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Thomas Edward Pyles

Family Attorney at Waldorf, Maryland

2670 Crain Hwy, Suite 106, Waldorf, MD

Maryland

Gabriel Joshua Christian

Family Attorney at Bowie, Maryland

3060 Mitchellville Rd, Ste 216, Bowie, MD

Maryland

Samantha D Hailey-Granderson

Family Attorney at Bowie, Maryland

4450 Mitchellville Road, Suite #1244, Bowie, MD

Maryland

Alan D Levenstein

Family Attorney at Rockville, Maryland

111 Rockville Pike, Suite 735, Rockville, MD, 20850-2319

Maryland

Anu B. Kemet

Family Attorney at Greenbelt, Maryland

7845 Belle Point Drive, Greenbelt, MD

Maryland

Barry J Rosenthal

Family Attorney at Rockville, Maryland

401 North Washington Street, Suite 500, Rockville, MD

Maryland

Heidi Kohler Hotz

Family Attorney at Rockville, Maryland

1 Research Court, Suite 450, Rockville, MD

Maryland

David R Bach

Family Attorney at Rockville, Maryland

1401 Rockville Pike., Suite. 650, Rockville, MD

Maryland

Sharon Tal Diamant

Family Attorney at Rockville, Maryland

6110 Executive Boulevard, Suite 1050, Rockville, MD

Maryland

Katherine Kole Thompson

Family Attorney at Bel Air, Maryland

1318 East Churchville Road, Bel Air, MD

Maryland

Christine Ann Malanga

Family Attorney at Towson, Maryland

606 Baltimore Ave Ste 401, Towson, MD

Maryland

Kerri Bloom Cohen

Family Attorney at Towson, Maryland

606 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 407, Towson, MD

Maryland

Laurie Wasserman

Family Attorney at Towson, Maryland

502 Washington Avenue, Suite 700, Towson, MD

Maryland

Tasnima Apol

Family Attorney at Annapolis, Maryland

22 1/2 West Street, Annapolis, MD

Maryland

Sally Barbara Gold

Family Attorney at Baltimore, Maryland

201 North Charles Street, Suite 1630, Baltimore, MD

Maryland

Dontrice Patience Hamilton

Family Attorney at Rockville, Maryland

1 Church St, Ste 910, Rockville, MD

Maryland

Valeria N. Tomlin

Family Attorney at Largo, Maryland

9701 Apollo Drive, Suite 391, Largo, MD

Maryland

Gordana Schifanelli

Family Attorney at Annapolis, Maryland

2450 Riva Road, Annapolis, MD

Maryland

Allen J Kruger

Family Attorney at Annapolis, Maryland

127 Lubrano Dr Ste 300, Annapolis, MD

Maryland

Sanford Z Berman

Family Attorney at Greenbelt, Maryland

7850 Walker Drive, Suite 160, Greenbelt, MD

Maryland

How to find and hire a great lawyer

Do I need a lawyer?

What to Consider When Hiring a Family Law Lawyer

If you are involved in a divorce case, child custody battle or any other legal matter that comes under family law, then it is recommended that you hire a lawyer. This is even more significant if the issue is contentious, although the presence of legal counsel might add value if you share a good relationship with your spouse, former spouse or co-parent. You should not go alone in handling your divorce because your financial future and your relationship with your children is on the line.

In family law cases, one question that many people ask is whether two parties that are getting a divorce are allowed to hire one lawyer in order to cut down on costs. The answer is no. You cannot have the same lawyer with your soon to be ex-spouse even if you communicate rather civilly and even if most of the issues you have in your case are settled out of court. Since spouses are legal adversaries, this would bring about an ethical conflict in violation of the legal professional conduct codes. If the couple is going for mediation in the process of divorce, then the couple can consult an attorney that acts as a mediator. However, each spouse has the right to retain an attorney even when proceeding through the mediation model.

It is not easy to determine who is the right lawyer for you. As simple as it may sound, googling can be helpful, though it should not be the final step in one’s research. Google will return thousands of results and many of these will be from lawyers and law firms paying for their site to be highly ranked. Likewise, you might learn something when asking friends or relatives who sought a family law attorney, but the lawyer who worked well for them might not work for you. Each case is unique. Here are certain guidelines which would assist you in researching and comparing lawyers knowledgeably.

