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How to Decide on a Divorce Lawyer
Selecting a divorce lawyer to handle your family law case is a very important decision. The following are a few important criteria to greatly help in finding the right divorce lawyer.

Experience and Focus

Any divorce lawyer you consider must have substantial experience in handling divorce cases in your location. A skilled divorce lawyer will know the tendencies of the many judges in your jurisdiction and really should be able to utilize this knowledge to your advantage. Additionally, that lawyer should practice primarily in neuro-scientific divorce law. Often people will hire an attorney who practices primarily in a few other area, thinking that any lawyer can do. However, divorce law is a very specialized field that requires particular skills and experience in order to have a likelihood of reaching a successful conclusion.

Past Client Testimonials

Perhaps the best way to decide which divorce lawyer to utilize for your divorce case is to find out what former clients need to say about this lawyer. While divorce is never a satisfying process, some divorce lawyers have more success at satisfying their clients than others. If you don't know anyone who has been a client of that particular divorce lawyer, you should think about asking the lawyer for a list of clients you could contact who can describe their experience with the lawyer. While client confidentiality is essential, any good experienced divorce lawyer should have at least several former clients who are ready to vouch for him or her.

Accessible

Whenever a client becomes dissatisfied with a divorce lawyer, the most common complaints is they were unable to talk to the lawyer. It is crucial that your divorce lawyer be accessible and prompt in giving an answer to your phone calls, emails, and requests for meetings. When you can ask the divorce lawyer about their office policy, that is another area where you can best evaluate the divorce lawyer by hearing what former clients have to say.

In case a former client of the lawyer tells you that they found it very hard to contact the attorney, or that the lawyer either didn't return calls or respond to emails or would take several days to take action, you need to definitely avoid that lawyer. Divorce is an unpleasant and frustrating process under the best of circumstances. Should you be unable to reach your divorce attorney, or at least someone on his or her staff, the frustration level can increase exponentially.

Fees

When you make your initial appointment with the divorce attorney, you need to inquire in regards to 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 an appointment 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 the length of the meeting. Essentially, the consultation fee would be to "weed out" those people who are not serious about the chance of hiring me. Considering that my normal hourly rate is $200.00/hour and the usual typical consultation takes about 90 minutes, the charge for my consultation is significantly discounted. Therefore, you shouldn't let an appointment fee scare you away from interviewing a particular lawyer.

During the consultation it really is vitally important that you have a candid discussion with the prospective divorce lawyer about fees and what you can expect. Typically, وکیل will require the payment of a considerable retainer up front, against which that lawyer's hourly rate and expenses will be charged. You should find out what that lawyer's hourly rate is, what the up front retainer will undoubtedly be, whether any part of the retainer is refundable if it's not exhausted, and how often you will probably receive invoices that detail their hourly charges and expenses. You also will want to understand 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.