The decision made easy
Choosing a good lawyer is no easy task. Which considerations have to play a role in your decision making process?
Making a considered choice
Choosing a lawyer is something different than buying a physical product. A lawyer is providing a service from which the quality ultimately only can be judged during and after its “consuming”. The financial risks and the matters which are at stake also differ from buying the wrong brand of peanut butter. You choice of a lawyer can have huge consequences. Therefore you should be very careful in choosing a lawyer and make a considered choice.
Points of concern in choosing a lawyer
- knowledge and experience in the area of law of your problem
Make sure you lawyer has a considerable amount of knowledge and experience in the area of law of your problem. If you are getting open hart surgery you also want it to be done by an experienced surgeon who does 100 operations a year and not 3 a year.
- location
If you need to meet with your lawyer regularly it can be convenient that his office is in your neighbourhood. This may not allways be possible if the area of expertise you need is so scarce that there are only a couple of lawyers available.
- hourly rate
If you do not qualify for subsidized legal aid the hourly and you have to pay your lawyer yourself the hourly rate is a factor to be considered. A lawyer who is charging € 200,- per hour is not necesarrily twice as good as a lawyer who is charging € 100,- per hour.
- subsidized legal aid
If you do qualify for subsidized legal aid you need to find a lawyer’s office who offers subsidized legal aid. Not all lawyer’s offices in Alkmaar offer subsidized legal aid. Certainly not the offices which primarily work for businesses.
- Existence of a lawyer’s office
An office which just exist is not necessarily worse than a longer existing office. But an office with an history has proven its reason of being. And that is one risk less.
- References?
- Personal connection
Besides the rational considerations which play a part in the decision making process there is also an emotional consideration. The personal connection between you and your lawyer. Did you got the impression your lawyer really listened very careful while you were expressing your problem? Did he asked the right questions? Did he really took an interest in you and your problems? The relation between you and your lawyer is a very personal relation and thus a good personal connection is no superfluous luxury, but a necessity. Visit at least three lawyer’s before making a choice. The choice for a lawyer deserves to be a well considered choice.
Getting acquainted free of charge
If you doubt your case has any change of succeeding or if you want to know more about the costs of your case call or email lawyer’s office Appelman for an appointment. The first 30 minutes are allways free of charge.
