I travel in my car a lot. For entertainment, I listen to the radio, and when I was last in New Jersey, I had an A.M. station playing when a commercial for a lawyer came over the air. It was actually two people talking, with thick New York accents, and one was telling the other to call an attorney about lead paint in his apartment. At one point, it hawked: “I called, and my lawyer got me BIG money!” As soon as I heard that, I thought to myself, “Who chooses a lawyer like that!?” When I started practicing law, lawyer advertising was forbidden. The direct solicitation of clients was considered unethical and lawyers were disciplined for doing such things. Today, lawyer advertising can be found on the television, on the radio, and in our newspapers. It is on billboards and buses and phone book covers and on and on. And if you are in an accident? As soon as the police report is filed, you are likely to get calls from lawyers who want to get to you before anyone else does. It must be confusing, and to tell you the truth I feel most of it is demeaning to our profession. It also makes me wonder why there are so many ads for personal injury victims, but not so much for other, more common legal issues.

So how do you choose an attorney? In my view, there is only one source of reliable information, and that is good old fashioned word of mouth. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to get it. First, if it is something you can talk to friends about, ask them who they have used, and what they thought of their attorney. That will hopefully steer you in the right direction, or at least keep you from going to an attorney with a poor track record. Second, you can call your County Bar Association. Most have attorney referral services and they will give you a number of attorneys who all specialize in the area of law you are interested in. Third, call an established firm. We often get calls or meet with potential clients who are wondering if they need the services of an attorney for a number of different reasons. Here at Baker, Dublikar, we have attorneys who collectively have centuries of experience practicing law in many different fields, but when we come across a problem that requires an area of expertise better handled by someone else, we readily recommend other attorneys who are well known to us and highly respected for their abilities.

I once heard someone say that if you “think” you need a lawyer, you probably do. When you do, my humble advice is to ask around.

Don Wiley