Finding an attorney?

[overthedebt]

I don't know where to start.. there are so many! Should I just go by years of experience? I'm new to the area I currently live so I'm doing this rather blindly.. thanks!

[HHM]

Years experience is actually misleading. It really depends on the needs of your case. An attorney with 5 years of doing nothing but the most complex cases is FAR MORE experienced than a 20 year attorney at a bankruptcy mill doing nothing but simple cases.

Check the BBB, Explore the Website of each firm, go see a few attorneys, that way you can get a sense of what is available.

[helpme2010]

My girlfriend and I interviewed 3 attorneys before choosing one. Always ask for a free consultation, go in and meet with the attorney and bring questions.

We chose our attorney because he knew more about how the system worked than the others and was able to make a recommendation for her to discontinue payments on a computer. He told us, they will not come after the computer and if they do, demand that they send a pre-paid shipping box or a messenger to pick up the computer, otherwise we could keep it. He was right, they didn't come after the computer (you know they wrote it off on their books). We chose this attorney I believe 5 years ago.

I went back to this same attorney for my bk. I also like that he answers or returns my phone calls right away and answers my emails right away.

I recommend asking anyone you know that has been through bk, who they used and what their experience with the attorney was.

[BKlooker]

Read/Search around this form a little bit, too. You will likely see some other active people on her from your area (or at least your state). There may also be a group on here for your jurisdiction as well. You could private message some of those members and ask if they had a good attorney to recommend.

Definitly do your homework and DON'T be afraid to hope around a few lawyers til you find 1 you are comfortable with, as that is quite normal, as you will read here. I was lucky and (seem to) have a good lawyer on the first try, but i did a lot of online searching before hand and found this form to be rather highly rated, and the credentials were good...1 had been a trustee before, and another had owned a mortgage brokerage, and the who firm specialized in a variety of debt management, including BK, foreclosures, deed in lieu, debt settlement, short sales, etc.

You will know when you have found a good one...they are attentive, answer all your questions, are polite, and responsive overall. Also, don't go by price as far as trying for a cheap one. Mine was on the pricier side, but it's been more than worth it! Cheap can indicate inexperienced and/or BK mills, so likely avoid.

[tcreegan]

Hi overthedebt,

From reading the forum, the most common complaints about attorneys seem to be...

1) communication; email/phone/in person; talk to secretary/paralegal/attorney; turnaround time on responses

2) organization/work ethic; dot all the i's, cross all the t's or 'good enough'; file documents ASAP, or later, have plenty of time,

3) tie between competence and exactly what is covered in the retainer. For competence, see HMHs post. Before you start, get details on what will be done for the $$ fee, and what will cost extra.

Good luck, and remember the old saying, "you have to kiss a lot of frogs...."

Tom in Colo

[wonderingrov]

One thing that helped me was doing research on various consumer websites and sites where people could register complaints. If you have a lawyer you are seriously looking at, you can do a google search something like "complaints for [name of lawyer here]." I actually eliminated two lawyers right off the bat because of some of the complaints I saw on websites. Granted, I'm sure there are some times where the expectation of the client is high, or it may just be someone trying to be mean. If you see a scenario where there are many complaints about a lawyer and there are very few (or no) decent reviews out there, then it may very well be an indicator that you don't want that lawyer.

[BROKEDED]

We have not filed yet but have retained an attorney. We met with three attorneys, all free consultations. There's just too many attorney's out there for me to have to pay one to find out I don't like them. You may want to Google "bankruptcy attorneys" with your "city" and "state" for starters. The first attorney we met with was at a very nice firm with a price that fit the decor. The attorney and the staff seemed equally knowledgeable. To me that was very important. In my limited experience with attorneys, the paralegal does alot of the grunt work. They are the surgical nurse handing the surgeon the right instruments and keeping an eye on the patients vitals for signs of problems. Knowing that this person is organized and knows the game is important. You can hire the best attorney in the world but if their support staff sucks, you will suffer the consequences. This particular attorney became our "backup" attorney if we couldn't find one less expensive that we felt equally confortable with.

The second attorney was also very knowlegeable and was even more patient with my questions and concerns but when we discussed some of our goals that weren't particularly a straightforward CH7, they seemed a little indifferent. We were actually leaning towards this one until I had to make some calls to them. The front desk clerk just seemed daft and had the memory of a knat. Returned calls would take at least a couple days from the paralegal as well.

Finally, our third attorney seemed very comfortable with our case and what we wanted to do. There were a few things that he seemed dismissive about but it was clear that he would do what we asked of him. The clincher though was that his paralegal was very thorough with us, very patient explaining pros and cons of scenario type questions and made us feel very assured that she knew what she was doing. She would also take my calls when I called or would return them soon thereafter. The bonus was that they were 5 to 10 miles closer than the other two. We chose this attorney.

One other thing to note is that all three of these attorneys included the court filing fees and the credit counseling fees in their prices. Ask for a price list or have them write down their fees for anything outside of a straight CH7 or CH13 as well.

Also, wonderingrov makes a good point of searching for bad experiences or reviews of attorneys. You can google martindale hubbell to search for an attorney or firm in your area and some will show peer reviews as well.

[StEt0417]

I think its best to go with an attorney you feel comfortable with. Before we decided to go with BK we had a foreclouser attorney, who never met with us we only had a phone conference, the office was a mess to deal with.

the BK attorney we chose is new. We havent filed yet but paid a deposit. he hasn't had many cases but we felt the most comfortable with. It was like talking to a real person, since he isnt a big practice I always can reach him right away, hes very accommodating our our late night appointments. very informative of the process.

We met with a couple other BK attorneys who had years and years of experience but it was like they worked in a mill, they all repeated the same typical "lawyer talk" We felt as though we where another number to add to their case load, Some of them I felt even though they did lots of cases they werent really that experience we had one say they had to look up statutes because its been sometime. They talked to us like we where a piece of crap.

Dont be afraid to keep looking until you find one. After our bad experience with one, I would def recommend doing your homework

[overthedebt]

THANK YOU! You have all been so helpful!

[researchnerd]

I went back to this same attorney for my bk. I also like that he answers or returns my phone calls right away and answers my emails right away.

This is incredibly, unbelievably important. Bankruptcy is a stressful process, and if you get stuck with an attorney who takes a week to get back to you, it's going to be even more stressful. That is the voice of experience you're hearing. After we selected our attorney, I blogged about the things I wish I'd done beforehand: How to Find The Right Bankruptcy Attorney

Good luck with your search!