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Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: M ()
Date: November 01, 2010 12:14PM

What is the best way to find a good, competent lawyer? Is there a rating system (that is not run by lawyers)....a Consumer Reports like rating? I need a EEOC lawyer and I don't know where to turn. Suggestions?

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: Ralph Pootawn ()
Date: November 01, 2010 12:30PM

Google? sorry

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: user guide ()
Date: November 01, 2010 12:32PM

Start at Fairfax Underground. It is ALWAYS a reliable source of information.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: Good Sound Advice ()
Date: November 01, 2010 12:37PM

Yellow Pages or onthe sides of payphones or bus stops.

The bigger the ad = the better lawyer is my rule of thumb.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: T2T ()
Date: November 01, 2010 12:46PM

I thought Fairfax County had a referral system in place for their citizens. This referral system would pair you up with a lawyer so you could get one hour of service (at a good rate) to review your case and advise on how to proceed. We utilized this service in the past when we encountered a problem with a car sale (the buyer put a stop payment on the cashier's check). I don't recall how much we paid, but I think it was only $60 or so for that hour of consulting time.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Date: November 01, 2010 12:51PM

M Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the best way to find a good, competent
> lawyer?

Commit a high profile crime. Preferably something that would be covered on Fox News and by Nancy Grace.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/13-11.htm

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: MrMephisto ()
Date: November 01, 2010 01:57PM

M Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the best way to find a good, competent
> lawyer? Is there a rating system (that is not run
> by lawyers)....a Consumer Reports like rating? I
> need a EEOC lawyer and I don't know where to turn.
> Suggestions?

The user chuckhoffmann knows a bunch of good lawyers.

--------------------------------------------------------------
13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: Bill N ()
Date: November 01, 2010 04:38PM

There are several attorney ratings out there. For most purposes they are bogus. Most legitimate rating services tend to favor high profile case attorney, litigators and attorneys in large firms over attorneys who handle more run of the mill cases, non-litigators and attorneys in smaller firms. Less legitimate ones tend to let their evaluations be influenced by the willingness of the lawyers to advertize. None of them provide the background information that they used to reach their evaluations. Why should that matter? Here's an example:

Say you are charged with a minor criminal matter, for example DUI or simple assault. You have your choice between two attorneys, one rated AV (highest rating by Martindale Hubbel, which I think uses lawyers.com) and one rated CV. The AV attorney got his rating based on some high profile personal injury litigation done several years ago and very seldom handles minor criminal matters. The CV attorney primarily handles minor criminal matters and has had great success in recent years. Which would you want to use?

Client based evaluations are equally weak. A good review could mean that the client didn't realize that he got a common result (first offense DUI reduced to reckless for example). OTOH a client who got an objectively great result could end up giving a lousy review simply because he unreasonably thought he should have done better.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: Bystander ()
Date: November 02, 2010 04:36PM

It all depends on the type of lawyer that you need and the court that they may have to appear before.
If you want the best for the money talk to the bailiffs at the court that you will need help at.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: First Thing Is To... ()
Date: November 02, 2010 06:27PM

There are "referrel services" all of which appear to be paid advertisers (lawyers pay them for referrels, even the nonprofit ones!). I believe that is how I found a lawyer to handle adoption paperwork (just don't remember - maybe I'm remembering a preInternet divorce lawyer search for a friend and used the Internet for the much more recent adoption lawyer). In any case, you can tell these referrers some specifications like "at least 20 years experience, in the Centreville area, etc etc etc" and they'll match you up.

I know I was VERY pleased with the adoption lawyer that I selected after sending three or four firms emails about needing some adoption paperwork done - he looked like he had about 50 years experience, was VERY laid back, and had an office within easy walking distance of the courthouse in Fairfax. And he also had the lowest (fixed) price by far.

So try Google, try a referrel service (especially the hopefully-unbiased not-for-profit ones (you'll pay a referrel fee to the lawyer who will pass it o to the service - typically something small like $20 if the divorce lawyer experience still holds thirty years later..)).

And try your acquaintances - you'd be suirprised how many have used lawyers.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: The Congressman ()
Date: November 02, 2010 06:38PM

http://www.vsb.org/site/public/lawyer-referral-service/

This is a referral service run by the VA bar.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: M ()
Date: November 04, 2010 08:10AM

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The type of lawyer I need is an EEOC one.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: Joe B. ()
Date: November 04, 2010 05:25PM

EEOC. It's always easier to blame "Da Man" isn't it? How about this? Put your head down and press on and stop blaming everyone but yourself.Idiot.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: Atty ()
Date: November 05, 2010 01:17AM

www.martindale.com list lawyers and puts peer ratings for many of them. The lawyers who do the ratings fill out a form sent to them by the Martindale company. It may not be a completely accurate system but it's the only national rating system for attorneys. An "A" rating is the highest rating - but there are other lawyers who are as good as the "A" rated lawyer. For various reasons, not all lawyers have been rated. Nevertheless, this is a good place to start your search for a lawyer.

After you fill in the area of legal practice you want, put the location of the lawyer you are seeking, and check to look only at "rated" lawyers, it should present a list of lawyers in your area that work in the practice area you are seeking and show their Martindale ratings.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: M ()
Date: November 05, 2010 06:55PM

GREAT advice ATTY. Thank you so much!

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: TheHumorroid ()
Date: November 05, 2010 10:28PM

Kyle Courtnall

Check out my blog at www.thehumorroid.com

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: EEOC ()
Date: November 05, 2010 10:50PM

What do you mean by an "EEOC" lawyer. That's pretty vague. Is this about a housing issue or an employment related issue? Are you a seller, buyer, tenant, landlord, employee, employer, etc.

Provide some details and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: M ()
Date: November 06, 2010 11:12AM

Employment issue.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: EEOC ()
Date: November 06, 2010 12:32PM

Are you an employee or employer?

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: M ()
Date: November 06, 2010 01:37PM

Employee

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: EEOC ()
Date: November 06, 2010 02:41PM

What you're looking for isn't an EEOC lawyer. You're looking for an employment lawyer.

Avvo.com provides a free ranking and feedback service for clients.

The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) has a free attorney referral program: http://www.nela.org/NELA/index.cfm?event=showPage&pg=findalawyer

In the mean time, check out the EEOC website and http://employmentlawgroup.com/PracticeAreas/Discrimination-Law.asp if you want to learn more about discrimination law.

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Re: Best way to find a good lawyer?
Posted by: theHoff ()
Date: November 07, 2010 06:36AM

M Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the best way to find a good, competent
> lawyer? Is there a rating system (that is not run
> by lawyers)....a Consumer Reports like rating? I
> need a EEOC lawyer and I don't know where to turn.
> Suggestions?
Attachments:
shatner-b.jpg

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