My recent posts have concerned what makes a good lawyer, an exceptional one and one that is financially successful but morally dubious. This post concerns how to find a lawyer that will represent your best interests, and how to sort the gems from the rest of the shiny crowd of lawyers.
There are many excellent articles online concerning choosing a lawyer, they identify many different points to look for, including;
All these techniques concern different methods and things to keep in mind, concerning qualifications, specialities and other technical aspects that can differ between jurisdictions. Personality, approach and style are not their primary focus. This article is aimed at giving you a framework, wherever you are finding someone who is qualified, wiling and able to take on your case and represent you to the extent you want to be represented.
Step 1 - Decide what you are looking for
Seeing a lawyer, even for an initial consultation can be an expensive experience. Before you embark on the journey through the legal process ask yourself:
- What exactly am I looking for out of this experience?
- What documentation do I have that relates to the incident?
- What have I done that may have contributed to the action? (if you are defending or prosecuting)
- How would an independent observer view what has happened?
- If I decide to proceed with this course, what is my perceived best outcome?
- If I decide not to proceed with this course, what is my perceived worst outcome?
- Has anything like this happened before?
- Was there anyone else involved that contributed to what happened?
These questions are very important as they will save you much time later. If you discover that you do not need a lawyer at all then you have gone through without unnecessary expense or waste of time. It pays to note that in most jurisdiction that there will be financial outlay even to the winning party. If you think laterally you may have enough information that you can negotiate with the other parties involved in your proposed action and again avoid hiring a legal professional. You may still want advice, but knowing that you are engaging your lawyer for advice, not a prolonged action will change the questions you ask your lawyer and how they are able to help you.
If you are interested in negotiating with the other party - you may want to see my article How to Get What You Want By Negotiating.
Asking yourself these questions means that you will be prepared for what your lawyer will ask you. You should also realize that there are other perspectives that can be applied to any situation. Sometimes a legal dispute will have different possible outcomes, depending on what you want and what an impartial observer may come up with the same conclusion you do now.
Collating all the documents relating to the situation will refresh your memory and will let someone else assess the situation soon after hearing your story, helping them formulate the best approach to the case.
Step 2 - Assess Your Needs
As there are many different types of doctor, teacher, athlete; there are different types of lawyer. Many people do not realize that while someone is a hot-shot trial attorney, they may not have great skills at drafting a will, or even in negotiating a business deal. Understand what your case is likely to involve.
Is the main area: wills? criminal? personal-injury? DUI? copyright? IP?
Note, depending on your jurisdiction you will need to note that the type of lawyer you need may be more than a specialty. In most states of Australia, and the UK there are two types of lawyer, Barristers and Solicitors. Barristers make their money through advocacy, and generally will not take clients without a referral from a solicitor. This means that the individual or firm you hire may not be representing you in court (if it goes that far) but they will engage a barrister for you. Meaning, do not look up barristers to work for you, find a solicitor who deal with the specialty that you require.
Now you should be ready to start assessing lawyers.
Step 3 - Start With People You Know
Don’t start with the phone book, start with people that you are comfortable with. Any advertisements, or people working for a company (which is what a law firm really is) will not necessarily tell you what you need to know, and if they do you, what they say may have little weight.
Depending on the sensitivity of the problem, ask people that you work with, that you interact with socially, your friends and family. Ask them what experience do they have with lawyers? do they know any? would they recommend anyone, or one firm in particular? What good things have they heard about particular firms? what bad things have they heard about particular firms? Ask for their advice about finding a lawyer, what they did, what they would do differently and what they would do next time.
Do not limit your questions to your particular problem. Each environment, city or country all have different peculiarities about their systems and how things work, so people you know may help you more than anything you can read online. Even if you have been involved in the legal process before, refresh your memory- things may have changed since then.
Do not just ask one person for their opinions, a broad spectrum of people will help you become fully informed, what one person values may not be important to you. Think back to your needs and the questions you asked yourself, is the information you are being told going to help your particular needs? Reflect on all the information, not just what appears immediately relevant. If you have heard of some lawyers who are wonderful, but would not able to help your situation, then contact that lawyer and see who they would recommend. If you have heard things about someone that you think you would hire, but there are some negatives - write these down as they may come in handy later.
At the end of this process you should have some leads of people to talk with. If you don’t then scan the internet, look for sites that rate lawyers, look for advertisements. Look at other public sources of information. Do not hold as much sway with ads and posts online but they may help you with questions to ask.
