Are your affairs fairly simple, so that
most any lawyer with basic understanding and good people skills can help
you, or do you have complex property holdings and support goals, so that
you need a lawyer with sophisticated tax and financial awareness to help
you design a plan that yields the most after-tax dollars? Knowing the
kind of legal services you're going to need will help you shop for those
services more effectively.If you
don't already have a list of prospective lawyers, a great place to start
your search is right here at lawyers.com. You can do a free search to
come up with a list of lawyers by using the Find A Lawyer search box
that can be accessed from anywhere on lawyers.com. (You should see a
search box on the right side of your computer screen.)
Once you have a list of prospective
lawyers, use the following guidelines to do some initial screening and
narrow your list down to three or four prospective candidates:
*Look at biographical information,
including whatever you can find on Web sites for the lawyers and their
law firms. Do they appear to have expertise in the area of family law
that you need? Do they have any information on their Web sites that is
helpful to you?
*Use search engines to surf the
Internet. Do searches under the name of the lawyer and his or her law
firm. Can you find any articles, FAQ's or other informational pieces
that the lawyer has done that that give you a level of comfort?
*Ask other people if they have heard of
the attorneys and what they think about them.
*Contact your state bar association or
visit their Web site to find out if the lawyer is in good standing.
*Check out the yellow pages of your
telephone directory. Does the lawyer advertise? If so, do you find it
compelling? Helpful? Tasteful?
*Check out the online archives of your
local newspaper. Has there been any publicity about the lawyer or the
cases that he or she has handled?
*Consider any special needs you have.
For example, could you benefit from an attorney who speaks a language
other than English?
*Your analysis of each prospective
lawyer begins with the first phone call. Many lawyers with predominantly
courtroom practices are hard to reach on the telephone, so you may be
spending a good bit of time with the person who answers the phone. Does
the person answering seem pleasant? Well informed about the issues you
are facing? Able to deliver results?
*Are you able to schedule an
appointment with the lawyer easily? If the lawyer can't see you to talk
about new business, it may be even harder to get his or her attention to
talk about your case once it's been underway for a while.
Eric M. Gansberg is your #1 source for
family law attorneys in New York and Staten Island. He has the
background and experience to makse sure that the case goes in your
favor! Choose Eric M. Gansberg for all your family law attorney needs!
http://www.emgansbergesq.net
