Most states have Certifications issued by the State's highest Court to a limited # of lawyers based on experience and testing. For ex. in NJ, you can be a Certified Trial Attorney, etc... I've been in practice for 10 yrs. w/ no advertising, just word of mouth. Good luck.

several years ago i had a business problem and had to go to court in a county many miles from were i lived, i went into court to reprsent myself and the judge postponed the court date and told me to find a attorney well i walked out of the court room and walked over to the courts counter were the secretaries worked that do all the paper work and told them that i was in need of a good attorney and was there anyone they suggested they all pretty much were in agreement on one attorney and i called him told him what was going on he asked for a few documents supporting my case and before the next trial date it was thrown out and i never had to appear in court and i never meet the attorney in person. bottom line the girls at the court how do the paper work know whos who
later

Great advice, later.

Agreed. Pretty much along the lines of what I was going to suggest. Go to the local Bar Assoc (not the "get hammered" bar, but the legal Bar) and poke around. That and word of mouth oughtta get you some good advice. Also, look up any info you can about the attorney at the Bar. Most of the good ones do not need advertising. Good Luck.

I'm a lawyer. Sometimes hate to admit it. My recommendation is you call the bar assocation to get referrals. But you vist at least 5 or 6 lawyers and ask the hard questions: what is my downside, how bad can this turn out, what if I have a losing postion, how will you handle it.

You want someone to give you the honest answers. If they paint everything as rosy, beware. You need to know the good, the bad and the ugly. If they won't admit the ugly, then move on. Nothing is certain in law and an honest lawyer needs to admit that to you.

I have absolute winning cases, but still warn clients that I can't control the other side or the judge. Look for these signs of honesty.

Good luck

The BEST lawyer is the one who knows his limitations and can recommend the truly great ones for each specific situation.

I've used TEN different lawyers (just counted them) for different situations and two of them will not be called upon again because they tried to be allknowing when they would have done me a better job by recommending another man.

That leaves me with EIGHT of them who I would run back to in a heartbeat.

Hopefully, you will find a good one for your needs.

ATTORNEY'S/PUT THEM ON TRIAL
 

MY Brother Kevin is a corp.attorney in K.C. You have to put them on your own little trial. Ask them questions and listen. I said listen, see if they are full of sNit, your instincts will guide you. Also call them and see how they return your phone calls promptly or not and also each good lawyer, has his own little group and specialty, such as med mal, pi, corp deceptive trade practice, bankruptcy or so on. Then ask them, who they know in the business, do they know alot of people, associated with your type of case, which this can be very helpful to yours if they do. Like some of you say, YOU don't need a full yellow page advertisment to be famous ,word of mouth and customer refferal will get you a long ways, my two cents./my brother is a great attorney,no offense to any attorneys here. Everyone needs them, but you have to put them on trial too. DARIN:crazy:

if at all possible find out what judge will be handling your case , then find out what law firm he came from and hire someone from the same firm.

just something i heard once.
kinda makes sense though.

I don't know any good ones, but I can name 3 or 4 bad ones! My only advice is not to pay before services are rendered. Might not be important with a good attorney, but I couldn't even get return phone calls from the putz that handled my divorce. My ex-wife kept me informed of what was going on, not exactly how it should be!