How To Find A Great Lawyer

A step by step guide on finding the right lawyer for you.

When it Counts, Leave It To The Professional.

If your legal problem is complex or involves lots of money, you might not want to attempt to handle the entire matter without a lawyer. After all, lawyers do more than dispense legal information. They offer strategic advice and apply sophisticated technical skills to legal problems. Ideally, you'll be able to find a lawyer who's willing to serve as your legal "coach" to help you educate yourself to the maximum extent possible and to take over as your formal legal counsel only if necessary.

How to Find the Right Lawyer

Locating a good lawyer who can efficiently help with your particular problem may not be easy, I would not suggest trusting someone just because they are on the back of a phonebook or on some pop up add. There's not enough information in these sources to help you make a valid judgment.

Personal Referrals

A better approach is to talk to people in your community who have experienced the same problem you face -- for example, if you have a claim of sexual harassment, talk to a women's group. Ask them who their lawyers were and what they think of them. If you talk to half a dozen people who have had a similar legal problem, chances are you'll come away with several good leads. It really doesn’t need to be that specific just ask around and see who people you trust used most firms can deal with a n array of legal issues, its about dealing with the right people. People you can trust and work with easily. But, don't make a decision about a lawyer solely on the basis of someone else's recommendation. Different people will have different responses to a lawyer's style and personality; don't make up your mind about hiring a lawyer until you've met the lawyer, discussed your case, and decided that you feel comfortable working with him or her.

Also, it may be hard to find lawyer through a personal referral with the expertise you need (for instance, if your friend had a great divorce lawyer, but you need incorporation advice, the referral may not do you much good).

Lawyer Referral Services

Lawyer referral services are required to be approved by the state bar association. Some lawyer referral services carefully screen attorneys and list only those attorneys with particular qualifications and a certain amount of past experience, while other services will list any attorney in good standing with the state bar who maintains liability insurance. Before you choose a lawyer referral service, ask what its qualifications are for including an attorney and how carefully lawyers are screened.

Consider a Specialist

Most lawyers specialize in certain areas, and even a so-called "general practitioner" may not know that much about the particular area of your concern. For example, of the almost one million lawyers in America today, probably fewer than 50,000 possess sufficient training and experience in small business law to be of real help to an aspiring entrepreneur. It can pay to work with a lawyer who already knows the field, such as employment discrimination, zoning laws, software design issues, or restaurant licensing allowing you to take advantage of the fact that the lawyer is already far up the learning curve.

Interview the Prospective Lawyers

When you get the names of several good prospects, the next step is to talk to each personally. If you outline your needs in advance, many lawyers will be willing to meet to you for a half-hour or so at no charge so that you can size them up and make an informed decision.

Personality

Pay particular attention to the personal chemistry between you and your lawyer. No matter how experienced and well-recommended a lawyer is, if you feel uncomfortable with that person during your first meeting or two, you may never achieve an ideal lawyer-client relationship. Trust your instincts and seek a lawyer whose personality is compatible with your own. Look also for experience, personal rapport, and accessibility.

Communication and Promptness

Ask all prospective lawyers how you will be able to contact them and how long it will take them to return your communications. And don't assume that because the lawyer seems friendly and easy to talk to that it's okay to overlook this step.

Unfortunately, the complaint logs of all lawyer regulatory groups indicate that many lawyers are terrible communicators. If every time you have a problem there's a delay of several days before you can talk to your lawyer on the phone or get an appointment, you'll lose precious time, not to mention sleep.

Almost nothing is more aggravating to a client than to leave a legal project in a lawyer's hands and then have weeks or even months go by without anything happening. You want a lawyer who will work hard on your behalf and follow through promptly on all assignments.

Willingness to Work With You

When you have a legal problem, you need legal information. Lawyers, of course, are prime sources of this information, but if you bought all the needed information at their rates -- $150 to $250 an hour -- you'd quickly empty your bank account. Fortunately, many lawyers will work with you to help you acquire a good working knowledge of the legal principles and procedures you need to deal with your problem at least partly on your own. If you find someone who is not willing to do this they may be too busy or are unwilling to share their game plan which for many people, creates a large feeling of helplessness and anxiety about their case.

