If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Today, I welcome a friend of mine from the Boston area, Gabriel Cheong, Esq. Gabriel has graciously written a post on how to find the right divorce lawyer for you. Take it away, Gabriel …
Divorce lawyers are not once-size-fits-all. A divorce lawyer that your neighbor liked and used might not be a good fit for you. So how do you find and evaluate a divorce lawyer?
Finding a divorce lawyer is the easy part. First, look at your circle of friends and family for recommendations. If you are too embarrassed to ask or if you don’t like their suggestions, then there are online resources you can use. I would suggest Google (search term: <your city, state> divorce lawyer), Avvo.com and Justia.com. [Tim here; just wanted to note that avvo.com does not yet list attorneys in Mississippi.]
After you have a list of lawyers you want to evaluate, what criteria do you use? I suggest looking at three: Quality, Personality and Price.
Quality
You evaluate a lawyer’s quality by first talking with them. Call them up and ask them some relevant questions. What is the focus of your practice? Are you a general practice law firm? Have you handled my type of case before?
Do a Google search on that lawyer and their firm. Browse through their website and hopefully they have a blog you can look through as well. Blogs are a great way to get to know a lawyer because it lets you see how they think and how they write. It also should give you information about your situation.
Personality
You’re going to be working with your divorce lawyer for some time so you want one that fits you and your personality. If you’re butting heads with your attorney and trying to get the most from a divorce, you’re fighting two fronts at once.
Generally, you want a divorce lawyer who’s willing to be aggressive but who’s not an aggressive person. You want the lawyer to stand firm but you don’t want them to be unnecessarily aggressive all the time. This is because divorce is mostly about negotiations. An always aggressive person does not generally negotiate well.
Price
Whereas most people look at price first, I would dare to suggest you look at price last. Here’s why.
Hopefully finding a divorce lawyer is a once in a lifetime process. Therefore, do you really want to be bargain shopping for the cheapest lawyer you can find? Probably not. You want a lawyer who satisfies the first two criteria.
Price is of course an issue. If you cannot afford a $300/hr attorney, then you can’t afford them. However, if it’s a decision between a $200/hr attorney and a $250/hr attorney, then I would seriously ignore the price and look carefully at the first two criteria. Also, ask if the lawyer is willing to do fixed price billing or value billing.
Gabriel Cheong, Esq. is the owner of Infinity Law Group located in the Boston metro area of Massachusetts. He practices in the areas of Family Law and Estate Planning. For more information about Gabriel and his practice, please visit the firm’s website http://www.infinlaw.com or his blog at http://gabrielcheonglaw.com.
Related posts:
- Do You Really Want a Mean Lawyer? Today, Dick Price, a lawyer in Fort Worth, Texas who...
- Collaborative Divorce A comment I received to my last post inspired this...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Great advice. It is important to establish or have established a good rapport and professional relationship. For too long the legal profession has held this aloof position when engaging with clients. This is no longer acceptable and the manner and approach of your solicitor or lawyer is the most significant aspect of your business with him or her.
This is a good piece of advice for this particular topic. I was wondering if I could use this write-up on my website, I will link it back to your website though. If this is a problem please let me know and I will take it down right away. I would also invite you to visit my blog and participate. Regards and more power – Karen
Of course you can use this!
Feel free to use as long as I receive credit.