The first thing that a lawyer has to do is: ask questions. Angela Werner, JSD. To successfully act for their clients, lawyers need to have full information about them at their fingertips. A lawyer's first job, therefore, is to analyse a client's requirements in conjunction with that client and then define objectives. It might be necessary to revise a client's unrealistic ideas right at the start and work together to design alternatives. This is the only way to be sure of successfully achieving the desired aim.