How to choose the right lawyer?
Make sure of the lawyer’s identity
If this is your first visit to a lawyer and you do not know the lawyer personally, before you make a legal assistance contract with him or her, ask the lawyer for a lawyer’s certificate and check if he or she is listed in the register of lawyers on the website of the Chamber of Lawyers. For example, the website of the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara region is www.paso.ru/.
A lawyer must correspond to the problem.
Why hire Borschevsky or Makarov, for total cleaning of ranks in the rascally Housing Department. And even if they agree, the process will be like plowing a collective farm field on the Maserati – they will not be interested and bored, and you – will cost a pretty penny.
A lawyer doesn’t take a case for free.
Because in the course of the case, he has expenses that he is not obliged to pay at his own expense. Moreover, a lawyer’s soul is wary, gentle, sensitive. He wants to believe that if the case is successful and positively resolved, your relationship will have a great future. When he says that he will take a fee only according to the results of the case, let him go in peace, so that he will not be late for the lecture.
The lawyer doesn’t make promises.
Remember, in most cases, the lawyer can’t promise the result of his work: to win your case, to acquit the defendant in court, to return your debt, etc. A lawyer is not the boss and not the judge. A lawyer is a person, rendering legal assistance. Therefore, his promises can be made in respect of the actions rendered by him, which, of course, are aimed at achieving a successful end result. Guarantee that he will win your case, the lawyer does not have the right, because the decision takes not he, but others.
The lawyer should be able to calculate on a calculator.
At least, to determine the court expenses and to say, what will cost the state fee. If the lawyer is working on the category of cases you need, he knows the rates of state fees by heart. And difficulties in this matter should not be.
The lawyer is not emotionally affected by the client’s problems.
Does your doctor cough with you when you’re sick? If the lawyer grinds his teeth and resents the story of your problems and misfortunes, if he is ready to tear his enemies to pieces – not the fact that he has a lot of cases and clients. Otherwise he would be neurotic by now. A sensible lawyer will listen to you with professional interest and will not lose his appetite for your worldly problems.
A lawyer will not deny you an agreement.
Even though your agreement with a lawyer is built on trust, ask him for a written contract. I just wonder how long it will take him to write it. A normal lawyer won’t take more than five minutes. He will just print you a template of his contract with the client, which will not contain a single disadvantage for him.
The lawyer works only with documents and facts
Because of his abilities, a lawyer can change your past far more successfully than any historian. He can “dig up” that your lineage comes not from a run-down prince, but directly from the Immaculate Virgin. He can do even more, if the circumstances of the case allow. But remember that any inspiration of a lawyer feeds only on documents. And he must tell you at once what documents he needs for the case. If he does not tell you or promises to tell you during the process, it may be his first case.
The lawyer always understands what you really need
A good lawyer is one who wins difficult cases in court. But the best one is the one who understands that your goal is to solve the problem, not to be the happy owner of the writ of execution, which brings you – moral satisfaction. To him – a fee.
A lawyer is sometimes incomprehensible.
Any lawyer speaks some language of his own, incomprehensible to mere mortals. It is learned and mastered from the time of learning in law school, in the process of retakes, from the theory of state and law, ending with the commercial and criminal law. He tries to speak to you in a human way, of course, but the bird’s tongue slips through every now and then. And that’s great. If your lawyer says “right now let’s stand up and vigorously demand” instead of “make a motion” – this is not a lawyer at all.
Trust the real cases.
If you have information about his professional skills (for example, from the reviews of acquaintances, publications in the press, etc.), make an agreement for a short service (for example, ask the lawyer to prepare a legal opinion on your problem, indicating how to solve it). If you are satisfied with the work – make an agreement for further cooperation.