If you are someone who is considering filing for bankruptcy, then the most important decision that you’re going to make in that process is deciding which attorney you are going to hire. In some cities, there are literally hundreds of bankruptcy attorneys that are advertising their services in directories, on the Internet, and newspapers. But how do you decide which attorney is going to be right for you? Are you going to base your decision solely on price? Are you going to ask that particular attorney if he or she can provide references of people that they have helped? Are you simply going to go out on a limb and hire whichever name sounds good?
Choosing a bankruptcy attorney is much like choosing any other professional or service provider to do a task. You want to make sure that the person is highly skilled in the area in which you need help. If you have the most simple form of bankruptcy, then you might be able to get away with having a simple, inexpensive bankruptcy attorney. However, in most cases, there are going to be issues that need to be resolved usually before the case is filed, but sometimes after the cases file. To navigate the most difficult cases, you’re going to need a highly skilled professional who handles bankruptcy cases on day to day basis. There are so many issues that can arise in a bankruptcy case that can cause heartache, hardship and loss of assets. An article on that topic would probably cover 25 pages. However, suffice to say that there are issues in a bankruptcy case that will arise whereby you are going to want to have quality representation.
If I was someone who was considering hiring a bankruptcy attorney, I would interview at least three or five individuals or law firms who were holding themselves out as bankruptcy attorneys. I would ask questions like how many bankruptcy cases do you handle in a year? How many current associates do you have handling the workflow? Can you provide a list or a name or two of someone that you recently helped would be able to talk about the services that you provide? Just by asking those particular questions you are going to get a quick understanding of what type of office you are interviewing. If you are satisfied with the answers that are being given, then you should do further research on the Internet to make sure that attorney does not have too many negative reviews. I mention not too many negative reviews because oftentimes people will complain and it’s not justified. There are even instances where someone leaves a negative review and that person was not even a client of the law firm. Thus, do not put too much emphasis on one or two negative reviews provided there are several positive reviews to counteract those reviews.
By doing your due diligence, you’ll be a great position to hire a qualified attorney. Do not choose an attorney based solely on the lowest price. Oftentimes, the lower price attorney is even less experience or simply will not provide service that you demand. I also do not recommend paying the highest price in the market. The highest price attorney is often not necessarily as good as another attorney and will certainly not provide services commensurate with that higher price. I recommend that you hire an attorney with adequate experience, a reasonable price, and somebody that you feel comfortable with after being with him or her in person. You only want to file bankruptcy one time in your life if at all. If you’re going to go through the process, you want to ensure that you are being handled professionally, courteously, and with dignity. If you take the time to investigate several bankruptcy attorneys, you will find one that meets all of those criteria.
