Before Legal Advice Series: How To Choose A Lawyer
Choosing a lawyer is an important step in receiving the proper legal guidance. The task of finding a lawyer isn't necessarily difficult, but it can be time consuming. Take a deep breath and be ready to commit real time into finding the best lawyer for your particular legal issue. The work you put into finding the most qualified legal representative will certainly pay off in the long run.
Step One: Identify Your Area of Law
You may locate the best divorce lawyer in the world, but that individual may be of little assistance if you are looking for someone to write a will. Thus, your first step is to refine what area of law your legal issue applies to. You can approach this task by doing a little research on the web, view our own area of law descriptions on the right of your screen, or simply ask people around you. If you are still unsure, it is alright to guess the area of law, and simply contact any attorney. That attorney may be able to provide some additional guidance and even refer you to one of his colleagues.
Step Two: Locating Legal Aid in Your Area of Law
As you may have guessed, the next step is to begin seeking for lawyers/attorneys in your area of law. Try a basic Google search of "[Insert your city] [Area of Law] lawyers." Thus, if you are looking for criminal lawyers, and you live in Houston Texas, your search will look like "Houston criminal law lawyers. Other avenues to search include the Yellow Pages, and referral websites (like the one your at now!).
Be relentless and thorough in your search. Look beyond the first page of search engine results while trying to get a feel for who the lawyer is. Read the attorney's online profiles, and take notes on who you think may be good for your case. Your goal at this stage is to develop a master list of lawyers from which you can identify your ideal counsel.
Step Three: Narrowing the List
Great, now you've likely found huge lists of legal representatives eager to offer their services. What you need to do now is refer to the notes that you have taken to compare and evaluate the proficiency of each lawyer. As you find a lawyer that seems to appeal to you, add them to a new list with additional notes on their education, qualifications (like experience), and anything else you find that indicates the personality of the lawyer.
Few notes to keep in mind during this step:
The school that the attorney attended is necessarily correlated to the value of their legal advice. Many terrible lawyers attended the best law schools, and many of the worst law schools have helped produce some of the best lawyers. Simply use an attorney's education to give a fuller understanding of their work-ethic.
Look for applicable expereince in your particular law. Remember, you're hiring a lawyer that can serve your particular legal issue best. Not just the best overall lawyer.
Finally, remember that you are hiring a person to counsel you. You need to feel comfortable talking to this individual, and you need to feel confident in their abilities. Look for references, and even feel free to contact the attorney to request additional information.
Step Four: Making Contact
By now you should have a healthy list of about 25-30 attorneys. Using your notes, try to rank these lawyers by who you think would serve your interests competently. Then, from the top, start contacting them. Call and ask questions, request a free consultation, inquire upon how much time would potentially be devoted to your case, and set meetings. The attorneys who rub you the wrong way get crossed off the list, and the attorneys you like get promoted. As you continue through this process, your ideal legal counsel will slowly emerge from the pack. Inform that attorney of your interest, and go from there.
Congratulations
That's all there is to it. Using this simple four step method should help you get the most out of your dollar, and will hopefully lead your case to a favorable outcome. Feel free to comment with questions or suggestions in the form below. As always, we at Ready Lawyers wish you the best in your legal endeavors.
Related posts:
- Before Legal Advice Series: Will I Go to Jail?
- Before Legal Advice Series: Do I have a Legal Case?
- Before Legal Advice Series: Introduction
