Guide to Finding Austin Lawyer

Shacking up in Austin Texas, wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun if facing a court case. That’s why anyone dealing with that would need a good Austin TX lawyer. But how does a client get one? There are important steps to take in finding the right one.

Here are those steps:

First Off, Get Some Research Done

Think of it as going back to school. The only thing is a student (I mean, client) won’t be vying for that A grade. Rather, this is to ensure that any case saddled on the lap of an individual gets handled properly, and hopefully won or settled without any trouble.

The first step to finding the best Austin Texas lawyer money can buy is this: research. Act like you’re researching for your term paper in college.

You sift through the Yellow Pages and jot down every single listing of Austin TX lawyers, along with the contact info and addresses.

But don’t stop there. Get a comprehensive understanding of what you’re dealing with. Don’t limit yourself to the Pages and get in on cyberspace, Google, Yahoo, or whatever search engine out there, and type in the words ‘Austin Texas lawyer’ and wait and see what happens.

Ultimately the engine will crank out some hits for just about any Austin TX lawyer with a web site, giving you not only contact info and addresses but also some detailed information on experience, references, testimonials, biographies, and other golden nuggets to keep in mind.

If, of course, that’s still not enough in your search for the right Austin Texas lawyer, you can ask family members or friends for any word out there on a hotshot attorney. Word of mouth goes a long way. Ask all the Austin Texas lawyers all you want – they’ll spout out tons of praises for the wonders of word of mouth that buffers their careers to astronomical amounts. So don’t discount the little hints other people may give about lawyers in the area.

Once racking up all the information you can on a shortlist, you can look at all of the attorneys you’ve collected and then start making calls for the next step:

Schedule That Free Consultation

What is a ‘free consultation’? It’s a chance for a client to meet up with the lawyer and determine whether or not the lawyer’s a possible go-ahead on the case. This also determines for the lawyer whether or not the case is a go-ahead for him or her.

It’s that next step closer to finding the right person for the job. The correct questions, though, need to be asked.

Such as:
• How many years of experience do you have?

• What kind of cases have you tried?

• Where did you go to law school?

• Are you licensed in the state of Texas?

• How many cases have you won?

• How many clients do you have?

• Can you take my case?

• If you can’t, who CAN?

And there’s a wealth of other possible questions to ask. They’re all relevant. A free consultation is basically all open-source for both the lawyer and the prospective client. Anything goes.

The point behind it, though, is to determine if the lawyer stays on the shortlist or not.

In addition, a client during the free consultation would do well in taking notes, specifically on things like rates and charges.

Once all consultations are done, a client can review the information from each lawyer and see the different rates and modes of payment. For references, these are the types of payment a lawyer can offer:

 “Retainer” Fee

 Hourly Rate

 “Contingency” Fee

Know these by heart. They will make a difference. If a lawyer charges a “retainer” fee, the client is basically making a ‘down payment’ on the services, even before services start. Recognize that.

The hourly rate is just that – an hourly rate. However long the lawyer works on the case will be calculated hourly and typically charged somewhere during the case or even after the case is decided. Complexity can cause that hourly rate to add up, though.

The “contingency” fee, though, may be the best way to go for any client, as this is the fee that is paid only after is won by the attorney. And it’s typically for settlement and lawsuit cases. Whatever the client wins, a percentage – the “contingency” fee – is taken out for the lawyer’s payment. In other words, the lawyer doesn’t paid unless you, the client, do.

All of this stuff, the client may know in that one little hour of a consultation. That speaks miles of knowledge in getting to a decision about which lawyer to pick.

So what’s the next step?

See the Attorneys in Action

This means visit the court room. Find out scheduling for certain hearings with other clients that the lawyers on your shortlist are taking. Show up and sit in the back; watch the lawyers work.

You won’t even believe the kind of understanding and feel you’ll get for seeing a lawyer doing his or her job right then and there. You’ll see how the opposing attorney reacts. You’ll see how witnesses react. And even better – you’ll see how the judges react.

This falls in line with probably the most important part of picking the right attorney for your case – find out if the lawyer has experience in the court room. ‘Trial’ lawyers are gold. Find them, and your case will be as well. They’re the cream of the crop.

And last but not least….

Make the Choice

By this time, a client would’ve solidified a shortlist down to two, maybe three candidates. From there, utilizing all the information a client picked up, a choice must be made.

In considering the options carefully – rates, experience, likeability – once the choice is made, that’s it. There’s only moving forward. No backward.

Because in the case of a, well, court case, the only way to go is forward. So best be sure to have the right Austin Texas attorney on your side to help keep you going that direction.

This is where it all begins. Your final choice. You have the tools, the information, everything to make that well-informed decision. The rest will be up to you.