Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to teach a number of students to prepare them for law school. The one thing that these new scholars always marvel about is the sheer variety of different types of law that comprise the legal system. With the variety of different law-focused classes I have offered, I have been fortunate enough to have quite a few students that ultimately have practiced law after they have matriculated. Below are some suggestions for how someone that needs legal representation should go about the process of looking up lawyers, ensuring that their record is without aberrations, and ultimately choosing a lawyer that is the best possible person for whichever metric (e.g. quality, price, or some combination of the two) that one decides to use.
Lawyers: an absolutely essential institution
The one thing that always seems to amaze me is that the demand for lawyers never truly decreases. Thgere will always be people that require wills to be drawn up, pre-nuptuals to be agreed to, and countless other situations in which a contract needs to be generated. While I have not had the chance to teach an international law class, I understand that there are a great many things in common between countries with regards to their legal system.
The one other issue that is hard to truly explain to students is the sheer range of quality that exists between the different lawyers that are active in a community. While sure, there is some form of ethical code that legal professionals have to follow, there are good lawyers, great lawyers, and a whole collection of them that are perfectly content with just skating by. The quality of lawyer that one chooses may be the difference between getting everything you want out of the situation you find yourself (e.g. divorce, land rights, contract) and having something written up that is disappointing, if not outright bad for you.
Vet them using bar association records
This wide variation in lawyer quality is the reason why individuals seeking out legal representation would do well to look at their local province’s accreditation boards to determine whether the lawyer they are talking with has had any negative sanctions or other irregularities on their record. Having issues with comingling their funds or with providing zealous representation should be a red flag thjat necessitates going back to the drawing board in one’s lawyer search. For those that are seeking an attorney Calgary, there are ample tools available that will facilitate the lawyer-selection process.
Final thoughts and a call for action
Let us know what your experience has been over the years with legal professionals, both positive and negative. Discussing the experiences that you have had is essential for individuals to find the best possible legal representation, no matter what type of services that those individuals are attempting to search out. I can confidently say that the lawyers that I have had to deal with in the past have been absoutely amazing; I hope that you find the best one for your needs as well.
