For most people, legal issues bring a unique kind of stress. There are thousands of pages of laws from every jurisdiction, ranging from school district and municipal codes to the official United States federal tax code. Between going to school, working a full-time job, and raising a family, Americans rarely have the time to study the law in-depth. That’s why we frequently turn to highly trained legal specialists who spend years of graduate-level study working to understand these concepts.
There are many reasons that you might seek their help, such as:
- Someone harms you or puts you or your family in a threatening situation
- A business fails to follow through on its commitment to you
- You are accused of a crime
- A potential business partner wants to make an official contract with you
There are many other reasons you might seek legal representation, but in all these cases, you’re faced with the same question: How do I find quality legal services online?
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
With the immense information available on the internet, there is no shortage of sites that claim to help you in these critical situations. Unfortunately, if you rely on the wrong person, you may open yourself to all sorts of legal issues and not get the help you deserve. So, how do you determine what’s trustworthy and what’s not? The good news is that you don’t need a degree to figure that out, but instead to follow a few simple steps:
Step 1: Search for Law Firms that Specialize in the Services You Need
There are many branches of the law. Contract law, criminal law, estate law, business law, and civil litigation each involve different parts of the legal code and demand different kinds of experience. Most law firms specialize in one or two of these areas, while even the largest firms will have departments that focus on specific fields. Nevertheless, regardless of your particular legal needs, you can find a lawyer who knows how to improve your odds of getting the best results. Before anything else, try to figure out what kind of lawyer you’ll need for your situation.
You can find contact information for law firms in several ways:
- State Bar Associations — Each state has its own bar association for licensing attorneys. You can explore their sites to find accredited lawyers who are in good standing with the state.
- Legal Aid Services — Many states and municipalities have government-funded legal aid services available to citizens at no cost. These services can connect you with recommended and qualified law offices that may be able to help you.
- Personal Recommendations — If anyone you know has been involved in legal struggles, they have valuable insight regarding the lawyers that they’ve worked with. They may be able to point you in the direction of an affordable, quality lawyer.
- Professional Recommendations — Many people in the legal field know qualified attorneys with good reputations, even if they specialize in different fields. Additionally, medical and financial professionals often rub elbows with lawyers and can suggest ones who are respected for their work.
Remember that you can’t always take the results you get from this search at face value. It’s worth taking the time to investigate public records to confirm that the attorney is actually as good as the recommendation says they are.
Step 2: Summarize the Legal Issue
Many firms are happy to meet with potential clients for a free consultation. During this consultation, you’ll have the lawyer’s attention for a limited time. To get a better sense of whether they’d be a good fit for you, you should come to the meeting with all your information assembled. Write down your recounting of what happened and the circumstances surrounding it. If you have supporting documentation, bring that with you, too, as the lawyer may be able to make a quick assessment of your prospects and if they’re a good fit for you. Many good lawyers may recognize that a specific case isn’t suited to their skillset but could recommend you to a different firm that has experience with nearly identical cases.
Step 3: Decide the Next Legal Step
Depending on the circumstances, your meetings with several attorneys may reveal that there’s not much benefit to pursuing legal action. In other cases, such as legal defense, you may not have a choice and must commit to a lawyer regardless of the potential outcome. Most situations will fall somewhere in the middle, but you need to decide to either hire a lawyer or drop the matter.
Step 4: Retain Your Lawyer
Assuming that the matter warrants a lawyer and you’ve found a firm you can trust, it’s time to make the arrangement official. In the case of specific contracts between willing parties or drafting legal instruments such as living wills, the lawyer may charge a static service fee. When there is negotiation involved or potential legal disagreements, your lawyer will likely want a retainer contract. This contract will outline the rate the lawyer will charge, the percentage of legal awards they are entitled to, and the scope of the legal agreement. Make sure that you cover all your bases by including all the legal services you anticipate in this matter. If you agree to a contract that is too narrow in scope, you may find yourself paying far more in fees than you’d initially expected — another reason to be certain that you’ve assembled all the available information before committing to a lawyer.
Setting the Record Straight
Once you’ve hired your lawyer, they’ll walk you through everything else that needs to be done to increase your odds of getting a favorable result. After everything is concluded, if you had a good experience, you can “pay it forward” by recommending that lawyer to someone else in need. Legal matters are often convoluted, but with the right help, you can get the results you deserve.
By Christopher Gallagher
Christopher has years of experience working with law firms in various fields and writing articles that make sense of complicated legal matters for regular Americans.