Legal ease: select a lawyer that fits your needs and personality.

• Position: How-To GUIDE

Selecting a lawyer is a difficult proposition because there are so many gradations of experience, service and expertise among lawyers for a given transaction, project or case. Starting at the beginning, be sure your lawyer is licensed to practice in the state of Utah. Beyond that, here are a few areas to consider when selecting your legal expert.

Specialties

There are only two specialties for which lawyers must pass a nationally recognized exam that certifies them as specialists in these fields (patent law and maritime law). Otherwise, a lawyer can seek to "specialize" by limiting his or her practice to particular fields of interest. Thus, a lawyer may concentrate in one or more areas such as real estate law, business law, estates and trusts, insurance law, personal injury, commercial litigation, governmental law or family law. Each of these fields may have added sub-specialties.

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Although there are referral services available, many of these are paid for by the lawyers who wish to participate.

One of the best ways to choose a lawyer is by a referral from another client who has used this lawyer for legal services, or even a referral from another lawyer you know and trust. Ask several lawyers and other's who the best is for a particular practice area, and if the same name keeps coming up, chances are he or she is among the best.

Qualifications and Reputation

It is a good idea to learn about a lawyer's education, experience and other qualifications, just as you would with any professional whose service you are considering using. A lawyer's website should be helpful for this information, as well as for the lawyer's areas of practice. Be assertive about asking several lawyers who you are considering hiring details about their prior experience and even what their preliminary impressions might be about your transaction or case. (Be sure first to clarify that you will not be billed for this "interview" time.)

Lawyers in a particular practice area are usually aware of the other lawyers' reputations, but they may or may not be willing to share that information. Cheek the Utah State Bar Association for outstanding disciplinary actions against a lawyer. Although some disciplinary actions are kept secret, others are made public. The level of severity...