10 Best Questions to Ask When Hiring an Attorney

Hiring an attorney can be a perplexing task for almost everyone. There is a lot of ground that need to be covered in order to make the right choice.

Regardless of the specific purpose for which you’re hiring an attorney, an effective research goes a long way. There are a number of factors that should be kept in consideration when choosing the right lawyer for the designated task. These factors mainly range from the price point of the given attorney, to the specialized area for which the attorney is hired in the first place. However, more often than not, it often gets challenging to figure out what to exactly ask an attorney, so that the process of onboarding an attorney is smooth.

  1. What is your specialization?

You probably already know that every attorney specializes in a given area. It is a good idea to figure out about the expertise of your lawyer. There are certain issues that are best handled by lawyers that deal to specific issues. Hence, it is essential to ask your attorney if he is specializing in the particular area you are looking for, so that you know if your requirements are aligned with the services being offered by the attorney. For example, corporate lawyers deal with business related cases, whereas divorce lawyers are specialists on that particular front. Finding out the right attorney with prior experience in your case is essential.

However, a lot of lawyers are generalists, in the sense that they take on numerous different cases. If your case is a generic case, which is a regular occurrence in the courts, having a generalized attorney might work out for you. However, specialized attorneys are statistically proven to be more effective, and efficient in delivering accurate results. 

  1. What is your charge?

This is a very basic question that needs to be asked earlier on in the meeting. This is necessary to ensure that you are on the same page as the attorney. In the cases where the charge or the fee of the attorney does not match your particular requirements, the best possible course of action is to find an alternate attorney. A lot of clients make this mistake. They explain the case, and after all the background information, they find out that the particular attorney has a charge that is well above their budget. This is time consuming task. Asking about the fee or the charge earlier on minimizes this risk.