LEGALTIP: Characteristics of a Good Lawyer

DISCLAIMER--I am not an attorney. I am a certified paralegal. Anything I post is not to be construed as legal advice. Just helpful tips from someone who is familiar with the trade.

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Shopping for an attorney is like shopping for a good pair of shoes. You need to find the right fit. If you end up with the wrong attorney--either for your personality or your case--it could end up causing you more grief than if you had never had one at all. So choose wisely.

**If you are in a particularly vulnerable or upsetting situation, I highly recommend having a trusted AND LOGICAL friend or family member help you with this process. Have them accompany you on your first consultation. They can take notes, ask good questions, and make decisions you may be too overwhelmed or emotional to think of.

Top 10 tips on finding a good attorney:

1. Availability
2. Retainer and Rates
3. Nice Office
4. Good Ratings
5. Honest
6. Good billing practices
7. Professional
8. Good success rate
9. Predictable delivery time
10. Thoughtful website

1) AVAILABILITY

A good attorney is available, but not TOO available.

PHONES: If you call and the attorney answers the phone, it could mean they don’t have a lot of work. Maybe this is just how they do things sometimes. But in my book, attorneys don’t have time to answer their own phones. Plus it is unwise for them to do so. Their staff should answer phones, screen calls, take messages, and calendar dates.

APPOINTMENTS: As a general rule, you should be able to get a consultation scheduled within two weeks as a new client, and one week as a current one. There are plenty of worthy exceptions, but the exceptions should not become the rule.

EMAIL: You should hearing back from your attorney within a week (or two) of reaching out to them. This might seem a little slow, but it is fairly standard. If you hear back within the day, and it is NOT an urgent issue, then call yourself lucky. But if they are often taking 3 - 5 weeks to get back to you, and you are having to nag them a lot to be heard, you may need to rethink your attorney.

*Just remember to follow the steps of a good client in my post here. There may be a reason your attorney doesn’t get back to you every time you whine…..it could be you’re a nuisance client.

2) RETAINER AGREEMENT AND RATES ARE FAIR AND UNDERSTANDABLE

Go online and review a typical retainer agreement for your legal issue. There should be language about hourly or flat rates, expert fees, percentage fees, processing and clerical fees, paralegal fees, and how the attorney will bill you. If you have any questions, they should be able to answer them easily and in a friendly way. Your attorney should charge at least the going rate. If it’s a little more, that’s OK. Sometimes paying $20 an hour more for a better attorney will save you thousands in the long run.

3) OFFICE IS CLEAN AND ORGANIZED, AND IN A GOOD PART OF TOWN

Meeting your potential attorney is like going on a first date. Do they dress professionally, does their staff behave courteously, is the office clean and organized, are they in a location you would feel comfortable frequenting. In short, do they make a good first impression? If not, then find someone else.

4) GOOD RATINGS

Shop around, go online and word-of-mouth. Go on their website and see if they have earned any awards or accolades for what they do. Ask other attorneys who THEY would recommend. Ask friends and family if this attorney is someone they would recommend or have heard good things about. But be cautious as well.

When I was first divorced, I heard a nasty rumor about a certain attorney and ended up not hiring her because I was biased by one person who had a negative experience. It turned out, this person never actually had her as an attorney. She was on the opposing side. And she had LOST! Had I taken the time to look up ratings online, call around and ask about this attorney, and talk to people who might have known her better, I would have hired her, and I would have been a LOT better off.

5) HONEST AND UPFRONT

I know this seems contradictory, as this is an attorney and all, but a good attorney is honest--their reputation depends on it. Yours needs to be honest with you and lay it straight. If they aren’t giving you the facts, if they fumble when you ask them things, if you think they’re just telling you what you want to hear, then you might need to get a new attorney. You need the brass tacks. Every case has weak points. I don’t care who you are. Yours should tell you what yours are and how to overcome them or work around them.

6) BILLING IS FAIRLY EASY TO BREAK DOWN

A good attorney will have a good billing system. Your invoice should itemize each individual event that has taken place, and have a monetary value next to it. You need to review this periodically for potential errors. Even the best systems can have mistakes. If you find an error, please POLITELY point it out. It was likely very much an honest mistake. I had an attorney who double-billed me $1,500 once. I politely pointed it out to the billing clerk and she happily made the change and thanked me for pointing it out. If I had been rotten about it, this would have put us on the wrong foot. This attorney ended up being a long-time mentor and friend.

7) STAFF IS PROFESSIONAL

Professional, to me, means well dressed, courteous, and aimed at making sure they handle your issues appropriately. Skanky outfits don't cut it in a law office, sorry. Staff should be friendly--or at least courteous. It does NOT mean they are your best friend and have to talk to you about your problems or your latest gossip of news. Get a therapist for that. We are looking for someone with good boundaries and clear rules of etiquette. That’s it. If you happen to luck out with someone uber friendly and involved in your case, great. But just because they don’t gush about you and your problems does not mean they are not working hard to solve them.

8) SUCCESS RATE

When you interview them during your first consultation, be bold and ask what their success rate is with cases like yours. If they are adept at handling your issue, they should be able to give you a ballpark answer easily. If the success rate seems low in your estimation, they will have an explanation as to why it is low. Perhaps it is higher than average, but your expectations are unrealistic.

Either way, they should be able to handle this question without much sweat.
Most lawyers do NOT want to go to trial. And this is a good thing. This motivates them to settle--but you want to make sure you settle in your favor. And if I were you, I’d make sure your attorney is comfortable in a Courtroom. That is the kind of thing that you can find out word-of-mouth.

9) DELIVERY TIME

They should be able to give you a ballpark as to how long a case like yours should take from start to finish. The fact is, lawsuits--no matter the kind--usually have a series of steps and side rails. There is the complaint, the pre-trial status conference, mediation and settlement hearings, production of documents and information, and negotiations and motions all along the way. But every case has set formalities and schedules to follow, and that is the part you want to ask about.

Attorneys--even good ones--often forget to tell their clients the strange process of proceedings that take place. Usually things unfold in boring ways you wouldn’t actually expect. It’s not like on TV. There are a LOT of preliminary conferences, discussions, negotiations, correspondence, and activities that take place before even going to trial--assuming you go to trial at all.

All of this activity is actually designed by the Courts to encourage settlement and AVOID trial, believe it or not. Because, as I said before, no one wants to go to trial. Not the attorneys, not the clients, not even the judge. Trial sucks. It’s stressful, expensive (for you and the state), drawn out, difficult, arduous, taxing, and leaves too much to chance.

10) WEBSITE

Review the attorney’s website. It should be informative and fit your needs. An added bonus for websites that are newfangled and up to date. But this is not absolutely necessary. As long as it is well organized, nicely designed, and informative, that is good enough for me.

CONCLUSION

If your future attorney is missing any of these 10 items, it's not a failure. You can still go with them if the other factors weigh in heavier. However, any of these items could be a red flag if not met to your expectations.

Happy lawyer hunting, and post questions below if you ever need further advice!