Finding A Solid Lawyer
Don’t focus only on the billable hour rate. If you’re hesitating between someone who costs you $250 per hour and someone else at $350 per hour, don’t make your decision strictly on cost. What matters are two things: first what the final bill will be and, second, what value who will have received. The hourly rate is a red herring. What is the point of asking someone to do a job for you at $250 per hour if the person needs 40 hours for the job where the other lawyer at $350 per hour only needs 20 hours? Particularly if the other lawyer can do a better job for you. Billing policy is too much of a thorny and elaborate issue to address in a few lines. My point is simply that the hourly rate is not the be all and the end all.
Asked another attorney. Attorneys in private practice know attorneys who specialized in all fields of law. If you have a family attorney that handles your real estate or probate matters that attorney can probably identify an excellent criminal attorney.
Nearly every h2b lawyers near me and law firm has a web site. You can begin there by searching for “Wisconsin injury attorney” or “Albuquerque personal injury lawyer” for example.
For the attorney, contingency fee cases are a risk. They may end up working hundreds of hours on your case for free. After all, if the case is lost, they get nothing. So why do they do it? They do it because of the possible reward for taking the risk – the 1/3 fee.
abogado Avoid firms employing contract runners. You should sit face to face with the lawyer you are hiring to discuss your case and sign the contract for representation. This could be the most important meeting you will have with your attorney. Some higher volume firms utilize contract runners, and may refer to them as “investigators”. You should not agree to a contract runner and insist on meeting with your lawyer prior to hiring. Contract runners are usually not lawyers, and therefore not allowed to answer any legal questions you may have about the contract or the representation.
If you are working with a Personal Family Lawyer, you have the peace of mind of knowing that if anything happens to your lawyer (or if you move to another State), your planning will transition easily to any one of the other lawyers in the Personal Family Lawyer network without a need to pay new planning fees.
When determining on a lawyer ask about fees. Find out what is included in the fees. Is there a written fee agreement? Are there going to be any additional unexpected charges? Have the lawyer outline worst-case scenarios; explain regarding hourly fees, and describe the charge breakdown. If an attorney requests for you to sign a fee agreement upfront do not be turned off by it. For many attorneys do this in the beginning as a sign of their commitment to you as their client. It is considered to show a level of seriousness he/she has about representing you.
