Selecting a divorce lawyer to deal with your family law case is an essential decision. The following are a few important criteria to greatly help in discovering the right divorce lawyer.
Experience and Focus
Any divorce lawyer you consider needs to have substantial experience in handling divorce cases in your location. A skilled divorce lawyer singapore will know the tendencies of the various judges in your jurisdiction and should have the ability to use this knowledge to your advantage. Additionally, that lawyer should practice primarily in the field of divorce law. Often people will hire a lawyer who practices primarily in some other area, thinking that any lawyer will do. However, divorce law is just a very specialized field that will require particular skills and experience in order to have a likelihood of reaching an effective conclusion.
Past Client Testimonials
Perhaps the easiest way to determine which divorce lawyer to utilize for the divorce case is to learn what former clients have to say about that lawyer. While divorce is never a satisfying process, some divorce lawyers have significantly more success at satisfying their clients than others. If you don’t know someone who has been a client of that specific divorce lawyer, you should think about asking the lawyer for a list of clients as you are able to contact who is able to describe their experience with the lawyer. While client confidentiality is important, any good experienced divorce lawyer needs to have at the least several former clients that are willing to attest to him or her.
Accessible
When a client becomes dissatisfied with a divorce lawyer, one of the very common complaints is that they certainly were unable to speak with the lawyer. It is vital your divorce lawyer be accessible and prompt in responding to your calls, emails, and requests for meetings. As you can ask the divorce lawyer about their office policy, this is another area where you could best evaluate the divorce lawyer by hearing what former clients need to say.
In case a former client of the lawyer tells you they found it extremely tough to get hold of the attorney, or that the lawyer either did not return calls or answer emails or would take several days to do this, you should truly avoid that lawyer. Divorce is a distressing and frustrating process beneath the best of circumstances. In the event that you cannot reach your divorce attorney, or at the least someone on their staff, the frustration level can increase exponentially.
Fees
Once you make your initial appointment with the divorce attorney, you need to inquire of a consultation fee. Some lawyers do brief initial consultations free of charge, although most experienced divorce lawyers will charge between $100.00 and $200.00 as a consultation fee, or will charge their normal hourly rate.
For example, I charge a flat $100.00 consultation fee with no additional hourly charges, regardless of length of the meeting. Essentially, the consultation fee is always to “weed out” those people who are not intent on the possibility of hiring me. Given that my normal hourly rate is $200.00/hour and the most common typical consultation takes about 90 minutes, the charge for my consultation is significantly discounted. Therefore, you shouldn’t let a consultation fee scare you away from interviewing a certain lawyer.
During the consultation it’s vitally essential that you have a candid discussion with the prospective divorce lawyer about fees and that which you can expect. Typically, a skilled divorce lawyer will need the payment of a substantial retainer in advance, against which that lawyer’s hourly rate and expenses will undoubtedly be charged. You ought to discover what that lawyer’s hourly rate is, what the in advance retainer will undoubtedly be, whether any percentage of the retainer is refundable if it’s not exhausted, and how often you are able to expect for invoices that detail their hourly charges and expenses. You also would want to know how detailed the invoices are. Once again, this is another area where you could get excellent information from those people who have been clients of this divorce lawyer.
Lawyers Picks 