Five Easy Steps Towards Finding Lawyers For Child Custody

Although a good lawyer must have a high standard of legal technical ability it is equally important they are customer care savvy. Depending on the type of legal advice or assistance that you require, you would expect your lawyer to be well informed as to the state of affairs surrounding your case. For example you would expect a business lawyer to have a strong commercial awareness and a property lawyer to have an understanding of mortgage lender requirements. Legal advice does not exist in a vacuum and it is because of this that good lawyers are identifiable by their customer care skills.

Key Skills A good lawyer should exercise the following key customer care skills when taking on a case Listening and understanding. As basic as this sounds, lawyers must listen to their client and acknowledge all the particulars of the case before trying to distinguish the important facts. The client should feel that they have been able to give their opinion on the matter, and discuss what they would like to achieve. The lawyer should then repeat the facts of the case back to the client so make sure that they have a complete understanding of their aims, this should be done before offering any advice.

– Plain English

Any advice provided should be explained to the client in plain English without the use of complex terminology. A good lawyer should be articulate in a manner, which allows him/her to explain complex legal issues in layman terms.

– Communication and reporting

Decent lawyers should ask their clients what their preferred method of general and emergency correspondence is; ie do they want to be phoned or are they more accessible via email? Once this has been agreed, the lawyer should make sure that they keep the client up-to-date on any developments, letting them know what is going on and taking any new instructions. If you feel like you do not have a grasp of what is happening in your own case, then this is a sign of bad client care.

Non-legal advice

It is not always the case that a lawyer should provide legal recourse to a problem. A good lawyer should have common sense and thus will be able to provide non-legal advice where necessary, even if this means not retaining the client.

Assignment

If a lawyer’s technical expertise does not cover an area of your case, they are under a responsibility to ensure that the matter is transferred across to another team or individual more knowledgeable on the matter. If the case does get passed to another lawyer, the original lawyer should also inform him/her of all of the facts of the case (which incidentally should be documented in the file), this should prevent the client from having to recite their whole case again.

Billing

It is common occurrence that a fixed fee is given for a legal service yet unforeseen costs arise causing the final bill to be larger than what was agreed. Due to this, good lawyers should inform their client before encountering these additional charges and ask permission to proceed. Alternatively the lawyers can agree an overflow budget with the client, which will be reserved to cover such costs.

Years ago my wife and I decided it would be best for us to separate so that we could live life more happily. What I did not know was that she was planning on taking my children completely away from me. When I learned of this unfortunate dilemma, I was lost with no idea where to begin. I knew that I needed a lawyer, but how could I find a lawyer, especially one that I would have to trust with the future of my children at stake?

Fortunately, I ended up picking the perfect lawyer for my case and ended up with a sole custody arrangement. I followed some simple steps when it came time to pick a lawyer, and I will lay them out for you here so that any parent finding themselves in the midst of a child custody battle will not have to worry about the most important step, finding a lawyer.

Step 1: The first step in finding the right child custody lawyer is to look in your local yellow pages for law firms in the area that specialize in child custody. It is very important to find a lawyer that specializes in child custody because these types of cases are very specific. For a very specific case you need a very specific lawyer. Never forget that the future of your children is on the line, so keep on your toes at all times.

Step 2: After looking in the yellow pages for child custody specific lawyers go to your local family court and ask around for suggestions. It is a very good idea to pick a lawyer that has fought cases in the same court room as your case will be held because the judge will most likely have a small relationship with your lawyer. Child custody battles are different than any other type of litigation because they pull much more of an emotional response from the judge. Having a lawyer who is on the side of the judge can have a substantial difference in the end result of your custody battle.

Step 3: After you feel that you have collected a solid list of lawyers, approximately 5-10, then you are ready to begin setting up meetings. Before you set up your meeting make sure to sit down for twenty minutes and think of all the case specific questions you have for the lawyer. It does not hurt to ask some of these questions before you are actually paying the lawyer. These questions will also give you something to compare the lawyers with.

Step 4: After you have met with all of your candidates and asked the questions you wrote down from step 4, its time to make the final selection. Your budget is also important in this decision, but make sure that you feel comfortable with your choice because they are altering your future. Good lawyers usually win their cases, so this decision is crucial.

Step 5: Now that you have chosen your lawyer, you are well on your way towards winning your child custody battle. Make sure that you tell your lawyer everything that you feel will help your case. He will also need to know the things that might hurt your case. The more your lawyer knows, the more your lawyer can be prepared for. You do not want to have your significant other blind side your lawyer in the court room because the judge will frown upon this.

Now that you have picked your lawyer you are halfway through winning the custody of your children. Remember, your children are your future and fighting for them is well worth the effort. You need to be in your child’s life, so follow these easy steps above and you will have a competitive advantage over your spouse or significant other.