Six Things to Know When Hiring a Lawyer
Things to Look for When Hiring a Lawyer
Finding a good and trustworthy lawyer isn’t always very easy. Most people do not have a lot of experience with looking for a lawyer to hire because many people only need a lawyer once or a few times, if any, in a lifetime. As well, there are many, many different areas of law that a lawyer may specialize in one or more of, and it can be hard to decide who is going to be the best suited to the particular details and nuances of your legal needs.
While it may be stating the obvious, many people know that a lawyer that specializes in estate planning and writing wills is probably not the best lawyer to help you with a personal injury claim, when you need to sue an employer, or for a criminal charge such as a DUI, to name just a few of the many, many different areas of law a person may need specialized help with.
No one lawyer is going to be right for every potential case or for every potential client. The following are six things that people recommend knowing about when they begin and enter into the process of hiring a lawyer:
Experience
While many new lawyers are bright and on the cutting edge of the newest technologies and information, something that is good to know when hiring a lawyer is, how much experience they have and what kind. Depending on your needs, a qualified, inexperienced lawyer might suit you just fine but you might also be better off with an experienced veteran lawyer.
Expertise
It used to be more common for lawyers, especially in smaller towns and cities, to have general practice firms. While some general practice lawyers still exist, more lawyers specialize in one or a few areas of law. Personal injury, family, estate and probate, premises liability, product liability and medical malpractice are just a few of the many different specialty areas a lawyer might focus their work on. Depending on your needs, there is a good chance that you would not want a lawyer who helped you with planning your estate to represent you in a personal injury or other kind of lawsuit.
Reputation
It is often good to know about a lawyer’s reputation amongst past and present clients, judges and peers.
Integrity
Many people have heard more than a few lawyer jokes that indicate that lawyers are dishonest and have questionable integrity. While there are lawyers with these characteristics, there are many honest and decent lawyers that work hard and genuinely want to help their clients.
Compassion
Many people want to know that their lawyer is compassionate and cares about them. They feel better knowing that their legal needs are not just a job for their lawyer but that it means something to their lawyer that they are taken care of as best as they can be.
Personality & Rapport
Because clients often spend time with their lawyers, many people feel that it is important to know that you like your lawyer’s personality and that you have a good rapport with them.
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