When it's time to find a law firm it's very often because of a sudden unexpected event. Perhaps an accident or injury that you need to act on right away. Sometimes it's not unexpected as much as it is just delaying the inevitable. This is often the case where bankruptcy attorneys are involved. Many of their clients spend time looking for simple answers to their debt until they get sued by a creditor and it's time to find a bankruptcy attorney.
So the question is, how do you go about finding an attorney? Seems like a simple enough question on the surface, but when you start to look for a law firm, you'll notice right away that there seems to be an endless number of law firms and how will you manage to find the one that's right for you.
As good as the search engines are, the legal profession is just as good as marketing themselves on the search engines. For this reason, if you type in a particular legal issue, such as bankruptcy or medical malpractice, it's very likely that you will get results from law firms all over the country. Those firms that have done such a good job trying to get noticed on search engines will be displayed when you are searching. Exploring a bankruptcy attorney's website and finding a lot of great information may lead you to believe that this is the attorney you want to retain. It is a bit disappointing to find out that when you click the contact tab, you find out the attorney is in Chicago, and you are in New York.
Certainly I am not suggesting that you turn to the Yellow Pages! However, there are sources that still let your fingers do the walking, but this time, on the keyboard. One of the most underused resources on the Internet is the local search directory. The major search engines have long recognized this with sites like Yahoo Local and Google Places, but many people don't know that they have to access those sites differently. It's hard to change old habits, and eve the major players aren't making inroads to the local marketplace as fast as they had hoped. In addition, the thrust of their marketing seems to be directed to retail stores and services.
For professional services such as legal services, law firms, doctors, and other professions, there are few resources better than the independent local search, often called web directories. Finding these directories can be as simple as typing in simple search criteria. For example, let's assume you live on Long Island in New York and you are in need of a law firm. Instead of typing "bankruptcy lawyer" only to be served up attorneys from all over the country, type instead "law firm directory for long island" or "long island law firms directory" and you will find a good number of quality, well organized, profession specific directories. Once you've found the directory, it's a simple matter to drill down to the area of practice and the location. Don't overlook these valuable local search tools. Like any other product you may be in the market for, sometimes the local grocer is a better choice than they bulk buy supermarket.
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