Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance
What Gives Me The Best Chance of Success?
We have been helping people find Illinois lawyers since 2001 and have strong opinions on what is the right way to choose a lawyer. Many things are important such as customer service and your personal comfort with the attorney. But above all else, we believe that in hiring an attorney you have to evaluate what gives you the best chance of success.
In other words, thinking long term about what your goals are, and which lawyer gives you the greatest chance of achieving them. Sometimes when people hire a lawyer they are most concerned about where the attorney is located. That can be important and certainly plays a role in our recommendations. But if you are only going to personally see the lawyer two or three times over the life of a case that could take years, then perhaps something else matters more.
The biggest predictor of success, in our opinion, is hiring an attorney that can demonstrate experience and success with cases similar to yours. In other words, if you are rear-ended by a truck on the highway and break your leg, you will find no shortage of personal injury lawyers in Illinois. That said, more likely than not you will get the best result possible by hiring an attorney who can show similar cases that they have settled or won at trial. Similarly, if you are going through a divorce where one spouse owns a business, you likely won’t have a problem finding an attorney that has handled divorce cases; but finding someone who has successfully dealt with valuing a business in a divorce is not as easy as it sounds and if you hire the wrong law firm it could cost you a great deal of money.
When identifying attorneys that give you a good chance of meeting your goals, we typically look for the following:
- They have a narrow practice focus. If your case is complex or of great significance, we think it’s a good idea to deal with a lawyer who almost exclusively focuses their practice on the area of law you are dealing with. In other words, if you are charged with burglary your attorney shouldn’t be spending half their time on medical malpractice or family law. Good case results are often not enough.
- If your situation is unique and there isn’t a lawyer who focuses only on your area of law, that the attorney clearly demonstrates an understanding of how to win a case like yours. For example, no attorney could make a living solely by reviewing severance agreements. However, if they can show that they’ve reviewed hundreds of them in their career then we would likely be comfortable recommending them to you.
- Does how the attorney is going to be paid play a role in who you should hire? If you have an injury claim like workers’ compensation or a car accident then your attorney fees will be based on a percentage of what you recover. On the other hand, if you have to pay a lawyer by the hour then you don’t want to spend money on things like travel time for the attorney. In other words, hiring a Chicago law firm for a case in McHenry County would not make sense if you are spending so much money on travel fees that it negates any win that you may get.
- Is it important that your attorney regularly appears in the courtroom where the case is going to be heard? If you are in a child custody battle or defending a DUI or burglary charge, it is in our opinion very important to go with an attorney who knows the Judge. That won’t guarantee a result, but all things being equal can tip the scales in your favor. On the other hand, if you have a complex case or unique situation it’s not as important. We also don’t feel it’s as important for some specialized areas of law like nursing home abuse or employment law.
Remember, nothing guarantees success. However, you can increase your chances of getting the result you want. Our role when people contact us is to listen to your situation, answer questions and if needed, recommend an attorney that we feel is right for your needs including giving you a great chance of a positive result. If you have any questions or would like our help in finding a lawyer please call us at (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys throughout Illinois.