How does a lay person select a good attorney?

Question

I have seen at least one fully incompetent attorney, but I think there are all grades.

Deriding plumbers is foolish. Most good plumbers are pretty smart people. As an electrician, many electricians get offended when I call them plumbers of electricity, arrogants(<--is a plural noun).
I worked with a(n) (not so good) electrician once. He had been an attorney, but left with disgust. Maybe he was not so good at that too; I don't know. He called himself a "recovering lawyer".

Yes & No:
You think they should have to take losing cases, and not get paid if they lose a case that was predestined to be a loser? That is beyond inane.

Answer 1

"...Good attorney"! Isn't that a self-cancelling phrase? A contradiction in terms?

Answer 2

Finding the right attorney is a real challenge if you don't have a friend or associate who can reliably recommend someone. Like professional athletes-- the best attorneys are in great demand and command the highest fees. Unlike sports professionals, stats on attorneys can be hard to find.

A good place to start is the Bar Association in your state. See if they have a legal referral service that will match potential clients with attorneys that specialize in certain areas of law. Need a divorce? The Bar Association should be able to tell you what attorneys claim to practice divorce law and how to contact them. That doesn't mean the attorneys are good-- just that they are licensed and in good standing with the Bar Association.

Be an informed consumer. Read the standards of conduct for attorneys-- usually available at the website for your state's highest court or at the local law library. Good attorneys follow the standards closely; Bad attorneys take short cuts or circumvent the rules.

Once you have the names of some attorneys you might use, contact the state licensing authority in your state to see what complaints or disciplinary action, if any, have been filed against them. Again, an attorney with no disciplinary history isn't necessarily good, but an attorney who has been repeatedly disciplined probably isn't worth your time.

When you've decided to make contact, look for two more things: First, most good attorneys will meet with you for a free half-hour consultation. Second, they should be able to give you a written fee schedule that shows what you'll be paying for. Attorneys who just quote you an hourly fee might drop a bomb on you later-- a bill with all sorts of charges you never expected to pay. Good and honest attorneys tell you up front that they'll charge you for at least .6 hours just to pick up the phone on your case-- no matter how long they talk.

Sometimes, you're the problem. Don't go to an attorney empty-handed and expect them to do all the work-- even if you are paying them a small fortune. Bring copies of any documentation you might need. Have names, addresses, and contact numbers for people the attorney might need to contact. The easier it is for an attorney to handle your case, the better the results you can expect.

Lastly, a good rule of thumb about hiring good attorneys is this: Bring your checkbook!

Answer 3

Referral services. Some independent groups rate attorneys based on win-loss-ratio. State bars also keep track of ethical complaints, which is another good measure.

How long they have been in practice, and how many times they have handled a particular type of case. Someone may be an expert at construction defect law, but lost every parking ticket case they ever took.

And of course, meeting them. Ideally watching them in practice a few times to see how confident and competent they seem. Even if you don't know anything about the law, you can tell a lot by the way the judge responds to what they're saying and how they present themselves.

And the point above, about most people waiting until a panic moment, is a good one. Preparation, as in all things, is more effective.

Answer 4

Most are incompetent. Most are greedy.

The ONLY way to select a lawyer for litigation is to go to the court a few times, sit through trials and hearings, talk with lawyers and clients, and get comfortable with the venue and get a feel for the players. This will relieve your apprehension and make it less likely that a lawyer will mislead you.

People panic when arrested (or a family member is arrested) and they don't listen, don't bargain; they waste money and hang on to myths and hopes and desperate wishes.

People are bewildered by the judicial process -- with the judge in robges and up on high -- and intimidated by the formality. A bankrutpcy hearing, after you've sat through a few; or a DUI trial or a divorce, etc., is far less fearful than you thought.

What can I say? Even my professor in law school (one of the best professors at one of the best schools) called most lawyers "plumbers".

Answer 5

I think that there is a rating system that you can check out to see how many cases they have won and lost. You could call your states Bar Association to find out.

Answer 6

Lawyers should be paid ONLY if they win, and they should not be able to turn down a case past their assigned limit. If you brought in your car for a transmission and they couldn't fix it, do you still have to pay to have it fixed?

Lawyers are bottom feeders.

Answer 7

a lot of leg work and patience. See as many as you can, ask as many questions and go from there. you can tell from their answers if they are fighters or people who just throw in the towel and get paid.

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH