Choosing an attorney
On the heels of the Avvo controversy comes this post from the Windypundit about dealing with his traffic ticket and the process he went through in hiring a lawyer. Part I explains the ticket and the law he was charged with a violation of. Part II is all about how he went about picking an attorney. I’m a big fan of his style of writing these posts, so I recommend you check both out and you’ll get sucked into the story.
On beginning his quest for representation, he writes:
As in most things, I used the web. I did a search at findlaw.com for traffic lawyers with offices near the courthouse, on the theory that a lawyer familiar with the ways of the courthouse (and maybe the judge and the prosecutor) would have more to contribute. I picked one out because I liked the content of his website—light on “I will fight for you” rhetoric, but with lots of free information.
Interesting stuff there: He presumes that proximity to the courthouse means familiarity with the court (although he doesn’t reveal how near was near) and also relies on the content of the website.
Here’s something else that’s interesting:
What I was really assuming is that the stakes were so small that it wasn’t worth too much of my time trying to pick a good lawyer, especially since I don’t know how.
Yeah, neither do I. It’s a delicate balance you have to achieve in choosing an attorney. First, who can you afford? Second, of those you can afford, which one is best for you? For those interested, Scott Greenfield and Mark Bennett have posted about picking an attorney recently (sorry, can’t find the exact post – maybe one of them can leave a comment and I’ll update the links).
Setting the right fee is important too. Clients may be stupid, but they’re not stupid:
I don’t know if I got robbed or not. I probably could have shopped around more and found a better price, but I’m not planning to hire any more lawyers, so it wasn’t a priority. I guess he probably knew that too, so he probably did stick it to me on the price…
Is that good practice?
Anyway, the icing in that post is this downloadable card [pdf] on the Cook County PDs website, reminding you to exercise your rights in the event you are questioned by police.
Love the card, Gid. Can we get that Chicago PD stuff off the top and start shamelessly saying it was our idea?
SHG
Here’s my recent post on How to Choose a Criminal Defense Lawyer
We’ve sold a few t-shirts and mugs with a message similar to the PD card. http://www.cafepress.com/noticetoagents Bennett & Bennett Notice to Agents T-Shirts
That’s a pretty interesting story. We are a Jacksonville Criminal Defense Law Firm. What we’ve found is that most of our clients do very little if any research before they hire a dui attorney. A fancy ad catches them, and they call. We’re forced to spend tons of money on yellow pages ads only to look more flashy than our competitors. About a 1/4 of our clients haven’t contacted any other attorneys at all. Thanks for the article.