People sometimes delay speaking with an attorney because they don’t know how to go about finding the “right” lawyer for their particular problem. Consumers of professional services can be confused by too few or even too many choices. You deal with questions like this every day: Have I picked the right babysitter for my children? Is this the right dentist or doctor for me to see? Which grocery store would be best for my family? Should I send my children to this public school? However, when it comes to finding the best divorce lawyer for your needs, it can feel more daunting than expected.
Finding a Lawyer
Consider how you’ve made these choices about services that will best suit your needs in the past. Sometimes you’ve applied common sense and economies of time and money to your choice (“I’d rather drive to the store two miles from my home than to a very similar store twenty miles away”). Sometimes you’ve relied on a personal referral because it leads you to exactly what you were looking for (“This is the only dentist in town who seems to be able to calm down frightened patients”). Sometimes you’ve picked a business or a professional based on general reputation (“They’ll give you better repair service on your new Toyota than any other dealer in a two-hundred-mile radius” or “They get so many calls from all over the state because they know more about IBM computers than any other store around here”).
The selection of an attorney who feels right to you is not so different from all these other kinds of choices. First, think about what your priorities for legal services are. Then, decide how to gather information about the lawyers who would be available to you in order to see how certain lawyers mesh with your personal priorities. Finally, make a choice based on criteria such as the amount of time and money you can put into finding the particular lawyer who will do the best job for you, the professional’s reputation for specialized skills, the general reputation of the lawyer’s firm within the community, and whether you sense this is a person whom you can trust.
Researching the Best Divorce Lawyers
Gathering the information you need is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. One easy way to gather information about attorneys is to ask people you trust and respect for leads, including not only the names of lawyers but also referrals to other people who might be able to suggest names. Friends, relatives, neighbors, casual acquaintances, and work associates are possible sources of leads, as are people you do business with.
In particular, mental health professionals and clergy members who engage in crisis couples’ counseling and general marriage counseling will probably have considerable information to share with you about local resources when it comes to family and domestic issues. You should also try to learn some of the names of a lawyer’s satisfied clients (although you probably won’t be able to obtain this information from the attorney directly, for the reason that a client or former client’s name remains confidential unless the client consents to the disclosure – try looking at their reviews or testimonials page to see what former clients are saying). People in your area who have actually been through separation and divorce can be your most valuable resources in selecting an attorney, as they will have formed opinions about their own lawyers and opposing counsel. You might also talk to other lawyers you know about a particular family law attorney’s reputation.
Many state bar organizations maintain a referral list of attorneys willing to consult in specific subject areas for a minimum consultation fee. Meeting with a lawyer on this list may or may not help you locate a lawyer who has the appropriate experience and depth to manage your case. In some states, there may even be a statewide organization that represents those lawyers who are interested enough in domestic relations law to maintain membership in the family law subgroup of the state bar association. You should be able to obtain a list of the current members of such a group from the bar association headquarters in your state. Most state bar associations also sponsor some special programs you can inquire about, including, perhaps, a pro bono (no charge) volunteer lawyers program (VLP). Attorneys who have signed up for a VLP will sometimes take on family law cases at no charge. However, these programs generally have only minimal resources, and you cannot count on getting help from a VLP, which may receive many more requests than it can handle.
Another source of information is the courthouse personnel who regularly interact with local attorneys. These first-hand observers of attorneys in action may be far more valuable to your decision-making process than lawyer advertisements or the listings in various directories. Still, advertisements and directory entries can provide additional information about the kinds of cases a lawyer handles, where he or she went to school, and the colleagues with whom the lawyer practices. You might also ask, when you start visiting lawyers’ offices, if the firm has a brochure that you can have.
Knowledge, Experience, and Certification
The specialized training and knowledge of a lawyer you are considering is also something to inquire about. A lawyer who stays current with changes in the laws of property distribution, custody, child support, and alimony will most probably give you more expert advice. Similarly, a specialized lawyer’s advice can be more custom tailored to your needs and goals because a specialist’s depth will provide him or her with more creative and flexible solutions to new problems. As you do when you decide between a general medical practitioner and a specialist, you need to diagnose the complexity of the issues in your case before settling on the lawyer who could most properly advise you.
In North Carolina, the state bar permits attorneys to become certified in family law by passing a written examination and producing other proof of ability in the field. Lawyers who have become board certified in family law have demonstrated their overall experience and grasp of matrimonial and divorce issues. These practitioners sometimes charge higher rates, but you may actually save money by choosing a specialist. You may find that a board-certified lawyer can do the work at a faster pace and with less new research than generalists who know far less about the subtleties of matrimonial and divorce law. A list of board-certified attorneys is maintained by the bar and will be given out on request.
Most vital, of course, is that you meet any attorney who has been recommended to you before you decide if that lawyer is right for you. Your first contact with the lawyer may be by telephone. Sometimes the phone conversation alone tells you enough about the person to let you know whether you want to move on to the next step and actually schedule an office appointment. If you do decide to attend an initial meeting, plan to conduct your own interview of the lawyer to learn whether you feel your needs will be understood and adequately addressed by this particular lawyer.
