Rules-of-thumb for selecting an attorney

[Dennis S]

All things being equal, how do these factors affect your decision?

• Big firm vs. 1 or 2-man operation

• Luxurious office vs. modest office

• Extensive advertising vs. low profile

• Big Yellow Page ad vs. small text ad

• Advertising on TV - good or bad

[M A V I C]

Biggest deciding factor is their area of expertise. I have several attorneys and the reason being is they are all experts in their own field.

1. Depends on the situation. For personal or for a startup business, I prefer small operations.

2. Depends again on what's going on. I prefer an office that is nice, but doesn't look like they spent their money foolishly. That probably falls into the modest category.

3. Don't really care. Word of mouth is more important.

4. Same as #3

5. Same as #3

[JoeH]

None of the above. Recommendations from others and expertise in specific areas of law needed go into my decision. You do not hire a property law attorney to represent you in a criminal case for instance.

[OWC Jamie]

The ones hanging aound the morgue and emergency room are pretty hungry.

[Dennis S]

Sorry. I should have said that expertise and recommendations were a given. It's when there's a toss-up after expertise and recommendations are considered that I'm wondering about the other factors.

[lafinfil]

I'd refer you to mine, but he's booked right now http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar.../1152/NEWS

[Chupa Chupa]

Start here: http://www.martindale.com/

Explanation of the rating system: http://www.martindale.com/xp/Martindale/...g_info.xml

Then check w/ the state Bar for any censures or worse

Then call up and ask for a consultation. They'll lay out their fee sched and you can judge for yourself if they are someone you want to represent you.

Big firm, little firm, advertise , doesn't advertise, etc are not great criteria to judge an atty's ability.

[anonymouse1]

Your questions depend on the attorney's area of practice. If you're looking for someone to represent you because you're suing your employer for discrimination, you're looking for different indicators than if you've been in a car accident and want to sue to the person who hit you.

What do you want the attorney to do?

[Dennis S]

[quote anonymouse1]Your questions depend on the attorney's area of practice. If you're looking for someone to represent you because you're suing your employer for discrimination, you're looking for different indicators than if you've been in a car accident and want to sue to the person who hit you.

What do you want the attorney to do?
Estate planning, deciding between trust or will, etc.

[MacMagus]

> Estate planning, deciding between trust or will, etc.

None of the above, then.

Getting a recommendation or checking on the cred of a particular attorney is actually part two of the problem.

Estate planning can get massively complex. I wouldn't give the job to an attorney, even if it's his specialty. I would want to deal with an estate planner with an impressively customer-oriented and hard working support staff.

Get a recommendation from friends and family on a professional estate planner. Check on alleged affiliations. It's not impolite to ask how they are insured/bonded. Talk to the staff. Talk to the staff. Talk again to the staff. It doesn't have to be a large company, but talk to the staff. Did I mention that you could get a good feel for the company and the competence of the estate planner by talking to the staff?

In many cases, the estate planner is probably an attorney anyway, but they usually have separate practices from practicing attorneys due to confIict of interest rules. An attorney is usually necessary in addition to the estate planner.

The estate planner will probably recommend one or two attorneys that they work with and yes they get kickbacks, but that's part of the business and they call it a referral fee. Obviously, you don't have to follow their recommendation.