What do you need to know when choosing a lawyer?

There are a number of factors that make choosing a lawyer difficult:

• The product lawyers sell (advice and representation) is intangible and it’s hard to assess quality
• The way lawyers price their services make it difficult to compare one with another
• Most people don’t need a lawyer very often
• Lawyers are more specialised now, so you are less likely to find one who can look after everything for you.
• Often, when you do need a lawyer, it is a time of significant stress in your life.

However, there are some things you can do to make the choice easier:

• Ask people you know for a personal recommendation.  If you know anyone who has used a lawyer recently for the same type of case, find out what lawyer they went to, and whether they were satisfied.
• Make sure you understand the basis on which the lawyer will charge fees and what this means for your case.  Lawyers who are going to charge you more than $1,500 are required by law to give you a Disclosure Notice about important billing issues, and a Client Costs Agreement.
• Find out if there are Accredited Specialist lawyers who handle the sort of case you have. There are specialisations in some types of law (eg: family law, criminal law, succession law, personal injury).  Lawyers who are accredited specialists have at least 5 years experience in that area of law and have been through an assessment process including exams,  to become specialists.  You can search for lawyers, including specialists on the website of the Queensland Law Society.

If you don’t know where to start, our Legal Diagnosis service can help.  Because we don’t provide full representation, we offer independent advice about:

• Whether you need a lawyer for the sort of problem you have, or whether there are other ways to deal with the problem
• Whether there are any free legal services that might be able to help you
• Lawyer’s Client Costs Agreements.

We can also provide referrals to lawyers who may be suitable for your case.  We don’t accept any fees for referrals and we don’t have any special referral relationships.  We simply suggest lawyers we would be happy to use personally for that type of case.  If you need help choosing a lawyer for any type of case, feel free to get in touch with us.