How to Find a Lawyer
Determining how to deal with legal issues you are facing can be challenging. One of the most important early steps you can take is finding a lawyer partner in your journey to help ensure your next steps are the right ones.
Below are some of the basic steps you should take to find the right lawyer for your case.
Step 1: Identify the legal area in which your case falls
Understand what your legal case is about and which areas of law are relevant. This will help you target your search for a lawyer.
Step 2: Search online and get referrals
In addition to your online search, once you understand which areas of law your case touches on, you can reach out to relevant industry or support groups in that area for personal referrals.
Step 3: Interview your lawyer
Prepare questions to ask to determine whether the lawyer is the right one for you.
Step 1: Identify your legal area
First, understand the general area into which your case falls. Cases commonly span different legal areas and it may be worth interviewing lawyers across different specialties who have experience with issues related to your case.
Below is a short survey of common legal specialties:
Civil rights
Your civil rights are protections and freedoms guaranteed by the government, whether in the U.S. Constitution or state constitutions or other laws. Examples of civil rights include:
- freedom of speech, religion and assembly
- right to petition the government
- right to due process (fair treatment by the courts or other government bodies)
- freedom from discrimination for protected classes, such as gender, race, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and age
- freedom from government confiscation of property
Some common cases of civil rights violations include:
- Unreasonable searches and seizures
- Cruel and unusual punishment
- Losing a job or being passed over for a promotion due to discrimination
- Any discrimination based on a superficial quality or belief
- Abuse by a public or government official or law enforcement
As civil rights span a spectrum of issues, you should look for lawyers with experience in your specific area. Is it employment discrimination or housing discrimination or something related to the criminal justice system or about free speech? Narrow down your search by looking for lawyers with specific expertise in your case area. A larger civil rights law firm will likely have lawyers with various specialties and may be able to direct you to the appropriate ones for your case.
It may also make sense for you to search for lawyers who specialize solely in your case area rather than as “civil rights” lawyers. For example, if you have an employment discrimination claim, you may want to seek a labor attorney who has experience with constitutional or statutory protections against discrimination in the workplace.
Immigration
There are a wide range of immigration lawyers well versed in helping clients with immigration services. Where there are civil rights issues involved, such as discrimination of rights based on national origin, religion or race, you may wish to seek a civil rights lawyer who has more experience with constitutional law, as many immigration lawyers are versed in administrative issues such as obtaining visas but not necessarily in litigating constitutional law issues.
Employment and labor
As mentioned in relation to immigration issues, there may be crossover with civil rights lawyers and employment and labor lawyers where the constitutional protection relates to the workplace. In general, employment and labor lawyers engage in all aspects of law in the workplace, from discrimination and harassment to union rules or workplace safety and accidents. It’ is always best to be specific in seeing what actual cases the lawyer has litigated to find the best match for your case — whether it may be a civil rights lawyer, a labor lawyer or a personal injury lawyer, depending on the nature of your case.
Property and real estate
Disputes over land and property may include issues such as ownership, land rights, trespassing, easement, zoning or eminent domain (when the government exercises a right to seize private property for public user with compensation to the owner). Some of these issues may have a constitutional element, especially with respect to zoning and eminent domain, as it relates to government control over private property. The U.S. Constitution, state constitutions and other laws have protections for private property as well as due process with respect to government action impacting private property. Depending on your issue and what other entities are involved, you may also wish to consult civil rights lawyers with experience in litigating these kinds of issues.
Housing
Housing law is different from property and real estate as this area relates to the rights between landlord and tenant, including housing discrimination, living conditions, or rent control. Where discrimination is involved, civil rights issues may be implicated so you may also want to seek a civil rights lawyer with housing discrimination experience.
Family
Family law includes issues relating to divorce, child welfare, domestic abuse, parental rights, family formation, and other related areas. Some constitutional law issues may touch family law such as LGBT+ families or gay marriage. Divorce lawyers tend to be separate specialists from other family lawyers.
Class actions
Class actions are a form of lawsuit for large groups of plaintiffs impacted by the same legal issue and defendant. Instead of many plaintiffs individually suing the same defendant for small amounts, the class sues on behalf of all impacted people, whether or not these people have initiated the lawsuit. Class actions occur commonly in cases involving product liability, environmental damage, civil rights, financial services fraud, employment and the like. Where one action has large scale impact on a group of people, class actions may be appropriate.
Class action is a very specialized type of case, as it involves unique procedural rules. Therefore, lawyers for this area will be class action specialists. You can approach a class action lawyer as a lead plaintiff in a case (your name will be in the lawsuit), and you will sue on behalf of the class of plaintiffs who are similarly situated as you. Class action plaintiffs who are not lead plaintiffs (the majority of plaintiffs) will not be involved in the litigation, but will be notified that they are part of the class and may choose to opt out of the class if they wish to sue in their individual capacity.
Personal injury and malpractice
If you have been injured in an accident or otherwise harmed, emotionally or physically, you can seek a personal injury lawyer. Where the harm occurred in the course of medical treatment, this is called malpractice and many personal injury lawyers also specialize in this. Where you have been injured in the course of your employment, labor lawyers may also be good options depending on the scope of their experience.
Contract or business
Where your dispute arises out of a contract you have with another party, you will want to look for a lawyer who specializes in contract and business disputes. Your legal issue may not fit neatly within a single category — it may be that two or more of the areas outlined here are relevant to your situation. For example, your employment or housing case may involve a contract. In this case you could seek out a lawyer in the subject area for advice (e.g. an employment lawyer) who likely has experience reading contracts in that area and therefore can advise you regarding your rights — both with respect to the contract and outside the contract.
