Have you gotten yourself into a bit of a legal mess? If this is the case, finding solid legal representation is the best way to put the situation behind you forever. A simple check of your local phone book will show you that there are many lawyers in your area. How do you decide which one of these people is competent enough to represent you in a court of law? There are a number of things that you need to look into. Simply hiring a lawyer at random is definitely not the way to go. You need to know exactly who you are dealing with before you hire that person to be your legal counsel. Here are the primary qualities that you need your lawyer to have.
1. Your lawyer should have been practicing the specific area of the law that your case falls into for no less than four years.
There are many different areas of the law. There are lawyers who focus on personal injury cases. Others will mainly deal with family law cases like divorces. Some lawyers will handle several different types of cases. Ideally, you should hire a lawyer who focuses on cases like the one that you have to deal with. This will help to ensure that you are getting the most experienced legal counsel that you can possibly get. A lawyer who handles many different types of cases might not have the experience in the particular area of the law that you need. This could lead to the lawyer making mistakes that would have been avoided by a more experienced attorney. A DUI is a very serious charge. An experienced Alameda DUI lawyer can help you to avoid jail time.
2. The ability to negotiate should definitely be one of your lawyer’s strengths.
The number one goal of your lawyer should be to keep you out of the courtroom. Judges and juries can be very unpredictable. This is why negotiating a settlement is always better than trying to fight a long and costly battle inside of a courtroom. A settlement means that you will be guaranteed to get something. It might not be quite what you want. However, a settlement is often much better than what you would receive if you had to go to court. In some cases, a lawyer can negotiate a much shorter prison sentence for his client if they plead guilty than he or she would have received after a court conviction.
3. Your lawyer should always keep you informed about various things going on with your case.
The lawyer you hire will most likely be working on a few different cases at the same time. This means that he or she might forget to update you on things involving your case. You need to find a lawyer who will not forget to keep you in the loop. Some lawyers assign people in their office to handle communicating with their clients because they are too busy to do so themselves. Make sure that the office always gets in touch with you when there are any recent developments that you should be informed about. Your lawyer should also get your permission when there are key decisions to be made. He or she should not do anything without your input.