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Erin K Morris

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

1140 SW 11th Ave., Suite 110, Portland, OR

Oregon

Kristin Winnie Eaton

Family Attorney at West Linn, Oregon

21790 Willamette Drive, PO Box 446, West Linn, OR

Oregon

Christopher Palmer

Family Attorney at Oregon

3410 Highway 101 N, Suite B, Gearhart, OR

Oregon

Sandra M. Faber

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

205 SE Spokane St. Suite 300, Portland, OR

Oregon

Christopher J Casebeer

Family Attorney at Salem, Oregon

515 High St SE, PO Box 843, Salem, OR

Oregon

Alexander Jones

Family Attorney at Salem, Oregon

117 Commercial St. NE, Suite 280, Salem, OR

Oregon

Kirsten N Rush

Family Attorney at Beaverton, Oregon

12725 SW Millikan Way, Po Box 4755, Beaverton, OR

Oregon

Stephanie Ann Jensen

Family Attorney at Hillsboro, Oregon

217 E Main St, Po Box 157, Hillsboro, OR

Oregon

Erin K Morris

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

1140 SW 11th Ave., Suite 110, Portland, OR

Oregon

Jennifer Peters

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

215 SW Washington St Ste 200, Portland, OR

Oregon

S Louise Hansen

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

1221 SW 4th Ave, Portland, OR

Oregon

Michael Schaefer

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

1140 SW 11th Ave., 4th Floor, Portland, OR

Oregon

Amanda J Caffall

Family Attorney at Portland, Oregon

4380 SW Macadam Ave, #190, Portland, OR

Oregon

Joseph Colin Lavelle

Family Attorney at Salem, Oregon

388 State Street, Suite 860, Salem, OR

Oregon

Tracey R.H. Naumes

Family Attorney at Medford, Oregon

220 Laurel Street, Medford, OR

Oregon

Kyle J Piro

Family Attorney at Bend, Oregon

158 NE Greenwood Ave, Bend, OR

Oregon

Lindsay Gardner

Family Attorney at Bend, Oregon

Po Box 706, Bend, OR

Oregon

How to find and hire a great lawyer

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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.