Lawyer Ratings (1 Viewer)

[Chu Gai]

is there such a thing for divorce attorneys? Something that has to do with their 'success' or client satisfaction? My sister-in-law, who lives in Brooklyn, is looking for one.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I know you can call the bar assoc & ask for recommendations, but I think they just tell you who specializes in what areas, with no reviews or winning % or anything.

For a divorce I'd consider asking some divorced friends who they used, if you know anyone who recently got divorced in the city.

 

[Chu Gai]

That was my gut feeling too Chris and what I suggested to her. She was curious if there was more. I explained that divorces aren't like winning a judgement, suing someone, and so forth hence are more subjective in nature. In her case, where the kids are grown up and long since moved out of the house, it'll just come up to dividing and apportioning assets more or less. If they're both reasonable, it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Nathan_F]

If they can agree, they should do it themselves. It's possible to write up a separation agreement and file without an attorney at all. At least in Indiana, that is. I'm assuming most states would let you. I imagine it would be all the easier for her without kids complicating things. I actually used a $25 "divorce kit" from Staples, worked with the county clerk of courts to determine the proper forms from the kit, and had no problems at all. My divorce included 2 children, child support, separation of assets including 2 cars, a house, 401(k)s, etc. The important part is being able to agree on the distribution of assets.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Generally bar associations take a very dim view of any kind of numerical ranking of lawyer by "sucess rate".

I'm a member of the Calif. bar. When you take the CA bar exam, if you pass YOU can't even get your numeric score on the bar exam. The reason being that the bar doesn't want you to be bragging about how high a score you got. Putting out some kind of "success rate" in advertising would in all likelihood get you DISBARRED in Calif.

 

[Chu Gai]

So, you can brag or take satisfaction in having done well in all the courses but suddenly in the most important hurdle you must pass before you're ready to wreak havoc on the world, you have no idea how you did? I've known more than my share of lawyers for whom the lack of knowing how well they didn't stop them from bragging.

I did find there is something called the the Martindale-Hubbell ratings system. I kinda like having the means to evaluate lawyers. Knowing things like what percentage of their business they spend on matters that are relevent to me, how they're viewed by their peers, and so forth can be interesting criteria to evaluate.