particular point."

Organization can make those materials considerably easier to review. Arranging documents chronologically or separating them by category can help an attorney identify relationships between different pieces of information.

Clients should not worry, however, if everything is not perfectly organized before the first meeting. The purpose of preparation is to make information accessible, not to expect the client to build the legal strategy.

Accuracy Is More Useful Than a Perfect Story

McKey also emphasizes the importance of being accurate, even when the complete answer is not immediately available.

Clients sometimes feel pressure to remember every detail or provide a definitive response to every question an attorney asks. In reality, saying "I don't remember" or "I'm not sure" can be much more useful than filling a gap with an assumption.

"Nobody's memory is perfect, especially when they're trying to reconstruct something that happened months ago," McKey says. "If you're uncertain about a date or conversation, tell your attorney that. We may be able to confirm it through records later. An honest gap in the information is much easier to work with than a guess that eventually becomes treated as a fact."

Complete communication is equally important. Clients may feel embarrassed about certain information or assume that an unfavorable detail should be left out of the conversation. McKey says attorneys need an accurate understanding of the situation, including facts that may be uncomfortable to discuss.

An attorney who learns about a difficult fact early has an opportunity to evaluate it. Discovering the same information unexpectedly later can create problems that might otherwise have been anticipated.

Clients Should Come With Questions

Preparation should also include thinking about what the client wants to understand.

People often leave meetings only to realize later that they forgot to ask something important. Writing down questions beforehand can prevent that frustration and help keep the conversation focused.

Useful questions may involve what happens next, what information the attorney still needs, how communication will work, what decisions may be approaching, and what the client should or should not do while the matter is ongoing.

McKey believes clients should never avoid asking a question simply because they think the answer should be obvious.

"Attorneys work with legal processes every day, but our clients don't," he says. "If I explain something and the client doesn't understand it, I want them to stop me and ask. The conversation is only useful if we're both clear about what we're discussing."

Attorneys Have a Responsibility to Prepare, Too

McKey stresses that preparation is not a responsibility that belongs solely to the client. Attorneys must also arrive ready to listen carefully, review the available information, identify what is missing, and explain complicated issues in understandable terms.

A client may bring an organized timeline and complete records, but those materials only become useful when the attorney takes the time to understand how they fit together.

"Preparation has to work both ways," McKey says. "The client helps by giving the attorney accurate information and asking questions. The attorney has to take that information seriously, prepare for the conversations that follow, and communicate clearly about what comes next."

That shared responsibility can also reduce unnecessary uncertainty. When both parties understand what information is needed, who is responsible for obtaining it, and when the next conversation should occur, the relationship becomes easier to manage.

Clear Communication Creates a Better Starting Point

Legal matters can develop in unexpected ways, which means even extensive preparation cannot answer every question at the beginning. McKey believes the purpose is not to eliminate uncertainty but to create a reliable foundation from which the attorney and client can work.

That foundation begins with accurate information, organized records, useful questions, and a willingness to communicate openly as circumstances change.

"Clients don't need to show up with everything figured out," McKey says. "That's why they're coming to an attorney. What we want is enough information to understand where things stand today and enough communication between us to determine what needs to happen next."

For McKey, preparation ultimately comes down to making sure both sides can focus on the actual problem rather than spending valuable time correcting misunderstandings that could have been addressed earlier.

About Bracken McKey

Bracken McKey is an attorney and founder of McKey Law in Lake Oswego, Oregon. With more than 25 years of legal experience, McKey works with clients facing complex legal matters and emphasizes careful preparation, straightforward communication, and a clear understanding of each client's individual circumstances.

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SOURCE: Bracken McKey