A divorce is difficult even under the best of circumstances. It can be both emotionally and financially devastating as well as potentially damaging a person’s reputation or relationships with people other than their soon-to-be-ex-spouse. What can make the divorce even more devastating, is a failure to hire a family attorney, who can help their client through the divorce with as little damage as possible.
The first step in locating a lawyer is for the person to speak to people their friends or family. Since the divorce rate in the United States is somewhere between 40% and 50%, it is likely that everyone knows someone who has been involved in a divorce. Those people who are already acquainted with the divorcing party are likely to be more honest in their appraisal of their attorney.
Another option to examine is making an appointment for a free telephone, video chat, or in office consultation. Often the chemistry between the client and the potential family attorney is evident from the initial meeting although it would be wise to remember an attorney makes their living by convincing judges or, less often, jury members of what they want them to believe.
Often an internet search will reveal quite a bit about the family attorney. Local newspapers will often cover bigger cases, and many people will post their opinions about how well they were represented on sites like the local pages on Google and on Yelp.com. A word of caution though, it seems to be more likely that people who are unhappy will post a complaint more than happy clients will post positive reviews. In addition, it is possible to hire companies to have their workers post positive reviews or even to post negative reviews about other lawyers in the same area of practice. Just as with anything else online, research should be done so that an educated assessment is made.