The lawyer that you choose should have considerable experience in dealing with the matters that will be addressed when deciding on your case. For instance, if you anticipate litigation on the matter of child support, and the other parent resides in another state or country, hire an attorney who has legal practice in crossborder child support. It may be that a father or a mother wants to have an attorney who supports the father’s rights or the mother’s rights, accordingly. If, for any reason, you are considering using mediation or collaborative law to resolve a family law issue, you should retain an attorney who is experienced with those methods. Some lawyers may have board certifications on specific topics of the law or may be affiliated to certain bar associations. Perhaps they have been the recipients of honours or other accolades as for their legal excellence.

As a basic guideline, you should only hire an attorney who does not have any serious disciplinary actions against them. Details regarding the professional background of an attorney are available on the state bar associations’ site of the state where they practised. It might help to look through the specifics of how and why you were disciplined to get a perspective on it. There exist some categories of violations that are less serious compared to others. You may not want to try to remove an attorney from consideration based on a very minor infraction if she or he is a member of good standing now.

On the other hand, the record of serious violations should be a sign of caution, regardless of the successes of the attorney. This awareness helps you avoid scenarios where through your attorney’s mistake you lose rights or opportunities to protect interests which might have been otherwise possible.

It is common to find that a family law lawyer publishing their achievements online reveals their success stories from time to time on websites or blogs. For this reason, every case is handled independently thereby implying that you may not get the same outcome of a previous client. However, the previous winning statistics for people who are more or less in the same position as you should be considered a positive factor. You may also learn from the some of the cases in which an attorney is most impressive if many of them where they received the best outcomes where on the same kind of issue.

In family law matters, lawyers usually provide an initial interview to the prospective client at a nominal or free cost and without contractual tie. After you provide some details about your matter, you make an appointment for a consultation by phone call or online meeting. In this regard it is useful in that both the client and the attorney can determine if they are a good match for each other. Therefore, even if the attorney looks good on paper and has accomplished even more than what is stated, you cannot hire an attorney based solely on that. Instead you should ensure that you have hired a lawyer you can trust and who has good communications with you. It should not seem as if your lawyer is merely working on your case like any other file number. It is recommended to make consultations with several attorneys before you hire one of them.

One of the important points is that you should come to the consultation with a list of questions to determine whether the attorney-under-consideration is suitable for your case. In particular, you may wish to explain what you want to achieve and inquire as to how often you will likely get that from what the attorney perceives as the pros and cons of your case. You should not get an accurate solution, but getting a general idea will help you set your expectations. While an optimistic answer may feel comforting, one should be wary if an attorney provides guarantees or is significantly more confident than their counterparts. They may be overpromising. Second, you should pay attention to how the attorney describes the analysis they’ve made. They should be in a position to give their justification in plain language; understandable to a layman.

Other areas to considers during the consultation include fees. Some of the family law lawyers will charge per each working hour while others will collect a flat fee of the whole case. Most firms will be willing to work with you if you are experiencing financial difficulty so that you can make the agreed down payment and then come to an agreed payment schedule that you are comfortable with. As a rule legal aid entails an attorney requesting a client to pay a retainer which is an initial fee paid in advance. If the costs of the case are less than the retainer amount then, the excess of the retainer fee can be refunded to the client. It is preferable that any fee arrangement is stated very clearly in the representation agreement so that you know what you are agreeing to do.

Also there are legal expenses, including costs related to filing a case and other costs associated with a trial. Such costs can include service costs, costs for expert witnesses, fees for employed court reporters, and costs of copying documents. In certain situations in custody and visitation cases for example, a party can request the court make the other side responsible for attorney fees and other expenses. However, the rules of fee shifting differ from state to state, and this one may be allowed only in specific situations.

Lawyergist Lawyer Directory is an online resource aimed at helping people find and compare attorneys practicing in their city, county, or state of residence for their particular type of case. Start browsing our listings of family law lawyers in your area right now.