Choosing A Lawyer
I’m always being asked how I choose a lawyer or a solicitor and as I’m clearing out some old web sites, that I no longer need, I thought might be worth repeating what C and I wrote together a few years ago on choosing a lawyer. Note lawyer, not solicitor, as C was a barrister.
The trouble with choosing a lawyer is that many people never do it more than a few times in their lives. Some never do at all! And when they do, it’s usually for something like the purchase of a house or a flat.
But what do you do if you have a debt to recover, your marriage has fallen apart and you are getting divorced or you need to make a will?
Often the solicitor you dealt with when you purchased your last house, may not be the person to deal with for something completely different. But if you were satisfied with them, you could always start by giving them a call. If it’s not their company’s field, they will usually recommend a suitable alternative.
But what if you don’t have a solicitor for your problem and need one urgently.
• The first thing to do is to collect all the information you think you will need. If say you are collecting a debt, make sure you all the paperwork and copies of all the letters and e-mails you have sent and received. With a divorce, try and collect as much of the details of your mortgage or rent agreements, financial arrangements, salaries and anything else that might be useful. With a good solicitor just doing this will save you money.
• Think too about the type of solicitor you want to deal with. Do you want an agressive Alpha male or a sympathetic woman? Do you want to deal with them through e-mail? Do you want a solicitor who is close to where you live or work?
• If you type “solicitor Your Town” into Google, you will find quite a lot of solicitors.Not all will be the ones for you!.
• Now look at each individual web site and see if they fit your criteria. Some can be immediately removed as say they don’t handle your type of problem, they appear to be far too grand or small, or in some cases they handle Legal Aid, which you may need.
• Look too at the specialist legal bodies they belong to. For instance, organisations like Resolution and the Family Mediators Association are groups of lawyers, who specialist in family law and mediation. Check out the web sites of any organisations named on the web site.
• Many firms of solicitors have web pages that describe in detail how they would handle your problem. They also give brief biographies of the lawyers who might handle your case. If this helps, put them on your short list.
• If the firms on your list have e-mail and that is one way you want to deal with them, then send them a properly constructed message describing your problem. And don’t forget to ask for an estimate as to costs! If they don’t reply promptly and sensibly, then perhaps they shouldn’t be on your list.
But remember as in all purchases, don’t just use the first solicitor you talk to. Try a couple and see if any are better suited to your problem and your pocket.
So be very careful, as a bad lawyer might cost you more than you expect.
The Anonymous Widower 
This is interesting. We have had various solicitors as we have moved around the country. The first one I dont remember how we chose, probably just walked in – we were buying our first house. They were okay, and they did something we are grateful for – all first time buyer included drawing up a simple will in the cost. Which got us over the hurdle many people have of making a will. Again, we used other solicitors when we moved houses again.
When my aunt died, 18ish years ago, she left a complicated will including Trust Funds for child beneficeries, so we needed a solicitor. There was one a mile or so away, with a car park, who had handled my friend’s divorce and she said they were okay! So we went there.
Our solictor now became our solicitor by chance. A cousin died suddenly and intestate, and my dad was to handle things, he didnt want the family in question to taint his relationship with the firm of solicitor he had used all his life, and who had also been his father’s solicitor. So he asked a friend who they used, and rang them. My aunt, mother of the cousin who died, made a will with us as executors, and we became her POA a year or so later. We built up a positive relationship with them, and they are now handling the estate of another aunt for us, we like them, they are honest, organised, and have a sense of humour, which my extended family is fairly crucial! So they are now our solicitors, even though we are in Stockport and they are in Prescot.
Comment by Liz P | October 11, 2010 |