Guide to Finding Tampa Florida Lawyer

The Best Tampa Florida Lawyer

For the purposes of this article, if you’re an individual living in Tampa Florida and you’re dealing with some sort of dispute, criminal charge, or lawsuit, there’s one important thing you must do: you hire the best Tampa Florida lawyer for your buck. There’s no way around it.

Why? Because a dispute, charge, or lawsuit going against you will have horrible repercussions. It could mean a major loss of money, jail time, or even the loss of a job. And all the money in the world won’t add up to any of that. Make no mistake: no client would want to risk losing a case, on either end. And that would apply to any part of the legal field.

So How Does a Client Find the Best Tampa Florida Lawyer?

That’s easy. You research. You research hard. I make it sound simple, though, because it really should be. Unfortunately, finding the best possible Tampa Florida lawyer, can be quite the lengthy period of time.

If a client was smart, the research going into finding the right attorney can equal that of the research done for a term paper in college. The difference is that client’s not vying for an “A” grade; rather, the client’s simply trying to protect his or her interests. And when it comes to the legal field, when it comes to life in general – when an individual’s interests are being threatened or put up for grabs one way or another – that individual will do whatever it takes to find the best of the best.

These are the steps to finding the very best Tampa Florida lawyer:

• Use All Your Research Resources: Phone Book, Internet, Friends, Family

• Schedule All Free Consultations and Ask as Many Questions as Possible

• No Matter How Confident You May Be About Your Case, Do Not Hesitate to Hire the Lawyer Right Away

And there you have it: looks simple? Don’t be fooled. A client will go through a painstaking process with each of these steps. But a client can look at this way: the more work a client puts in to finding the right Tampa Florida lawyer, the more that lawyer’s going to work to win that case.

That should be convincing enough. No worries, though: if you’re a client reading this, follow the next set of words for some in-depth info on what you would need to do to finish these steps and land yourself the best Tampa Florida lawyer for your buck.

How to Research for the Right Attorney

Truthfully, Tampa Florida lawyers – in fact, lawyers everywhere – are like produce. You’ll find a ton of them, but some of them can be pretty rotten. Finding the right ones takes the right kind of research.

Don’t just look for a few numbers in the phone book and say you’re done. A client’s going to want to use all the resources available to find a good selection of Tampa Florida lawyers from which to choose.

Know that it’s all about apples and oranges. Which kind of fruit do you want? Simply look through the ads in the phone book and find the listings of Tampa Florida lawyers that have the basic info – like a name, phone number, e-mail, maybe even a web site URL, and definitely a physical address.

You don’t want the ads that sound like they’re selling you. In fact, legal ethics state that a lawyer can’t even advertise his or her track record as a means to obtaining new clientele. So stay away from the salesperson posing as a good lawyer. That prospect may have a law degree; but the experience hasn’t hit the ballpark at all, much less the produce aisle.

When you’re done with the phone book, you should have at least five listings of decent Tampa Florida lawyers. But if you don’t (and chances are you won’t), you turn to the internet – to friends and family – anywhere and everywhere. Ask around. Exhaust yourself to the point that you can’t go any farther.

The good thing about the internet is you have a wealth of information as far as reviews, testimonials, and even articles on any Tampa Florida lawyers you may find. They’re priceless in determining even whether or not some of the attorneys will stay on your shortlist.

Most notably, friends and family can give a client a little inside info on some of the best attorneys, especially if any given attorney is not only experienced, but inside the family. Can you say ‘family discount’?

When it’s all said and done, a client should be pretty confident about the list of Tampa Florida lawyers. Confident enough to proceed to the next step:

No Question Is Stupid

A client should remember this when sitting during a free consultation. What’s a ‘free consultation’? That’s what a client needs when contacting any lawyer. It’s a meeting, or appointment, to discuss the case.

Now the important thing here is to not just get the skinny on some practical information on the lawyer and to even see if the lawyer’s able to take the case.

No, a smart client’s going to want to ask as many questions as possible, no matter how stupid the questions may be. Some common ones are:

• How many years of experience do you have?

• What kind of case do you normally take?

• What kind of cases have you tried in court?

• How many times have you been in court?

• Where did you graduate from high school?

• What kind of clients do you represent?

• How many clients do you represent currently?

• Do you know any other lawyers in the area?

• What are your rates?

• What KIND of rates do you charge?

• Do you have any other fees I need to know about?

You could literally go on and on with the questions. But trust me – an experienced lawyer’s not going to care about how many questions you ask.

Getting the answers to as many questions as possible will make a lot of things clear to you: one, you’ll know what you’re dealing with; and two, you may even have a better idea of which lawyer to choose.

And That, of Course, Is the Last Step

The choice. And there’s nothing else more important. Without a doubt, a smart client’s going to want to make the choice – no matter what the rate is, no matter if there are any hefty fees to pay.

Because a client facing a dispute, a charge, or lawsuit of any kind, is going to want the best Tampa Florida lawyer possible. And when the dust settles and the client comes out on top, that client will know that he or she did in fact make the right decision.