How to find a good lawyer and how to work with him?
Alas, the risk of running into a charlatan and a fool exists in any case, and having a lawyer’s license is not at all an indicator of supercompetence (although lawyers pass a qualifying exam and periodically undergo training, they are required to comply with the Code of Professional Ethics and a bunch of other rules).
You cannot do without a lawyer when considering a criminal case; in all other cases, just look for a good lawyer.
How to search and how to understand that it is he, I tell below.
You can search for anything.
The most primitive and unreliable method is the first phone that comes across in the first phone book that comes across.
A finger to the sky, although you may be lucky. However, most often lawyers are contacted on the recommendation of those who have already contacted them.
But even here everything is not so simple.
If a lawyer won the case of your friend, this is not at all an indicator that he will win the case for you too.
He may be incompetent in your specific problem, or you just personally don’t like it.
No one has repealed the laws of human-human interaction.
So, look for a lawyer who, above all, is competent. That is, he has experience in cases similar to yours.
This can and should be asked right during the meeting, when both of you decide whether to cooperate or not.
In large cities, you can find a lawyer who practices exclusively in the branch of law to which your problem relates.
A lawyer should not disgust you with his manners and appearance. This is secondary, but think – you will have to contact this person for a long time, and it is probably better if he is not only a professional, but at least not a nasty person in communication.
The other extreme is if you like the lawyer so much that you completely forget about the case when you see him.
You didn’t come on a date, did you?
The first meeting is usually an introductory meeting.
Here it is important to take a closer look at each other, determine the prospects for the case and conclude an agreement for the provision of services for a fee. Run from lawyers who work without a contract.
Run from lawyers who can not competently draw up a contract.
For example, the following wording in the text of the contract is completely unacceptable: “The subject of the contract is the representation of the client’s interests in court.” In what court, in what case – it is absolutely impossible to understand.
Likewise, there should be no uncertainty about the amount of the fee. An adequate lawyer will indicate the price of the service immediately, because he understands that it is important for you to know how much money you risk. Sometimes there is the wording “in case of winning the case, the client pays an additional percentage of the amount awarded.”
Much has been written about the nuances of paying such a fee. Personally, I prefer a fixed amount paid at a time for each individual court session, regardless of the outcome of the case.
If the remuneration depends on a court decision, this is somewhat incentivizing the lawyer to work better, but this should not be the main reason why he takes on your case. A good reputation is what your lawyer should value above all else.
That is, the creation of such in its absence, and maintenance – in the presence.
If in the process of studying the text of the contract you have questions – ask, demand amendments, because this is the main document that determines your relationship with a lawyer, including the possibility of filing claims against him for the quality of services.
Run also from lawyers who refuse to issue payment documents for accepting money from you. These should be primary accounting documents – checks, receipts.
Receipts are acceptable to you, but in principle not acceptable to a lawyer. The tax officials will explain the reasons to you.
Run from lawyers who promise 100% success in the case.
If this is a lawyer, then he not only deceives you, but also violates the Code of Professional Ethics.
Remember: in no case can you guarantee a 100% win, even if the matter seems obvious. To some extent, every time you go into court, you open a Pandora’s box.
And your lawyer should warn you about it.
All this must be agreed before concluding a contract with him. This does not mean that everything in a trial can be attributed to a random and unforeseen set of circumstances.
But I’ll be honest: holding a lawyer accountable for losing a case is really difficult. I mean a refund for poor quality services.
A good lawyer, firstly, will definitely inform you about the prospects of the case before he takes it up, so that you can assess what you are risking, and secondly, he simply will not take on a case in which there are no prospects.
However, I fully admit a situation where a lawyer honestly warned you that the chances of winning are negligible, but you insist on his participation in the trial.
A good lawyer, if he takes up the case, will make a warning about the prospects in the contract. Subjectively, I believe that the “highest aerobatics” for a lawyer is to lose the case without receiving claims from the client. Precisely because the client was warned in advance, and because the lawyer did everything possible in the current situation.
In order to avoid unexpected turns of the case as much as possible, do not lie to your lawyer. Often people embellish reality in the hope that they will be able to hide some unsightly facts of their behavior.
If this does not become obvious during the preparation of a lawyer for a court session, then you risk “pleasing” him with great difficulties directly in the process.
Of course, from the outside it may seem very funny to you how a lawyer is trying to get out of a problem that has suddenly fallen on him, but after all, you initially intended to cooperate with him, and not make him a laughing stock, right?
Do not lie, sooner or later it will turn out, and it can cost you (both) very dearly.
Feel free to ask a lawyer about what he specifically took to solve your problem if the work is paid on an hourly basis.
By law, you have the right to demand a full report.
If the lawyer begins to evade the answer – change it without regret, before it’s too late.
A lawyer should be able to clearly explain what you do not understand. In my opinion, the mission of lawyers is precisely to bring to the attention of people the content of the laws by which people live in human language. Otherwise, why are they needed? If a lawyer can’t explain clearly, look elsewhere.
Let it come to the use of improvised means, anecdotes or gestures, but every word spoken by a lawyer should be clear to you.
Well, the most important advice.
Remember that your business is exclusively yours, and it is you who will have to make all the decisions, it is you who should be the main person interested in the business.
The lawyer will present you the prospects, you will pay him according to the invoices, but the choice of the solution to the problem is entirely up to you and under your responsibility. No one, including a lawyer, can live your life for you, and is not required to become a nanny for you. Not during the trial, not after it.
—
The professional you are looking for is a person who has the skills and knowledge to carry out tasks assigned to them. They have a good understanding of their field and they know how to keep up with the latest trends and technologies.
The professional you are looking for is someone who can be trusted to get the job done efficiently and effectively. They know how to make deadlines and they will not let anything interrupt their work.
A professional is someone who takes pride in their work, but also knows when it’s time to put in extra effort when necessary. They usually have a high level of expertise, which means that they may not be able to do every task assigned to them, but they always try their best.