I have been a local family law attorney, Fremont, for over 30 years. Most people in their life will use the services of an attorney on several occasions. It can put you in the very uncomfortable position of trying to make a selection of the best available professional who is best suited to address your concerns and achieve your goals. The purpose of this article is to give you an inside perspective from an experienced attorney who has counseled thousands of people just like you.
Here is a checklist of what to think about, consider, and do before hiring an attorney:
1. It is good practice to go to the attorney’s office, look around and make contact with the staff. The attorney should be ready to deal with his questions and concerns.
2. Carefully evaluate the attorney’s ability to provide you with full and thorough answers to questions at the same time. This is the surest test of knowledge, experience, and ability to be an effective communicator.
3. Ask legal counsel about their staff. Does your firm have backup attorneys who can cover all situations if there is a conflict? The worst thing is hiring an overworked attorney who over and over continues with their court dates due to their unavailability due to being overbooked and/or double schedule. Also, ask the attorney about her personal. How long have they been working there and is there a family law legal aid on staff? If the attorney has long-term employees, she tells him that this is probably a good business operation and that the people will have a lot of experience. If the staff is highly experienced, this significantly reduces any chance of errors and wasted time. Another problem is that if a firm is not properly staffed, it will inevitably end up paying legal fees for administrative matters. I have seen many lawyers who type their own letters and also deliver documents to present in court. These tasks can be handled by administrative or courier staff at a mere fraction of the cost of having an attorney involved.
4. Ask this question: how long has this attorney been in practice and how long with a focus on family law? Another question: they have dealt with over a hundred cases with concerns similar to yours. Find out if the lawyer is often in the same court as yours. Almost without exception, you will always gain an advantage by retaining an attorney with extensive family law experience and who practices law regularly and frequently in the jurisdiction where your case will be heard. A local professional will know not only the local rules, but also the nuances of each particular family law judge in that community. While a new attorney may have energy and enthusiasm, however, he will not have the tactics, strategy and time that he takes many years to develop and that greatly assists the professional in his representation of the client. At a high level, and hopefully you’ll get legal advice of this caliber, the case will be half tactics, time and strategy, and half legal theory. There is much more to family law than going to the books and looking at the statutes.
As a Fremont family law attorney, I hope you find this insider’s look at the law firm helpful when it comes time to pull the trigger and hire an attorney.
