Free Lawyers

The average person may not even know how to begin looking for a good lawyer. There are many source of information with daunting names like the attorney public records or certified lawyer referral service, but once you get the break down of how everything words together it’s pretty simply.

Referrals from business associated and / or family – It sounds like the simplest place to start, but many people may be embarrassed about asking what legal professional a fellow work associate or family member users, but you don’t have to be. With so many lawyers out there it’s likely you can get a personal referral to someone who can help you without even having to do much a search.

Attorney public records – Once you’ve found a lawyer or attorney you’re thinking about suing, you can checked their official bar membership record which will include their address, phone number, discipline history and other marks on their professional reputation. It’s easier now then ever on the Stat Bar’s website. If you see anything that doesn’t check out, you may want to reconsider your choice.

Certified Lawyer referral services – Do a quick search online or in the Yellow Pages and you’ll be sure to find a State Bar certified lawyer referral service. They can steer you in the right direction if you don’t know where else to look.

Certified Legal Specialists – State Bars maintain lists of attorney who are certified specialists in particular areas of law. For example the California state bar certified specialists in appellate law, workers’ comp, tax law, family law, immigration, estate planning, bankruptcy, and criminal law. They may even have this list directly on the state bar’s website.

Free Legal Aid Agencies – Depending on your financial and personal situation there may be an entire number of agencies devoted to giving you free legal advice and basic legal resources. Many law schools also have free clinics available.

Advertisements and Professional Websites – Take a Google search and you’ll see tons of PPC and professional advertisements for lawyers of all types. Just be sure to thoroughly check them out, but you can shop for a lawyer the same way you would a car.

All in all there are many different viable options for you to begin your search. Just be sure not to settle for the first lawyer you find and be sure you get along with the person. Depending on your needs you may be entering into a long term business relationship with them so be sure you get along and can work together.

Lawyers have struggled with advertising for decades now. Advertising can be both expensive and frustrating. One of the most annoying aspects is the difficulty of measuring how effective your advertising is, and thus how to determine if you’re getting your money’s worth. The web offers a wide variety of new advertising opportunities. It also offers the promise of better measurement. You never really know how many people saw your ad on TV, radio or a newspaper. On the web, with the right tools you can know not only how many people came to your website, but a tremendous amount of further detail.

With all that in mind, here are three tips for attorneys about the web:

1. Build at least a minimal web presence in your own name

If you have any prospective clients at all, some of them will look you up on the internet. The best way to control what they see about you is by building your own website in your own name. If your name is Joe Lawyer, see if you can get joelawyer.com, and make sure the page talks about Joe Lawyer. If you have a common name like John Smith, this will be difficult, but you can still make a page about John Smith, Attorney in Topeka, Kansas, and it makes it more likely people will find you if they search for you in your location.

If you don’t do this, prospective clients may find things about you that you don’t want them to see. Some time ago a lawyer contacted me. I looked him up and the first thing I found was a disclipinary proceeding against him in another state. Most of us won’t have that problem, but there still could be pages where people are complaining about you, or simply pages that say very little of use about you. With a good web presence, people who search for you will find what you want them to read about you.

You don’t have to have a 50-page website. At least build a simple page or blog. Google offers free web pages at Google Page Creator, and free blogs are available at Blogger. There are plenty of other choices.

2. Follow the ethical rules

There are a lot of websites out there that don’t follow the ethical rules. You will never make enough money on the web to make up for the consequences of ethics charges against you. Make sure you know your state’s ethical rules regarding attorney web activities, and follow them. This applies not just to your own web presence, but also to anywhere your ads appear.

3. Don’t fall for advertising sales pitches

I get solicited all the time by people who say their websites will generate business for me. At least 90 percent of them are terrible. Many violate the ethical rules. Others get little traffic and will generate very little business. Some make unenforceable guarantees. It is very difficult to know which site will really generate business for you.

There are things you can do to deal with this. First, ask them about how much traffic their websites get. But don’t just take their word for it. Make them show you.

I sell advertising to attorneys on our traffic court website. When I want to show them how much traffic a particular county gets, I run a report from Google Analytics. This shows a tremendous amount of detail. If I can provide that level of detail, they should be able to do so also. The truth is that they can show you that level of detail, and they don’t want to because it will show how little business you will get.

If they refuse to provide that information, offer an alternative — insist on a free month. I provide that as well to attorneys interested in advertising on our site. I do it because I know what I’m offering is worth the money (I’m an advertiser on the site as well), and I know the best way to show someone is by giving them a taste. I’m hoping the advertiser will stay with me for years. The cost to me of providing a free month is negligible.

Think about it. If they won’t provide you with verifiable data, and they won’t give you a free month trial, then it means they don’t really believe in what they’re selling.

By: Warren Redlich

The average person may not even know how to begin looking for a good lawyer. There are many source of information with daunting names like the attorney public records or certified lawyer referral service, but once you get the break down of how everything words together it’s pretty simply.

Referrals from business associated and / or family – It sounds like the simplest place to start, but many people may be embarrassed about asking what legal professional a fellow work associate or family member users, but you don’t have to be. With so many lawyers out there it’s likely you can get a personal referral to someone who can help you without even having to do much a search.

Attorney public records – Once you’ve found a lawyer or attorney you’re thinking about suing, you can checked their official bar membership record which will include their address, phone number, discipline history and other marks on their professional reputation. It’s easier now then ever on the Stat Bar’s website. If you see anything that doesn’t check out, you may want to reconsider your choice.

Certified Lawyer referral services – Do a quick search online or in the Yellow Pages and you’ll be sure to find a State Bar certified lawyer referral service. They can steer you in the right direction if you don’t know where else to look.

Certified Legal Specialists – State Bars maintain lists of attorney who are certified specialists in particular areas of law. For example the California state bar certified specialists in appellate law, workers’ comp, tax law, family law, immigration, estate planning, bankruptcy, and criminal law. They may even have this list directly on the state bar’s website.

Free Legal Aid Agencies – Depending on your financial and personal situation there may be an entire number of agencies devoted to giving you free legal advice and basic legal resources. Many law schools also have free clinics available.

Advertisements and Professional Websites – Take a Google search and you’ll see tons of PPC and professional advertisements for lawyers of all types. Just be sure to thoroughly check them out, but you can shop for a lawyer the same way you would a car.

All in all there are many different viable options for you to begin your search. Just be sure not to settle for the first lawyer you find and be sure you get along with the person. Depending on your needs you may be entering into a long term business relationship with them so be sure you get along and can work together.

By: Marcelade Vivo