This is an excellent firm that has worked for me. I will continue to use them for future legal matters.

www.ballandyorke.com

Appropriation Lawsuits

Appropriation Lawsuits Privacy is the general right to be left alone and free from unwanted publicity. There are four well-established lawsuits for invasion of privacy: appropriation, false light, intrusion, and disclosure. This article gives examples of appropriation lawsuits. Appropriation is defined as the use of a person's name, likeness, or personality for the benefit of another. Defenses include that the matter is public or that the person who's privacy was invaded gave consent. Flake v. Greensboro News Co. In this case, the first defendant mistakenly put a photograph of the plaintiff in her bathing suit in the second defendant's advertisement. The court declared that "the unauthorized use of one's photograph in connection with an advertisement or other commercial enterprise gives rise to a cause of action." The court ruled that the plaintiff could recover nominal damages if she could not prove actual damages. Hinish v. Meier & Frank Co. In this case, the defendant used the plaintiff's name in a telegram to a governor urging the governor to veto a bill. The use of the plaintiff's name was in a matter of politics, not a commercial situation, but that did not stop the court from ruling that the defendant had wrongfully appropriated the plaintiff's name. "Selleck v. Rolling Rock" Based on changes made in advertisements for Rolling Rock beer, an invasion of privacy lawsuit may have been threatened by actor Tom Selleck, star of the television series "Magnum, P.I." Apparently knowing that a celebrity may sue a brewery advertiser for using the celebrity's voice in a radio advertisement for beer, the advertisers of Rolling Rock apparently hired Joe Garvey to narrate Rolling Rock advertisements. Interestingly, Joe Garvey's voice was very similar to Tom Selleck's voice. Again, based on changes made in the advertisements, Tom Selleck apparently reached an agreement with the advertisers of Rolling Rock that Joe Garvey would clearly identify himself in each advertisement for Rolling Rock beer. www.ballandyorke.com

Attorney Malpractice Liability to Non-Client

Malpractice Non-Client

In the course of an attorney's representation of a client, he may commit legal malpractice with respect to his prosecution, defense, or appeal of the client's action or his preparation of transactional documents for the client. The attorney's actions may constitute legal malpractice if he fails to use the skill, prudence, and diligence that attorneys of ordinary skill and capacity would use in performing their legal tasks. In addition to being liable to the client, the attorney may also be liable to a non-client in certain circumstances.

No Liability to Non-Client

Generally, an attorney is not liable to a non-client for legal malpractice. The basis of this rule is that an attorney cannot breach a duty to a non-client because there is no privity of contract between an attorney and a non-client.

Liability to Non-Client

In some jurisdictions under certain circumstances, the attorney may be held liable for malpractice to a non-client.

Intended Beneficiaries

An attorney may be liable to a non-client who was an intended beneficiary of the attorney's services to a client. For example, an intended beneficiary of a client's will may be entitled to bring an action against the attorney for improperly drafting the will.

Foreseeable Reliance Exception

A recognized exception to the general rule of no liability to non-clients is that an attorney may be liable if his services to a client were performed so as to influence non-clients to justifiably rely on the services rendered. For example, if an attorney issues an opinion letter regarding the legal status of his corporate client so as to influence potential lenders, the attorney may be liable to the lenders who relied on that letter if the letter was negligently drafted and caused damage to the lenders.

Fiduciary Relationship

An attorney may be liable for malpractice if his negligence causes damage to a non-client with whom he has established a fiduciary relationship. For example, an attorney for a corporation may have a fiduciary duty to the directors of the corporation. Thus, if his malpractice in relation to his services to the corporation causes damage to the directors, he may be liable.

