Guide to Finding Clearwater Lawyer

Clearwater is one of Florida’s key population centers. A top-twenty Florida city in terms of population when considered on its own, it rises quickly in popularity when couple with the two other cities in the so-called Tampa Bay metropolitan area which have a combined population of over four million. Many of those people are legal professionals, making Clearwater legal culture rich and diverse. But how does one find a Clearwater lawyer in such a burgeoning metropolis, and how can one be sure that their Clearwater lawyer is good?

Tips for Finding Excellent Clearwater Lawyers

It’s no secret that Clearwater lawyers aren’t hard to find. Just look in the phone book under “Law,” and you can see a whole list of them. But surely there must be more professional ways to find the best Clearwater lawyer for your specific needs, ways that are both safer and more efficient than blind-dialing. Here are a few tips to find the best Clearwater lawyers for you:

1. Couple found lawyers with heavy research: There’s nothing wrong with finding a Clearwater lawyer by looking in the phone book or hitting “I’’m Feeling Lucky” on Google. That said, by doing so you run the risk of connecting with a non-professional or wasting your time with someone inexperienced with your area of legal concern. Before you call a Clearwater lawyer near you and make a potentially expensive consultation appointment, research them on search engines and look for their practice’s website, online reviews and stories about them from local newspapers. Find out what they are known for before you ask them to help you.

2. Look for personal recommendations: The bottom line for you is still to not waste your time, and one of the best ways to ensure that you’ll connect to a competent Clearwater lawyer who can help you is getting a personal recommendation. If a Clearwater lawyer helped your Uncle Jim get off a DUI charge, or if one helped Laura in accounting sue her corrupt contractor, then that same Clearwater lawyer may be able to do the same for you.

3. Go to referral services when personal recommendations are scarce: Sometimes we have particular legal needs that no one we know has had; sometimes we simply don’t want to talk about our legal issues with coworkers or family. If that’s the case, you can still benefit from a recommendation. Just use a lawyer referral service, where trained experts recommend a Clearwater lawyer for you based on the specific needs of your case. For a small fee, you’ll get an over-the-phone recommendation and then a free consultation with a Clearwater lawyer. All the Clearwater lawyers are pre-screened, so it’s a safe bet. The Hillsborough County Bar Association runs a referral service that can be reached at (813) 221-7780. The Florida Bar also runs a referral service that can be called at (800) 342-8011.

4. Pay attention to ads, but be careful: Believe it or not, advertisements for Clearwater lawyers can be incredibly helpful because successful firms can pay for advertisements. You just have to be sure to treat ads with the same skepticism that you’d treat a directory listing. Research to see what the Clearwater lawyers in question are known for and if there has been any negative press afforded them.

Clearwater Lawyers and Specializations

The barriers to becoming a Clearwater lawyer are high. One must pass an extremely difficult multi-day bar examination in all areas of the law, which can only be done after completing three years of specialized graduate training. Anyone who completes these tasks and is a member in good standing of the Florida Bar Association is licensed to practice any type of law they choose.


However, approximately 7% of Clearwater lawyers choose to go an extra step and get a specialization in their particular areas of legal expertise. Specializations in Florida require five years experience, additional education, additional examination and a peer review. Remember that specializations aren’t required for any attorneys, but the stringent requirements for them serve as good indicators of an attorney’s abilities.


Here is a complete list of the areas of specialization a Clearwater lawyer may hold:

• Admiralty and maritime law

• Adoption law

• Antitrust and trade regulation law

• Appellate practice

• Aviation law

• Business litigation

• City, county & local government law

• Civil trial

• Construction law

• Criminal appellate

• Criminal trial

• Education law

• Elder law

• Health law

• Immigration & nationality

• Intellectual property law

• International law

• Labor & employment law

• Marital & family law

• Real estate

• State & federal government & administrative practice

• Tax law

• Wills, trusts & estates

• Workers’ compensation

What to Do After the First Consultation

Let us assume you’ve gone to your first consultation with a Clearwater lawyer and were suitably impressed by their demeanor and their attitude toward your case. Don’t be too quick to hire them yet. Here’s a list of a few important things to do before you sign any contracts and make yourself their client.

1. Search for them in the Florida Bar Association website. The Florida Bar Association keeps a directory of all its member and former member lawyers online. Put in the name of the Clearwater lawyer you are considering hiring and see if they’re licensed to practice, if they have special certification, and where they went to school. If any of this is inconsistent with what you were told during your consultation, don’t hire them.

2. Confirm that your Clearwater lawyer has malpractice insurance. This will pay off any former client who successfully sues a Clearwater lawyer for malpractice. It’s good for both the literal insurance it lends you, and the figurative insurance, since having malpractice insurance is a sign that a Clearwater lawyer is legitimate.

3. Decide if they’re best attorney for you. A lot of tough calls have to be made before any particular Clearwater lawyer can be settled on as the best Clearwater lawyer for your needs. Mainly you’ll have to compare different desires and see who wins out. One candidate may have more available hours to meet with you and work on your case, while another may charge cheaper rates. One may have more experience, while another may be able to speak Spanish with you. Decide what is most important for your new Clearwater lawyer to be able to do, and select the Clearwater lawyer who can best do that.