Like finding a doctor, or a contractor, you must do proper due diligence before selecting the right lawyer for your case. Lawyers are not cheap, and most legal matters can turn into a very long and stressful experience. On top of choosing a good lawyer, it’s important that you find the right lawyer for the job, depending on your specific requirements. 

It’s helpful if you have a general understanding of how lawyers operate. Most of them specialize in certain areas of law. It used to be common for lawyers to be like generalists, where many of them did a little bit of everything. 

While those lawyers still exist, it’s much more common these days for lawyers to particularly specialize in certain types of legal matters. Most lawyers do not know all of the laws but tend to be well-versed with laws that fall in the category they specialize in.

Let’s see how to select a lawyer specializing in law that caters to your specific requirements.

Find the Right Lawyer Type

To find the right lawyer, you must first narrow down your specific requirements and understand what laws apply to the same. Then search for those who specialize in the laws that apply to those specific requirements. For example, if you’re looking to file bankruptcy, you need to find a bankruptcy lawyer, or if you’re being charged with or accused of a crime, you would want a lawyer specializing in criminal law. A few other categories you might be familiar with would be family law, elder law, catastrophic injury law, etc. If you need help with starting a business, then, of course, you must look for a corporate law attorney. 

State & Category Specific Licenses

Furthermore, it is better to look into a bit of the lawyer licensing restrictions. Lawyers require state licenses to practice law in a particular state, and sometimes, they will further need special law category-specific licenses to deal with particular areas of law. 

So you must look for a licensed lawyer in your state or in the state where your legal issue occurred. For instance, if you live in New York but got charged with something while in Los Angeles, you must hire a licensed lawyer in California. 

However, there are scenarios where lawyers are allowed to work with people in different states. This especially applies when you’re handling a matter that has to do with federal law instead of state law. Suppose you are trying to form an LLC (Limited Liability Company), that particular matter is governed by state law. 

On the other hand, trademark registration is governed by federal law for the most part. States have their own laws concerning state-level trademark registration. Still, if you’re filing with the national registration with the United States patent trademark office, then you will deal with federal law. 

Referrals & Public Records

Now that you know the type of lawyer you should be looking for. From here, if you’re comfortable doing so, start asking around. Talk to your friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors, etc., and see if anybody has any recommendations. 

However,if that doesn’t help or if you aren’t comfortable with opening up about your matter with everybody, you have public records. State bar associations archive charges and disciplinary action records of licensed attorneys in that state. 

It’s always a good idea to check the lawyers’ disciplinary history to see if you know they’ve ever gotten in trouble or had complaints filed against them. You can Google ‘state bar association’ or ‘your city bar association’ to find info on how to contact your local bar association. 

Search Online

Or, of course, you can directly search for lawyers on the internet. For more than a decade, both solo practitioners and law firms have continued to market their services well online. 

You can search for the type of lawyer you need and the state that you’re in or search for something like divorce lawyers near me. Check out reviews and testimonials, look at their website, and check their social media accounts. 

Conclusion

Before you hire a lawyer consider their personality, experience, and fees, in that order. The most important factor in finding a lawyer is making sure you like the person. You’re likely going to become very deeply and personally involved.

Maybe for the lack of good recommendations, if you’re searching the internet to find a lawyer, then you’re often going to have to rely on your gut instincts. Since you don’t have any person you know or friends who have experiences that they share, we recommend you shortlist maybe three to five different lawyers. Then go about scheduling consultations or discovery calls with each before you make any decisions.