{"id":3469,"date":"2014-05-26T22:34:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T05:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2014-05-27T12:21:56","modified_gmt":"2014-05-27T19:21:56","slug":"looking-attorney-try-aba-lawyer-referral-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=3469","title":{"rendered":"Before Hiring a Wolf With a Law School Sheepskin, Do Your Homework"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ABA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BY RAUL HERNANDEZ<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notebookventura@yahoo.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While covering courthouses in El Paso and Ventura as a newspaper reporter, I was sometimes asked \u00a0to recommend a lawyer \u00a0for a criminal \u00a0or a civil matter?<\/p>\n

I would never give anyone the name of an attorney who I believed would do good legal work, whether it was for a civil or criminal case, for several reasons, good reasons.<\/p>\n

First of all, as a reporter it would be unethical. Another reason, if a person isn’t happy with the court results of his or her case and blames the attorney, guess who he is going to \u00a0go and grip about the lawyer?<\/p>\n

I usually refer people to the lawyer referral services in the community. \u00a0These are local Bar Associations, which are nonprofits and can be found throughout the nation. They maintain that they give personalized and unbiased service.<\/p>\n

In Ventura County, California, for example, a Ventura County Bar Association staff member sets up the appointment with an attorney close to the person’s home. The referral is free but it \u00a0costs $35 for a half-hour consultation with an attorney who is specialized in the area of law that an individual needs such as real estate, probate, family, criminal or workers compensation law.<\/p>\n

According to Ventura County Bar Association officials, there are more than 100 attorneys listed in its lawyer referral service. A software program ensures that the names on the list are automatically rotated so the same lawyers don’t keep getting all the referrals, Ventura Bar Association officials say.<\/p>\n

If \u00a0a person is unhappy with the lawyer he was referred to by the Ventura County Bar Association, he can part company with him or her. \u00a0But if an individual decides to hire the attorney, then any contract or fees after the half-hour consultation is negotiated between the attorney and client.<\/p>\n

Check Out Our New ABA Logo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t know where to find the local Bar Association? \u00a0Check out the ABA<\/strong>\u00a0 or American Bar Association logo<\/strong> <\/a>on the right of the web site, click on the logo and a map will appear. Click on the state where you live and a list of local Bar Associations appears.<\/p>\n

Call them and ask about their Lawyer Referral Services.<\/p>\n

The ABA link has been on our web site since we launched it February. But we have just added the ABA log next the the link to give it more visibility on the site and hopefully, more people who use our web site will use it.<\/p>\n

Most Lawyers Do Good Legal Work But…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most lawyers do good legal work but there are those who I wouldn’t hire to represent me in traffic court.<\/p>\n

In the more than 18 years of coving court cases, I’ve seen lawyers falling asleep or spacing out while representing clients during some serious, high-profile criminal trials or hearings. \u00a0Some of them arrive in court unprepared and in one case, a lawyer asked the judge what he should do next for his client.<\/p>\n

Surprised, the judge chided and reminded him that he wasn’t up on the bench to represent his client.<\/p>\n

The poor client who was in custody looked at his lawyer and then at the judge before his eyes scanned the back of courtroom, probably looking for another attorney or help in dumping the one representing him and finding another one.<\/p>\n

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” \u00a0– \u00a0Mark Twain wrote in his book “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the most incompetent lawyers take out large ads that are posted on telephone books, bus benches, billboards, the backs of buses or newspapers. Or, they’ll buy TV ads with glitzy catch phrases, rhythms and jingles.<\/p>\n

It seems that the more incompetent the lawyer the larger the ad.<\/p>\n

One lawyer who worked for the California Attorney General’s Office didn’t know how to file basic legal papers in a criminal case, and it prompted another frustrated judge to remind him that what he was suggesting in court only applied in civil matters. The judge told this guy that a first-year law school student would know this.<\/p>\n

There is also the practice of lawyers of sending advertising mail-outs to defendants after they get arrest and get out of jail. Some of these attorneys are lazy, do shoddy legal work and charge high fees for their services. They bank on the fact that most people never do their homework or even ask friends or relatives about experiences they’ve had with their attorneys.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, sleazy lawyers concoct schemes to rip off clients.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last year, at the Ventura County courthouse, a private investigator told me that a couple of criminal lawyers with offices in other counties were advertising in Ventura County, and they were running a scam.<\/p>\n

They were milking clients for cash and then withdraw \u00a0from the case after a person runs out of money.<\/p>\n

The investigator said these lawyers never take these criminal cases to trial and do little legal work for their clients. These defendants usually wind up being represented by court-appointed lawyers because they have no more money.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, many defendants are in custody so it gets complicated because now the new lawyer has to have time to read the case and catch up with what has and has not been done for the client.<\/p>\n

Before a people go out and hire \u00a0attorneys, they should read this information\u00a0by \u00a0the Federal Trade Commission titled “How to Hire a Lawyer.”<\/a><\/p>\n

There are many competent, tenacious and hardworking lawyers out there. The trick is to find the right one before \u00a0paying thousands of dollars to a wolf with a law school sheepskin and getting fleeced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY RAUL HERNANDEZ Notebookventura@yahoo.com While covering courthouses in El Paso and Ventura as a newspaper reporter, I was sometimes asked \u00a0to recommend a lawyer \u00a0for a criminal \u00a0or a civil matter? 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