Intentional Torts

An attorney, like other people, may be held liable for an intentional tort committed against a non-client, usually an adverse party of the attorney's client. A non-client may bring a malicious prosecution claim if the attorney misused the legal process for a purpose other than that of securing the proper adjudication of the client's claim. An attorney may be liable for abuse of process if he uses the legal process to secure a collateral benefit not directly related to the process. A non-client may bring an action for fraudulent, malicious, or intentional misrepresentations made by the attorney to the non-client (e.g., during the course of negotiating a settlement). An attorney may also be liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress. For example, the attorney may continually harass an adverse party in an attempt to influence the course of litigation.

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Defendant's Wrongful Use of Process

Defendant's Wrongful Use of Process

It is a tort to use the civil or criminal form of process to primarily seek a result other than that for which the form of process was intended. The conduct that encompasses the abuse of process is a defendant's wrongful use of the process for an ulterior purpose and some willful act in the use of the process to accomplish that ulterior purpose. For example, if a defendant obtains a judgment against a plaintiff for a debt, and the plaintiff subsequently pays the debt, the defendant is liable for abuse of process if he takes out an execution on the judgment. Abuse of process does not involve the wrongful bringing of a suit, which is the tort of malicious prosecution. Rather, it involves the improper use of the process after the suit has properly begun. Abuse of process also does not cover situations in which a defendant has an incidental motive of spite or an ulterior purpose to bringing the action if the action is brought primarily for the purpose for which the form of process was intended. Thus, a person who prosecutes an accused based on the accused's unlawful act is not abusing the process merely because he incidentally does not like the accused. The usual case of abuse of process occurs with relation to extortion, whereby a person uses the process to put pressure upon another to compel him to pay a debt not related to the action. The defendant will be liable to the plaintiff for any harm caused by the abuse of process. Check us out at www.ballandyorke.com

Tort Law - Procedural Law

Tort Law--Procedural Law

Apart from legislation granting a right to sue for a specific harm, personal injury law generally consists of tort law and the civil procedure for enforcing it. This article discusses the civil procedure for enforcing tort law. Filing a Lawsuit The general method provided by civil procedure to enforce the rights and duties provided by tort law is for persons and organizations who believe that any of their rights have been violated to "sue" the persons and organizations whom they allege have failed to do their duty as provided by tort law. To "sue" refers to the initial act required to formally enforce the law, which is to file with a court a group of documents that notify the court and the alleged violators of the alleged violation or violations of tort law. The group of documents is known as a suit, and so the whole process is known as a lawsuit. The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the filers have been harmed under tort law and that they are entitled to satisfaction -- usually money -- from the persons or organizations against whom the group of documents were filed. The court declaration is important because anyone who fails to obey the court's declaration ordering satisfaction is potentially subject to punishment by the court for their failure to obey the court's declaration. The Threat of a Lawsuit Sometimes it is not actually necessary to file a lawsuit to enforce tort law. Sometimes the threat of the successful use of civil procedure encourages and prompts persons and organizations who have failed to obey tort law to settle the substantive law matter out of court. Words Used In a Lawsuit A person or organization who has had one or more of its rights under tort law violated may be known as a victim. The victim is said to have suffered a wrong. The person or organization who has failed to obey one or more of its duties under tort law may be known as a perpetrator, tortfeasor, violator, or wrongdoer. As a general rule, a person or organization that files a lawsuit is known as a plaintiff. As a general rule, a person or organization that responds to a lawsuit is known as a defendant. A victim or alleged victim is usually known as a plaintiff or potential plaintiff. A perpetrator, tortfeasor, violator, or wrongdoer, or an alleged perpetrator, tortfeasor, violator, or wrongdoer, is usually known as a defendant or potential defendant. It is also possible for a person or organization that is sued, a defendant, to counter-sue the plaintiff or plaintiffs. For the sake of clarity, the parties to a lawsuit retain their initial designations as plaintiff or defendant, even though the result of the lawsuit may be a finding that the real victim, if any, is a defendant on the defendant's counter-suit and not a plaintiff on the plaintiff's initial suit. If you have further questions feel free to check us out at: www.ballandyorke.com