Attorney and Mediator
James Murphy is a personal injury attorney with nearly 30 years of experience.
Attorney & Counselor at Law
Our mission is to provide valuable legal content and help users find an attorney. Whether you need accurate legal information or need to determine what type of lawyer is necessary, we offer advanced search tools.
Searching for lawyers on Lawrina is easy! To find lawyers in the United States, enter your information into the lawyer search bar and pull up our attorney directory. You can search based on your area or the type of attorney you need!
The type of lawyer you need will depend entirely on your case. For example:
The type of lawyer you need will depend entirely on your case. For example:
Reputation is important. You should find an attorney that has a good reputation. Most attorneys know one another within a given city, they know who works as defense attorneys, they know who works as prosecutors, and they know the judges. Attorneys usually have professional relationships with one another, which means they understand the tactics that the other party might use. They know where and when to push a judge for leniency. When you hire an attorney, you want someone who has those professional relationships and reputations within your area.
When you use an attorney search and you go through consultations, you should not choose a particular lawyer based on the fact that they have the cheapest price. You should pick a lawyer based on their expertise, experience, and dedication.
Find a lawyer with experience with your specific issue. A good attorney will specialize in a few legal areas and work within those areas. Attorneys who try to tackle everything from personal injury cases to DUI cases to divorce are not going to be nearly as effective in handling a DUI as one who works specifically with DUI cases.
This depends entirely on your case. A top-rated practice will usually have more attorneys and paralegals working for them than someone who runs a solo operation. This means that certain tasks might be allocated to a paralegal who charges an average of $75 per hour, whereas other tasks, like going to court or reviewing legal documents, might be completed by the attorneys in the office at a rate of a few hundred dollars per hour. Menial tasks like making copies or sorting through your files or reaching out to a specialist who might contribute to your case could be allocated to a secretary at a rate of only $15 per hour.
When you meet with a lawyer, you can go over how their pricing structure works. Most of the time, they will tell you exactly what the hourly rate is for each of the different workers within their practice. There are certain fields, such as personal injury, where an attorney might take a percentage of your compensation award instead. In this situation, they may not charge you anything upfront but they might take 30% of whatever you are awarded. Again, this is something that an attorney will discuss with you during a consultation.
