How to find a good solicitor
I wrote a little bit about what problems some lawyers cause and why, in my experience, it is often better to have no solicitor that the one that I was able to find. It is absurd situation that should not be possible in democracy with free market as specialist should be able to do task more efficiently.
I know how to fix the problem (or at least what I can do), but it will require a lot of resources (that I do not have). Let look at the solution and what is possible to do, while I am working on it. There is a lot of experience and knowledge that I gained since then. I wish someone told me about it earlier.
Specialization
Depending on what services you want the way to look for a solicitor will differ. Because of my experience and the significance of impact I will mostly focus on few areas of law (areas are grouped by the criteria provided by La Society of NSW).
- Personal Injury Law - Motor Vehicle Injuries - Plaintiff
- Litigation - Professional Negligence - Legal
- Miscellaneous - Solicitors Costs Disputes
However, this does not mean that this guide is not useful in finding lawyer in other area of law. Just main data is about the ones mentioned above.
Ways to look for solicitor
This is conclusion that I come after 9 years dealing with personal injury claim and misconduct of my lawyers. I contacted probably about 50 law firms and organizations. So, this is a list of my preferred methods to find and compare solicitors.
- Data driven
- Recommendations
- Local area
- Law Society database
- Internet search
Data driven
Reliable data
There were some criteria that is easy to calculate, but gives very good indication of how good solicitor is. For personal injury compensation claims there were two main factors the compensation you got and the fees solicitor charge. There were many other criteria, but these were a bit more difficult to express in numbers. L
Less reliable data
Recommendations
Local area
Law Society database
You can get list of solicitors in your area and practicing particular law by using law society solicitor referral service. They do not provide any ranking.
Internet search
Ways to check solicitor
- Reviews
- Past and present cases
Reviews
Most of solicitors have some sort of web site but does not provide any reliable information about the quality of work or potential problems. Same can be said about recommendations on sites like google maps.
Past and present cases
You can have a look at the court cases they have been involved in and the results they got. If your solicitor claims to have more than 10 years of experience, but have not been in court even single time, I found it as a clear indication that he is blushing your and will push for a settlement at any cost. Determinations from court cases are public.
- Personal Injury Commission provides information where you can find their decisions.
- New South Wales Caselaw - decisions for all courts and Tribunals
- Australasian Legal Information Institute
- Supreme Court of New South Wales Court of Appeal
- Check list of upcoming court cases in online court registry. Maybe you can see the solicitor in action.