This point cannot be made strongly enough. No matter how strongly a particular lawyer has been recommended to you, selecting an attorney is a highly personal matter. No one else should make this decision for you. This is, after all, the person you are possibly going to retain to safeguard your rights during a time of great emotional upheaval for you, to structure a settlement that is as favorable as possible to you, and to advise you on such highly technical matters as the potential tax consequences of a proposed settlement. Your sense of who the lawyer is as a person will be extremely important in predicting how much, and what kind of, attention the lawyer will give to your case. Because the lawyer with whom you consult, and whom you might decide to retain, can profoundly affect the course of your life and your children’s lives, you want to make your selection very carefully.
Here are some signals you should watch for in the first meeting. If the lawyer you meet with does not strike you as a person in whom you can rest your confidence, as a person who will zealously act in your best interests, or as a person who can reach a resolution of your case efficiently and sensitively, move on. If your meeting did not result in a feeling of personal rapport or if you felt the lawyer was not very attentive to your questions and concerns, move on. Don’t engage the lawyer if he or she appears to be disorganized, or if you can’t follow most of what you’re being told, or if you suspect the lawyer doesn’t know the field very well.
First impressions are often lasting impressions. If you are uncomfortable with a lawyer’s practice philosophy or style during an initial meeting, it is not likely you will grow to like this person a great deal more as time goes on. In one sense, picking a lawyer is a matter of personal taste. You are probably not going to feel very good anyway as you go through separation and divorce, given the huge emotional and financial issues you may be dealing with. There is absolutely no reason, then, to make yourself feel even worse by selecting a lawyer you just simply don’t like.
Pay attention as well to your responses to the information you pick up during an office interview regarding the lawyer’s policies, including fees. At the outset you should be given a clear explanation of the attorney’s billing and collection policies. Will you be billed at an hourly rate? If so, what is that rate? Does the rate vary among personnel in the firm? Are there different hourly rates for office and courtroom work? How will you be charged for other expenses, such as photocopying, secretarial time, postage, and like items? Are you expected to pay in advance of receiving services? If there is a “retainer” (initial advance deposit), is it refundable or nonrefundable if the work is terminated or completed before the entire deposit has been used? Is a flat fee (a fixed price for a defined legal job) available from this practice? Will your billing statements be sufficiently detailed for you to determine what exact work has been performed? Will there be a written fee agreement between you and your attorney?
Especially in domestic relations law, where the issues are so emotionally charged and clients are understandably under very great stress, the issue of fees can poison the relationship between client and lawyer if misunderstandings aren’t cleared up early on. You are entitled to know how you will be charged for the work done for you, what other fees might be assessed to your case, and how you are expected to pay your bill. Don’t settle for vague answers to questions about fees. No lawyer is likely to know exactly how much it will cost to handle your case; but every lawyer should be willing to tell you as much as he or she can about fees.
If the fee quoted to you is so low that it is almost too good to be true, that may be a very bad sign. Low fees usually mean one of two things: either the attorney is hungry for business (which may mean the lawyer is green behind the ears or that other people have found out this lawyer is not very good) or he or she doesn’t really expect to finish your case for the quoted fee (which means the retainer amount is no indication of how much you will eventually spend). Do some sleuthing to determine if the attorney is a novice or if the quoted fee is unrealistic in light of the work that will need to be done.
If the quoted fee is unrealistic, that can also be a sign that the lawyer has lots of clients signing up at those bargain-basement prices. In a high-volume practice such as this, sometimes all those clients are poorly served because the lawyer has too little time to spend on each individual’s case. Waits (for appointments, for returned phone calls, for work to be drafted, for court dates) can be long in such offices, and you may find that you have just gotten lost in the crowd. You may also wind up paying the “cheaper” lawyer more money in the long run, due to such a lawyer’s lack of specialized knowledge and inefficiencies in the lawyer’s office. In sum, large caseloads do not translate into quality legal services. Stay away from the lawyer who appears to offer large discounts.
It may be a good idea to have a mental or written checklist of questions to ask an attorney at your first meeting. Have along paper and pencil with which to take notes. You can add to the following list other special questions that apply to your own circumstances.
- Who will work on my case?
- What is the educational training and experience of the lawyers who will be working on my case? Have any of these lawyers published books or articles? What have they published? Do you have a copy that I can read?
- How many cases like mine has your firm handled in the past year?
- What are your average fees in cases such as mine? What do you think my case is going to cost?
- How do you set your fees? What does the fee include?
- What are your policies with regard to payment of fees, returning phone calls, providing copies of all correspondence and other documents, and keeping me informed about the progress of my case?
- How long will I wait to get an appointment when I need to come in again? What hours are you available on the telephone and in the office?
- Are my goals realistic? What problems can you foresee? How will we solve those problems?
- How will you accomplish my goals? How long will it all take?
- How often do you go to court? Do you prefer litigating a case or settling a case?
Based on the answers to your questions, your observations about the lawyer’s style, and how you feel after the interview is over, you should be able to tell if the lawyer you’ve met with is right for you. Although initial interviews can be very intense, you should also experience some relief if you’ve met with a lawyer who will be good for you. If you notice that you are not feeling better after the meeting, that could be a signal to continue your search. When you find the right mix of energy, dedication, wisdom, and insight, you will recognize that is the lawyer for you.
