3. RESEARCHING LAWYERS
The best place to start your search is at the closest law library to where you live or work. When you get there, ask for a current copy of the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. This is a great tool that lists lawyers and their standings. You may not find the perfect lawyer in this location, but it's a good starting point for research. Here are a few other places you can use for researching lawyers in your area:
Use commercial websites dedicated to helping you find information on lawyers in your area.
Make sure any of the sites you visit are legitimate before you trust the information they provide. When a person loses a lawsuit they are most likely to blame their lawyer so you dont want to confuse accurate information with someone's angry rant.
Find Law is a great website that has a lawyer search that's easy to use. Find Law breaks lawyers down by state, city and the type of practice they have so you can easily find a lawyer to best serve you. To make your search easier you can enter your claim and your area in the search engine to get a list of lawyers instantly.
Lawyers.com is another great website where you can find a lawyer in your area. Lawyers.com also offers you to research legal information, find forms you may need in the legal process and read blogs written by the sites users.
Martindale-Hubbell not only offers a search engine to find a lawyer in your area, they also have a Peer Review system in which lawyers are rated so you can make a more educated decision when choosing a lawyer. Martindale-Hubbell also offers a dispute resolution toolkit to aid you in keeping a case from entering court.
The American Bar Association's disciplinary page gives you links to your states bar where you can find information on any disciplinary actions taken against the lawyer you are thinking of hiring. The ABA website also offers a legal help finder which lists lawyers in your area who are associated with the American Bar Association.
Your local courthouse will be able to give you information about finding an attorney and may be able to put you into contact with people that will help you further. Ask people you know for advice on good lawyers. Chances are most of the people you know, like yourself, need a lawyer. Non commercial government sites. A simple internet search can bring you tons of state, city and government sites that may be able to help you find a lawyer to suit your needs.