Appellate
The litigation process contains many steps. If you receive an unfavorable judgment initially, you have the ability to appeal that judgment. This is called the appellate process and courts that review previous decisions are called appellate courts. Appellate lawyers specialize in the procedural rules and litigation strategy of appealing unfavorable decisions. If you decide to appeal a decision, you may wish to stick to your original lawyer who has the subject matter expertise or you may decide to go with an appellate lawyer depending on whether your previous lawyer has experience in appellate litigation.
Criminal
Where you have been arrested or are questioned by law enforcement, you may need a criminal defense lawyer. Even within this category, there are different specializations. For example, some lawyers focus on the appeal process for criminal convictions, particularly overturning wrongful convictions.
Step 2: Outreach for referrals and search
Once you have identified the general legal area under which your case falls, you can better target your search using both online sources and referrals.
Online sources
Local bar association referral services
Your local bar association will have resources to help you find a lawyer in your state. Some of the referral services are free and others have a small attorney consultation fee. The American Bar Association maintains a national directory of lawyer referral services organized by state:
http://www.americanbar.org/directories/lawyer-referral-directory.html
Lawyer search platforms
In addition to the above referral services, there are a number of commercially run online lawyer search platforms. Some popular ones include:
- Avvo: https://www.avvo.com/
- NOLO: http://www.nolo.com/lawyers
- Legal Zoom: https://www.legalzoom.com/attorneys/attorney-directory
Offline sources
Personal referrals
Personal referrals from people you trust are a good way to get recommendations. Friends, family and colleagues can be important resources in your discovery and research process. You will want to make sure the recommended lawyer has experience litigating issues similar to your case so be sure to follow up any recommendations with plenty of additional online research.
Affinity groups/outreach
If your personal network is short on useful recommendations, don’t be afraid to reach out to groups and organizations that have formed around a related subject area. They may be able to recommend lawyers who are experts in that concentration. Some groups you might consider reaching out to include non-profits (like the ACLU, NAACP LDF or NOW), support groups or meetup groups. The additional advantage in reaching out to non-profits is that if you decide to crowdfund for your case, you will have already laid some groundwork in developing a network of relevant organizations who can help promote your campaign.
Step 3: Interview your lawyer
Understand your lawyer’s actual experience
Even after you have identified the general area of law your case falls under, there are many subspecialties and considerations. Just like doctors, lawyers are highly specialized by the different kinds of cases that they litigate and the different kinds of clients they represent, whether they are mostly lawyers for plaintiffs (the partying suing) or the defendants, or whether they primarily represent individuals or corporations.
Some questions you might consider asking:
- What are the most common cases that you litigate?
- Do you typically represent plaintiffs or defendants?
- Are your clients mostly individuals or corporations?
- How much experience do you have with my particular issue?
- Can you tell me about similar cases you’ve had and the outcomes?
- May I speak to former clients about their experience with you?
Understand your lawyer’s approach and philosophy
You should understand how your lawyer evaluates cases and develops a case strategy. Is your lawyer someone who is willing to take a case to trial, if necessary? Is your lawyer someone who believes in taking aggressive tactics?
Some questions you might consider asking:
- What factors do you consider when you evaluate a case’s merits?
- How do you build a case strategy?
- What factors do you consider when deciding between settlement versus pursuing trial?
- What is your negotiation strategy during settlements?
- What else can you tell me about your litigation style and legal practice?
Understand the lawyer’s fee arrangements
You should be very clear upfront about the legal fee arrangement with the lawyer. Is your lawyer on an hourly basis, a contingent fee basis, retainer, or some other model? Be sure to understand how you will be billed. Does the law firm offer third party financing options and how are those structured? If you are interested in crowdfunding your legal expenses, it may be worth telling your lawyer to educate him or her about this option.
Questions to ask:
- What is your fee model? Is it hourly? Based on contingency? Retainer? Some other model?
- If hourly, what are the hourly billing rates for you,your associates, and other applicable members of your team?
- Do you provide fee estimates and can those be capped?
- Are you able to provide estimates related to non-lawyer legal fees (i.e. court filings fees, expert witness fees, scientific tests, legal research services like LexisNexis and Westlaw)?
- What can you tell me about your billing cycle?
- What kind of information will my bill show (e.g. hours billed for what legal services)?
- Are there financing options? How are these financing options structured?
- Are you familiar with crowdfunding for legal cases?
Understand your lawyer’s resources and dedication to your case
Resources available to your lawyer and his or her caseload will impact how much time and dedication your lawyer can give your particular case. Experienced legal associates or paralegals, supervised by the partner, can help reduce legal fees, as associates or paralegals have lower billing rates.
Some questions you might consider asking:
- How do you staff and manage your cases?
- Will you have associates or paralegals working on the case under your supervision? If so, may I see their backgrounds and experience?
- What is your caseload on average?
- In general, how much time do you personally spend on a case like mine?
- How often do you communicate with your clients about their cases?
Some final tips
Ultimately, finding the right lawyer comes down to your intuition and judgement — you want to ensure the lawyer you choose to partner with is someone you trust will fight for you. The above information is meant to be a basic guide, but the details of your specific case will dictate how to best conduct your search and make your choice. The best advice we can offer is simple: conduct as much research as you can to understand your legal issues and the lawyers who specialize in that field — and ask as many questions as you can during your consultations with the lawyers to whom you speak.
Have a legal case that could benefit from crowdfunding?
