When you have a legal problem, you need to find a lawyer you can trust. Attorneys can help you deal with legal challenges like negotiating contracts, filing for bankruptcy, and settling criminal cases.
Choosing an attorney can be challenging because of the many factors that go into it. Here are a few tips to help you choose the right one for your legal needs:
Local Bar Associations
Local bar associations are professional organizations that provide networking opportunities for attorneys and support services to help them succeed in the law. They may also have a role in testing and admitting lawyers to the practice of law in a particular jurisdiction. Membership in a local bar association is typically voluntary.
Many voluntary bar associations are based on common professional interests, such as bankruptcy or in-house counsel, or by ethnicity, gender, or religion, like the Hispanic National Bar Association. Others are specialized in areas of the law, such as family or criminal defense.
The American Health Law Association is a community of lawyers and legal professionals who represent entities in the health care industry. Its members include private practices and hospital systems, home health agencies, insurers, and physicians. The group focuses on legal issues related to health care and human rights. The organization also conducts research and publishes findings on these topics. It also provides training and workshops to educate its members.
Super Lawyers
Super Lawyers is a lawyer directory that features attorneys from around the country. The legal directory lists lawyers by practice area and state, making it easy for potential clients to find an attorney that suits their needs. The website also provides tips for finding an attorney and offers a list of questions to ask when hiring a lawyer.
To be included on the Super Lawyers list, an attorney must receive a formal nomination from a peer or another lawyer in the same practice area and state. The nomination must be based on 12 indicators of professional achievement and peer recognition. The candidates are then evaluated on a state-by-state basis. The final selection is made using a patented process of independent research and peer nominations.
The Super Lawyers website allows attorneys to pay to boost their profiles and advertise on the site. However, the site does not make it clear whether or not it is ethical for attorneys to market themselves this way, even though some states’ ethics boards have issued opinions against it.
FindLaw’s Lawyer Directory
Findlaw is a directory of attorneys and law firms that lists lawyers by practice area, jurisdiction, and name. It also allows consumers to post legal questions and connect with attorneys who can help them. Lawyers can claim their profile listings in the directory for free or pay a monthly subscription to improve their visibility.
Another directory is Martindale-Hubbel, which includes attorney profiles ranked by peer and client reviews. It also offers a search function that can match a specific question to an attorney or firm.
Enjuris is another attorney directory that lists attorneys by practice area and location. It also provides marketing tools for lawyers, including the option to create a premium listing and contribute articles to its website. Attorneys can also submit legal questions to be answered by its network of attorneys. These articles help establish an attorney’s expertise and can lead to new clients.
Legal Aid
There are a number of not-for-profit legal offices throughout the country that offer free legal assistance and representation. Legal aid programs help people of all backgrounds, from low income and everyday working people to families and individuals with disabilities. They also provide support for military veterans and people receiving public benefits such as food stamps and Social Security. They can help with a variety of legal issues including evictions, mortgage and foreclosure problems and landlord-tenant disputes. They can also help with disputes over utility and heating bills and can stop questionable or illegal disconnection of services.
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funds independent nonprofit civil legal aid organizations in every state, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. The largest of these is the Legal Aid Society of New York City. It provides criminal and civil legal aid to low-income residents of the city with a staff of over 300 attorneys and more than 800 paralegals, and volunteers from law firms and corporate law departments.