Locating a Lawyer

OK, I have convinced you that you and your spouse are in need of these basic planning techniques and legal documents and that a lawyer should prepare them for you.  How do you find a competent lawyer who has experience with these matters?  If I was a person inexperienced with lawyers, I think I would proceed along the following lines.  I would first start by looking up "Attorneys" in the Yellow Pages of my local phone book.  There I would see all kinds of lawyers listed, and may focus on some in my immediate town who would be more convenient for me to see.

However, the phone book gives me only the name, address and phone number of the attorney (and maybe ads that may or may not be accurate).  How would I verify that the attorney is competent?  Many public libraries contain a set of books called the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.  This set of books will be broken down on a state-by-state basis.  Within the Martindale-Hubbell Directory for your state, the listings are further broken down city by city.  In that listing you will see all of the attorneys practicing in that particular city.

Additionally, the Directory frequently provides much more detailed information on the attorney.  For example, the attorney's area of practice is specifically described as well as awards and associations that that attorney has received or made.  Any academic articles that the attorney has authored will also be noted.  Lastly, and very significantly, many (not all) of the attorneys will have a Martindale-Hubbell rating.  The AV and BV ratings are indicative of higher rated, generally more competent (but probably slightly more expensive) attorneys.  A Web-based version of the Martindale-Hubbell Directory is also available online (go to my Web site, click on Legal Protections, then Locating a Lawyer).

Just as state societies of CPA's provide CPA referral services (see my discussion of this on page 47), state and county bar associations frequently provide lawyer referral services.  The more urban the county that you live in, the more likely it will be that the county bar association provides such a referral service.  For example, I live in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (the Greater Cleveland area).  The Cleveland Bar Association has an attorney referral service by legal specialty.  State bar associations (always located in the capital of the state) frequently provide similar referral services.