Guide to Finding Houston Lawyer

What is a Houston Lawyer?

The lawyer is Houston is qualified to practice law and provide legal advice in the state of Texas. In order to become certified and state certified under the Texas Bar, a lawyer must attend and graduate from an accredited law school inside or outside the state, pass the Texas Bar exam, and enroll in Continuing Legal Education (CLE) hours every year. A lawyer may choose to specialize in any type of law, but some types of legal practice are more common to Houston than others.

Where is Houston?

The city of Houston is located in southeastern Texas and ranks as the 4th most populous city in the entire United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the metropolitan area around Houston contained 5.95 million people. The city is growing fast, and for good reasons. Houston ranks second in employment growth within the entire country, and the city has an estimated Gross Area Product (GAP) of about 325.5 billion dollars. The economy is Houston is based on energy, aeronautics, and technology industries, and farming. The city is known as the Energy Capital of the world and is home to more than 5,000 energy related firms.

How can I find a successful lawyer in the city of Houston?

There are numerous resources for finding a lawyer depending on your type of case and the amount of time you have to find a lawyer. If you have time, you should always consider researching different sources in order to find a well known and confident lawyer. Yet, if you are involved in a personal injury case or workers’ compensation case, you should often hire an attorney as soon as possible.

If you have time to search around for a lawyer, you should always consider talking to people you know from various different places. Family, friends, and coworkers are usually reliable sources if they have been involved in a similar case. Additionally, some of the best lawyers often rely on word-of-mouth referrals. Some lawyers find it unprofessional to abundantly advertise their services, and these same lawyers often have strong ties to the community. If you know a coworker, and the person is trustworthy, you should ask them for a referral if they have been involved in a workers’ compensation or personal liability case.

After you’ve asked around and have a couple lawyers in mind, you can sometimes narrow down your search based upon the lawyer’s education. Some schools are more nationally recognized that other schools in Texas and around the Houston area, but great lawyers graduate from smaller schools too. Graduates from larger and more prestigious law programs will often work in larger firms right out of school, but that’s not always the case. You may want to refer to the following list of law schools in the state:

• University of Texas School of Law

• Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law

• Texas Wesleyan University School of Law

• Southern Texas College of Law

• Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law

• University of Houston Law Center

• Texas Tech University School of Law

• St. Mary’s University School of Law

• Baylor Law School

Some of the higher ranked schools listed above are Baylor, the University of Texas, Texas Wesleyan, South Texas College, and Texas Tech.

If you are rushing to find a lawyer, or simply want to find an accredited lawyer part of a specific association, you should consider referencing the Texas State Bar in order to find specific lawyers and specific associations. Some of the lawyer associations around the Houston area include, but are not limited to:

• Houston Bar Association

• HOU Lawyers Association

• HOU Young Lawyers Association

• Hispanic Bar Association of HOU

• Asian American Bar Association (AABA) of HOU

• HOU Trial Lawyers Association

• HOU Intellectual Property Law Association

• Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association

• HOU Northwest Bar Association

Do lawyers need to follow procedures for advertising in Houston?

A lawyer in Houston must follow strict guidelines when advertising their services. The state of Texas has professional standards that reflect those of most other states, but as always, the state has its own unique standards for advertising. Some of these laws have changed in recent years, and it’s important to regard these rules if you’re being contacted by a Houston lawyer. If you believe you are a victim of legal malpractice, you should contact an appropriate attorney immediately. The following advertising laws for lawyers are unique to Houston and TX:

1) Certification- the new advertising laws mandate that a lawyer or firm must be competent and certified in the field of law to even advertise. Old advertising laws within TX let lawyers advertise the phrase “Not Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization” if they mentioned a particular service through a media resource.

2) Disclaimer about Case- the former law stated that an attorney was allowed to state “results depend on the facts of each case.” However, the new law states that an advertisement must provide information regarding the specific case. This law is specifically under Rule 7.02 (a)(2) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

3) Cumulative Results- Under the old law, attorneys were allowed to place cumulative information within an advertisement. Under new law, cumulative results amounts cannot be used in ads without fulfilling the requirements of Rule 7.02(a)(2).

4) Websites- websites must be submitted to the Advertising Review Committee before publication or even updates.

5) Disclaimer-Under former Texas law, disclaimers could be placed at the bottom of the screen in very small print compared to the rest of the advertisement. The new rules under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (TDRPC) state that all disclaimers must be displaced in the same manner as other writing and be easily read and noticeable.