Step 4 - Arrange A Meeting
Open the phone book, find the lawyer or lawyers that may be relevant to your case. Ring and speak to the receptionist. The aim of this conversation is to glean as much information as you can about the company where you are going to be spending your money, a small conversation may save you a considerable investment. Do not be surprised what they will divulge if you are polite. Ask the receptionist to take a moment of their time. Be polite and tell them briefly of your story, ask them if the lawyer you want would be able to handle your case, if it is the sort of thing that they do often. Ask about the availability of the lawyer, how much time to do they have at the moment, if they have any other cases similar at the moment. Make sure that they are not representing the person that you may be appearing against. Finally ask if you can briefly speak with the lawyer themselves, or if you can arrange to be called back. They may not let you do this, but if so then ask the same questions of the lawyer. If you like the sound of this lawyer then arrange a meeting. Ask for all the information that you should bring with you, how much the initial consultation will cost (see if you can get it free) and when and where you should meet.
Step 5 - Attend the Meeting
Many lawyers will be prepared to sit down with you at no charge if they think that you are a genuine prospective client. Arrive punctually and dress well. Make sure that you have brought everything that you think is related to the case (not what you necessarily think is relevant) and if possible type a summary about what your perspective is, and what your best and worst outcomes are.
Do not be nervous, think of this as a job interview, where you are the employer. The lawyer may be as nervous as you are (even though they would not admit it). Remember always that you do not have to hire the person sitting in front of you, there are always other lawyers. You already know a bit about this person, from their reputation and the research you did, you have also understood what you are looking for, and if this lawyer can not provide it, then they are not the person for you.
It may help to come up with an agenda to follow; to make sure that everything important to you is covered. Be honest with the lawyer at all times with your relationship with them. If they are the only lawyer you are interviewing tell them so, if there is anything you think may be harmful to your case, tell them - there is nothing that you should not tell your lawyer because at the end of the day if you don’t; your lawyer will not be able to represent your interests to the best of their ability. The form of the meeting may differ but generally it should go as follows:
- Introductions
- Discussion about the lawyer and their experience
- Discussion about yourself generally, your present working / living arrangements, your education, your prior experience with lawyers.
- Discussion about why you are seeing the lawyer, what you want to get out of the experience.
- Telling the story about the legal problem and everything that has happened since.
- Giving an outline of all the documentation that you have and the people that may be relevant.
- The lawyer may then give you their brief assessment of what they think the issues are and if they require more information. They may tell you your options and how you may proceed, or if not when they will be able to give you this information.
- You should then discuss about fees, the possible timeframe of any action, the worst case and best case scenarios from the lawyer’s perspective.
- Finally you should tell them what you want to do; what you want is outlined below…..
Step 6 - To Hire or Not to Hire?
By now you should have gone through the meeting with your lawyer. You will have an appreciation for something about the person you want to be working with, how well they understand your problem, and you may even know if there is a legal issue to be tested.
Again you need to ask yourself some questions:
- Is pursuing a legal avenue still the right course to fill your desires? - if you no longer need a lawyer then do not hire one.
- Would you be confident trusting the lawyer you just interviewed in representing you? - if you do not have trust in this lawyer, then they may not be able to represent you correctly, if you do not think that they understand your issues then you may be able to find someone who does better.
- Do you have any personal problems with this lawyer? you may need to work with this person for some time, if they are the best lawyer in the world but you can not cope with their personality then they are not the best lawyer for you.
- Does the lawyer understand what you are trying to get out of this action? if they do not understand clearly what you want to do then they may not deliver you the end result you were hoping for. As a lawyer is there to represent your interests, if they do not know what those interests are then they will not be able to perform this function.
- Are you going to be able to afford to engage this firm or lawyer? Face it, cost is important to most of it, if this action is going to damage you financially because of the lawyer you pick, then you either need to drop the case or find a new attorney.
- What are the best aspects of this lawyer? - think about the strengths of this person, if you can not name any then you may not get much from them. There are many lawyers out there, if despite all your research the person who faces you is unimpressive and can not convince you of any positive traits that can help you then they are not worth hiring.
- What are the worst aspects of this lawyer? - if there are negative qualities, assess them against the good ones. If something is so negative that you are not comfortable about it, then this lawyer may not be a great choice for you.
- Do you think you will regret hiring this legal professional? - if you do not think that you will regret hiring this person, chances are that subconsciously you have already decided to hire them. Gut feelings may not be scientific, but if there is something that you feel is not quite right about this person then you may never be happy with your choice. This means it is time to find another lawyer.
After asking yourself the above questions you should have already opened your mind to all the positive and negative traits of the person you are interviewing. If you are still happy with them, then tell them so, and why.
Clearly communicate your intentions about what you want to do, why you have chosen them (or be polite if they were rejected) and then settle any further arrangements. If you have financial or time constraints, discuss and agree to limits and a timeframe.
If you repeat this process until you find a lawyer that you want to hire, you should find a quality professional who will represent your interests well, and should deliver the best possible result.
Final Observations
Remember that even the best lawyers can loose. If you hired a lawyer that represented your interests in the best possible way then you made the right choice about what lawyer to choose.
Also note that if you have been to many lawyers and not hired any, then maybe you need to lower your standards, or use different criteria to evaluate them against. However if you are persistent and do your research you should be well rewarded.
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