SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE HIRING A LAWYER

When lawyers who you have selected call or e-mail you, LawyerOwl.com strongly encourages you to ask them questions, and to do as much checking into their background or credentials as you believe necessary, before you decide to hire them.

Lawyers are licensed by individual States. A lawyer can be licensed to practice law in one State but not another. The States in which a Lawyer says he or she is licensed should appear in their entry on your Personalize List. You might wish to consider asking the Lawyers to confirm for you what States they are licensed in when you speak to them.

You should also consider asking each Lawyer whether he or she has a State Bar Identification Number(s). Depending on the State, this may instead be called a State Court Identification Number, or an Attorney Licensing Number, or something similar. If the lawyer says that he or she does not have such a number, you may want to ask them to tell you how you can verify that they are a properly licensed attorney "in good standing" (which generally means that they have not had their license to practice law suspended or revoked).

You might also consider asking the lawyer to give you the telephone number and/or the web site address of the State Bar or State Court where they are licensed, so that you can use his or her Identification Number to verify for yourself whether that lawyer is properly licensed and in good standing. In some States, you may be able to look up a lawyer right on the State Bar or State Court's official website.

Sometimes lawyers can do work in States where they are not licensed. For example, a trial lawyer licensed in another State may be able to ask a court in your State for permission to appear as your lawyer in your specific lawsuit only (this is commonly referred to as a "pro hac vice" motion). Likewise, some States may allow out-of-state lawyers to negotiate a contract or do corporate work for you. If you like a lawyer who is not licensed in the State you need, you might still wish to consider sending him or her an Invitation to contact you anyway. If you do, you should consider asking that lawyer if he or she will be able to do the work you need in the State where you need it done.

These are only a very few sample questions you might want to ask. You should ask each lawyer as many questions and do as much checking or research as you want to until, in your own independent judgment, you feel comfortable hiring that lawyer.

LawyerOwl.com does not independently review the lawyers listed on this web site or the information that they provide in their Lawyer Profiles.