How to choose an attorney

Throughout the course of your legal problems, you will have to
make some tough decisions – If you were involved in an accident
then you have to choose between bringing criminal damages or press
with a plaintiff case, if you have a small business and you were
involved in a deal, then you have to decide whether to sign it or
let it pass. There is no clear-cut answer in many of these
dilemmas, and getting the right lawyer is crucial to you. We
examine the perks of choosing a lawyer in a prepaid legal plan as
opposed to hiring your own lawyer, and some simple steps you can
take to choose a good attorney.

The number one criterion has to do with a lawyer’s legal
ability: someone who lays the law down for you, present you with
options, explain the ramifications of each decision you make and
give you recommendations on the best course of action. In this day
and age of complicated legal matters, many lawyers are increasingly
specialized and you stand to get better information from someone
with a practice focus in a particular area of the law than a
generalist who deals with a broad spectrum of legal issues.
Building rapport is also very important: your relationship with
your lawyer can make or break your case. You need a lawyer who
gives you candid advice and council you can trust, someone with
enough perspective to step back from an issue and look at it from
all perspectives.

Client-lawyer relationships are very limited within a prepaid
legal plan. Because of “preventive” nature of most plans, your
contact with your lawyer will be limited on many occasions. You
seldom get to talk to your lawyer face-to-face – as most of the
consultation is done over the phone – and even when you get to talk
to them, it’s difficult to build rapport when your office
consultations are limited to a dozen hours a year.

The good news, however, is you still have some options left.
When you sign up for a legal plan, you get to choose your lawyer
and there is a number of steps you can take to increase the
likelihood of getting a good lawyer. First, you need to ask for
referrals from previous clients. Ask around about good attorneys in
the network. Once you get a few names, check their educational
background, their qualifications and their professional track
record with your state’s bar association.

After you receive your referrals, don’t shy away from setting up
interviews with attorneys in the network. Most don’t mind receiving
inquiries about what they do and how able there are. |Ask tough
questions: How long have they been in practice? How satisfied are
their previous clients? How many legal problems of interest to you
have they taken recently?