Searching for a divorce attorney can be an overwhelming task. Lawyers’ advertisements show up on television, radio, newspaper, and everywhere online. So how do you sift through all that information to find the right attorney for you? Many people start looking at online attorney reviews. While this is an excellent starting point, it is only the first step in finding the right attorney for you.
There are many “attorney review” websites online, and if you Google any generic search phrase for divorce lawyer reviews, you will find a plethora of sites designed to get you to click on their site for those reviews. The top sites for this purpose are Yelp, Avvo, Lawyers.com, lawyerratingz, and other similar platforms. Many divorce attorneys post their client reviews on their website as well.
With so many review sites and lawyer reviews, which ones do you trust?
While it is helpful to examine online attorney reviews, consider that attorney reviews are often manipulated and seldom provide a complete picture of a divorce lawyer’s abilities and competence.
3 Steps to Finding the Right Divorce Attorney Using Online Reviews
Here are two reasons that divorce attorney online reviews should be carefully examined and weighed before you select an attorney to represent you in a divorce case:
- All divorce attorney review websites can be manipulated despite the claim that their platforms ensure only legitimate reviews. For example, Yelp advertises that their proprietary software ensures only legitimate reviews. However, we know websites like Yelp can be manipulated because of our experience in dealing with divorce attorneys that only have positive reviews. We have litigated cases against many attorneys with stellar online reviews that are totally incompetent.
- There are companies that divorce attorneys pay to help ensure a good “online reputation”. The function of these companies is to generate only the positive reviews for a law firm and mitigate the bad reviews.
So how do you find the right matrimonial lawyer if it is difficult to trust online reviews? Here are three steps to follow:
- Give the reviews a cursory review. Online reviews are certainly helpful, but take them with a grain of salt. For example, there is no divorce attorney that should not have an occasional bad review. A divorce attorney’s job is to advocate for their client during the most difficult time in that person’s life, where emotions are raging. Even the best divorce lawyers cannot “win” every case, and people get upset. However, if a family law attorney has a significant number of negative reviews, that should be a red flag.
- Look at the accreditations that a divorce lawyer holds. Are they a certified specialist? Are they a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)? Are they a “Super Lawyer”? Are they listed as a volunteer attorney in their local court and trusted by judges? These accolades show that the attorney has been peer rated as opposed to client rated. Generally, peer ratings are far more reliable than client ratings.
- Interview more than one divorce attorney before deciding who will represent you. Most divorce attorneys offer some sort of free consultation, which is designed for both the client and attorney to get to know each other. You will know immediately when you connect with the right attorney. Look at their office. Communicate with their staff. Talking face-to-face is also very helpful to help you figure out whether they are competent and how they will handle your case.
Looking at the accreditation that a divorce lawyer holds sounds like a good idea when it comes to finding an attorney. Finding if the person is a certified specialist would be worth your while. Something to think about would be to seek referrals from friends and family to find quality options.
Thank you for presenting this thoughtful and informative information related to finding the right law resources. It is very important to make sure that your search for a lawyer is for one that best meets your needs. The world of law gets more complicated by the minute. Your article is well written and researched so you appear to be an expert in this area. We are looking at this firm – Lesnevich & Marzano-Lesnevich – to help out with some of our issues. They appear to be well regarded, but we just want a personal evaluation if you have ever heard or worked with them. Thank you for all your help.
“Give the reviews a cursory review”. My goodness why is it that [only] people’s opinion have to be denigrated! because people during divorce are in dire straits and so they are emotional and so they would say anything… is that what you mean? you should carefully reassess your ability to write articles to help people find lawyers. Emotions are part of the divorce process. No doubts. and a lone bad review “might” mean little for seekers, but it is striking to me that it is the only thing that you denigrate in your article: people opinion. you sound like many men of law that approach the “commoners” with distance and condescending attitude. Instead, maybe, one can find the recommendation that a very bad and very good reviews (both) should be read carefully and with circumspection to detect the appropriateness of the arguments. Some excellent reviews are just empty, and a lone very bad review can be the perfect description of that lawyer…