Vet Your Lawyer

Traditionally, clients are looking for, and attorneys market themselves as having, certain competencies. Beyond that, clients are often concerned about cost. But there can be more to choosing a lawyer than just cost or competence, at least for some people. If Joe costs $400/hr, Sam costs $450, and they seem to be equally competent, why would anyone consider Sam? Maybe because Sam has other values which are more in tune with those of the client, values only you can articulate and define. By way of example, some of these values might be:

Green

This does not mean that the firm practices environmental law, or that the client has a case with environmental issues. It only means that the client may hold reducing our carbon footprint to be such a high value that she wants a law firm that has green internal policies like recycling, e-filing to reduce the use of paper, carpooling for employees, and so forth.

Diverse

The client may value a law firm that has a diverse workforce. Sometimes this is an absolute value, with others it may be a strategic decision, e.g., the jury pool is likely to be dominated by a certain ethnic group.

Religion

You may just want a lawyer you can pray with.

The list is potentially endless, but if these things are important to you, then we should talk about it.