Choosing an attorney is not unlike choosing any other professional, with some exceptions. Here are a few pointers to help you decide how to choose an attorney who is best suited to help you with your legal issues:
- How many years of experience in a particular field of law does the attorney have? Has the lawyer ever had a case similar to yours ? If so, how many such cases has that attorney handled? What were the results in those cases?
- What are the attorneys credentials? Are they involved in law related organizations? Do they attend Continuing Legal Education courses that focus on the particular area of law related to your legal issue? Do they partake in interactive discussions and presentations with other lawyers (e.g., at monthly Trial Lawyers Association meetings)?
- Are they rated by independent Law Organizations? (e.g., AVVO, etc) If so, what is their rating?
- If your have a matter that needs to go to a jury trial – Do they have experience preparing for trial? Selecting jurors? making trial motions? presenting evidence at trial? making opening and closing statements?
- If your matter is one of Personal Injury, have they represented clients at arbitrations and mediations? have they settled cases with insurance companies? What is their plan and/or protocol regarding how they settle cases?
- If you have been in an accident, do they know how to help you with No Fault Insurance? filing your MV-104 Accident report? with all of the necessary documents to communicate with insurance companies?