Assuming that you have several prospective divorce lawyers in
mind to handle your divorce or custody case, you must investigate the
qualifications of each attorney. Before investigating the
qualifications of each attorney, you would be wise to set the bar
on the minimum qualifications that are acceptable to you. An
attorney’s qualifications in the following 5 areas will help you in your
investigation.
(1) Percentage of practice devoted to family law
(2) Years of experience
(3) Certified specialist
(4) Law school and education
(5) Memberships
Percentage of practice devoted to family law
An
attorney’s percentage of practice devoted to family law will help you
assess how much experience and expertise he/she has with divorce and
custody related issues. An attorney whose practice is 100% devoted to
family law issues, such as divorce and custody, will likely have more
expertise and familiarity with handling such cases than an attorney
whose practice is not 100% devoted to family law.
Years of experience
An
attorney is often valued by the number of years of experience they have
in a particular area of law. The more years of experience an attorney
has in family law, the more they can typically demand for his/her fees.
Further, the more years of experience an attorney has with divorce or
custody cases, the more likely he/she has worked on a case similar to
yours and help you learn what you can likely expect and what the costs
will be.
Certified specialist
Is the attorney a
certified family law specialist? Some attorneys may seek to become a
certified family law specialist by demonstrating extensive experience
and testing in the field of family law. There are certainly attorneys
with experienced and expertise in family law that have not sought out to
become a certified family law specialist. Attorneys that advertise
themselves as “certified specialists” may demand a higher fee.
Education
The fact that an attorney
graduated from a prestigious law school does not necessarily guarantee
that he/she is more qualified and more experienced in the field of
family law than an attorney that has not graduated from a prestigious
law school. The law school is however still something worth exploring
because it may demonstrate how serious, dedicated, and committed the
attorney was to his/her education. Additionally, some attorneys may
have various education such as being a Certified Public Accountant or
Licensed Clinical Psychologist. You will need to determine the value of
the different education an attorney has and the cost that may go along
with it.
Memberships
An attorney that has taken
interest in the field of family law will often have memberships to
organizations in the field of family law. Some memberships are
available to any lawyer and some memberships are more difficult to
obtain. An attorney that does not have any memberships to organizations
in the field of law can often create doubt in the consumers mind about
their interest in that field.
The information above about an
attorneys qualifications can often be found through the State Bar
website or through the Bar Association. As you seek to know more about
an attorney’s qualifications, it is ultimately up to you to investigate
the attorneys qualifications and set the bar on the minimum qualifications that are acceptable to you.