Guide to Finding Memphis Lawyer

Memphis, Tennessee is the largest city in Tennessee with a metropolitan area that reaches into three states and contains more than a million people. With so many residents, a large population of legal professions is necessary to ensure that all of Memphis‘s citizens get the justice to which they are entitled. Unfortunately, such a robust legal landscape means that Memphians can have difficulty locating the right Memphis lawyer to handle their legal needs. Thankfully, a little research pays off big time. Knowing what you’re looking for and the proper channels to look for it make finding a good Memphis lawyer a much less taxing ordeal.

What Do Memphis Lawyers Do?

In order to pass the bar exam qualifying them to practice law in the state of Tennessee, Memphis lawyers must be trained in a wide range of topics. In general, most lawyers practice within a specific branch of law. Of these, the main ones to know are:

• Criminal law, in which private individuals are accused by the state of committing a crime harming society.

• Tort law, in which private entities (not necessarily individuals) raise complaints against other entities for less serious crimes.

• Family law, in which court cases concerning family relationships such as divorce or child custody are tried.

• Administrative law, in which Memphis lawyers represent private entities as they fight against government regulatory bodies.

Is Your Memphis Lawyer a Specialist? Though all Memphis lawyers have a general education in law and are qualified to try all types of legal cases, the State Bar of Memphis recognizes some individuals as having special mastery of particular fields of law. These individuals are awarded with certifications as specialists. There are fourteen categories of specialists in Memphis. If any of this areas pertains to your case, you should seek out a Memphis lawyer with that specialization to ensure you will get capable representation.

Tennessee recognizes specializations in the following categories:

• Accounting Malpractice

• Business Bankruptcy

• Civil Trial

• Consumer Bankruptcy

• Creditor Rights

• Criminal Trial

• DUI Defense

• Elder Law

• Estate Planning

• Family Law

• Juvenile Law - Child Welfare

• Legal Malpractice

• Medical Malpractice

• Social Security Disability

The Memphis Bar Association

The Memphis Bar Association is a professional group for lawyers in the Memphis area that assists them with job placement, networking and training. However, the Memphis Bar Association also offers some services to the public. Look into these resources, as they can be a great help when obtaining or dealing with Memphis lawyers.

• Membership directory: This allows you to search for attorneys who are members of the Memphis Bar Association. Sort results according to the Memphis lawyer’s zip code or their area of practice. Since Bar Associations have strict ethics requirements for their members, finding an attorney who is a member of the Memphis Bar may be in your best interest.

• Mediator directory: Sometimes you have a dispute but you’re not ready to take it to an open court. For legal solutions outside of the courtroom, you may want a mediation, which is a formal conflict resolution supervised by trained professionals. Just as it keeps a directory of Memphis lawyers, the Memphis Bar Association also has a directory of Memphis mediators available for public use.

• Pro Bono Legal Assistance: For Memphis residents in need, Memphis lawyers are available at reduced rates to deal with government forms, applications, lawsuits and criminal charges. There are two pro bono agencies in the Memphis area: Memphis Area Legal Services and Community Legal Center.

Legal Referral Services

Resources for potential clients of Memphis lawyers are also available through the Tennessee Bar Association, and the most important of these is potentially their legal referral service. The work of a referral service begins when a client calls a number and is interviewed by a trained specialist about what they want in a lawyer, what they ability to pay is, and where they live. The specialist then links the client to a lawyer in their area who can meet their needs. The lawyer and client will then meet for a consultation for a nominal fee instead of the Memphis lawyer’s usual hourly rate. Since Memphis lawyers found though a referral service are pre-selected, you have less to worry about as their client. Read more about the referral services of the Tennessee Bar Association. Paying Your Memphis Lawyer

Just as there are many types of Memphis lawyers to meet the needs of citizens, Memphis lawyers can use a variety of payment plans in order to best fit their many varies services. Hourly fee plans are popular for complicated legal procedures where the Memphis lawyer may not know how much time they will have to dedicate to their client, while flat fees are more common when the Memphis lawyer is confident how long a task will task. In personal injury lawsuits, contingency plans are common in which the client only pays the Memphis lawyer if their lawsuit is a success, in which case the client will give a percentage of damages award to their lawyer.

Additional fees may be incurred as well. Some Memphis lawyers will charge a retainer fee before beginning their services, especially if they are otherwise charging via a contingency plan or at an hourly rate. Auxiliary costs can include fees for paralegals or legal researchers or extra costs for document and contract drafting.

If you enter into a dispute with your Memphis lawyer over the costs of their services and this dispute cannot be solved on your own, the Memphis Bar Association may be able to help. Contact Charlotte Gean at ckgean@memphisbar.org to find out more about fee dispute resolution.

Reporting Your Memphis Lawyer for an Ethics Violation

Your Memphis lawyer is under a legal obligation to represent you fairly and to the best of their abilities. If you believe that they have been negligent in their representation, your Memphis lawyer may be committing an ethics violation. Call the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee at (800) 486-5714 to launch an investigation into your Memphis lawyer’s conduct.