I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five. — Steven Wright

You need legal help, and you are resolved to go looking for a good divorce lawyer. You don’t know anyone who knows anyone, so you’re left to your own resources. You are not sure what you’re in for or whether you can afford it, and the last thing you want is to end up saddled with someone who can’t help you or doesn’t care, and there goes the retainer money. Lawyers are as common as grains of sand at the beach, and at first glance they all look pretty much the same. How do you choose a good divorce attorney in Pennsylvania? (Well, other than by calling me at my Pittsburgh family law office, that is.)

Why hire a lawyer at all?
Could you handle your own case and keep the money you would have paid? Maybe. Maybe not. People hire lawyers for the same reason that you would hire a roofer when you discover a leak. Technically, there is nothing stopping you from climbing the ladder yourself with a handful of shingles and a box of nails, but most people would rather get help from the person who knows the job and has been doing it for years. Case preparation begins long before you see the inside of a courtroom, and a skilled lawyer can do much more than marshal evidence and stand tall for you in front of the judge; he can offer you not only options you might otherwise have missed, but also ongoing guidance to help you maximize the potential of your situation from the very beginning. A lawyer also has no emotional involvement in your situation, guaranteeing a cool, objective and educated head in your corner at all times.

Throw away your Yellow Pages.
You probably already figured this one out for yourself. For all the money that people still spend on print advertising, it seems to me that overall it is a dead advertising form. An eye-catching ad is no longer enough, whether you are looking for a lawyer or a used car. People want to know more about a lawyer than that he can afford the cost of a print advertisement.

Do your research.
When you look for a used car, you want to know about not just the model, but also the individual vehicle: its mileage, its condition, and its repair history. You want to get behind the wheel and learn something about how it handles on the road during ordinary conditions, and to get an idea of how responsive it will be when things get dicey. You certainly don’t want to be left broken down on the roadside! Since a lawyer’s services can cost you anything from a few hundred dollars (for a simple matter) to the cost of that used car (if your case becomes very contentious), shouldn’t you be just as thorough before you buy?

Word of mouth.
If you don’t already know a good Pennsylvania family law attorney, there is no substitute for a personal referral to a lawyer. You’re off to an excellent start if someone can tell you, “Attorney __________ handled my divorce and child custody case, and he won’t steer you wrong.” Talk to the lawyer yourself and make your own evaluation, of course, but in a field where the professional license carried by the best lawyer in town is just the same as the license carried by the worst, there is nothing like a good recommendation from a dependable source to get you started on the right path. Even if you don’t know someone who knows someone… maybe you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. These days, asking around can be as simple as posting a Facebook status. Meanwhile…

Source: spousealouse.wordpress.com