Tips To Choosing a Divorce Lawyer

Selecting a divorce lawyer to handle your family law case is a very important decision. Here are some important tips to help you find the right divorce lawyer criteria.

How to Select a Divorce Lawyer

Experience and Approach

Any divorce lawyer is considered to have experience in handling divorce cases in your location. An experienced divorce lawyer will know the tendencies of the various judges in your jurisdiction and will be able to use this knowledge to your advantage. In addition, the lawyer should practice primarily in the field of divorce law. Often people will hire a lawyer who practices primarily in some other area, thinking that any lawyer will do. However, divorce law is a highly specialized field that requires particular skills and experience to have a chance to reach a successful conclusion.

Testimonials from previous customers

Perhaps the best way to determine which divorce lawyer to use for your divorce case is to find out what former clients have to say about the lawyer. Although divorce is not an enjoyable process, some divorce lawyers have more success at satisfying their clients than others. If you do not know someone who has been a client of a particular divorce lawyer, you should consider asking the lawyer for a list of clients that you can contact who can describe their experience with the lawyer. While client confidentiality is important, any good experienced divorce lawyer should have at least a few former clients who are willing to vouch for him or her.

Accessible

When a customer is not satisfied with being a divorce lawyer, one of the most common complaints is that they can not communicate with a lawyer. It is very important that your divorce lawyer be accessible and prompt in responding to your phone calls, e-mails and requests for meetings. While you can ask the divorce lawyer's office policy, this is another area where we can evaluate the divorce lawyer by hearing what former clients have to say.

If the customer is a former lawyer said she found it very difficult to contact a lawyer or the lawyer either did not return calls or respond to emails or would take several days to do so, you should avoid that lawyer. Divorce is a process unpleasant and disappointing in the best condition. If you can not reach your divorce attorney, or at least someone on your staff, the frustration level can increase exponentially.

Payment

When you make your initial appointment with the divorce attorney, you should inquire about negotiating fees. Some lawyers do brief initial consultations for free, although most experienced divorce lawyers charge between $ 100.00 and $ 200.00 in expenses for consulting, or will charge the normal hourly rate.

For example, I charge a flat $ 100.00 consultation with no additional hourly charges, regardless of the length of the meeting. In principle, the consultation fee is to "get rid of" those who do not take seriously the possibility of taking me. Given that my normal hourly rate is $ 200.00 / hour and the usual typical consultation takes about 90 minutes, the charge for my consultation with significant discounts. Therefore, you should not let a consultation fee scare you away from interviewing a particular lawyer.

In the negotiations it is important that you have clear discussions with the prospective divorce lawyer about fees and what you can expect. Typically, an experienced divorce lawyer will require the payment of a large initial payment, where the rate of spending and the lawyers will apply. You need to know what hourly rate lawyer is, what would catch the front so that, if any part of the retainer will be returned if not spent, and how often you can expect to receive invoices that detail their hourly charges and expenses. You also want to know how detailed the invoices. Again, this is another area where you can get relevant information from people who are already customers of divorce lawyers.

Comfortable

Despite all the above issues are important, there is one last question that you should ask yourself before hiring a divorce lawyer. Are you comfortable with that lawyer and are you confident in your abilities? If the answer is anything other than a resounding "yes", you should keep looking. Your case is too important to entrust to someone who does not inspire confidence.