Choosing an Attorney

Important points to consider are the following:

1. DEFINE YOUR LEGAL ISSUES/CASE. Determine the specific nature of the legal problem so that in our discussions we can compare, in detail, your problem with our areas of expertise.  Collect all pertinent documents and bring them to the first conference.

2. SEARCH FOR ATTORNEYS EXPERIENCED IN YOUR NEEDED AREA OF THE LAW.  We list our qualifications on this web site and hope they will cover the area of your legal problem. Once you’ve identified the area of law of your case, search for attorneys experienced in that particular area of the law.

In considering us and other lawyers, you can see that all lawyers usually are not experienced in all areas of the law. We practice in specific areas for which we have gained expertise. We list below the areas of the practice of law for which we have the greatest experience.

• Civil trials, including personal injury and business litigation;

• Estate planning and administration in the Surrogate’s Courts;

• Real Estate transactions, i.e. representing persons buying, selling or leasing real estate;

• Matrimonial practice including divorce, custody and support actions and proceedings;

• Corporate practice - including forming corporations, negotiating business transactions, filing for trademarks, drafting corporate agreements;

• Municipal practice; our firm represents several municipalities in this area;

I have served as Town Attorney for several towns since 1970 and I’ve represented the County of Otsego since 1986.

Our firm does not practice in the area of bankruptcy law, nominal collections, filing of income tax returns, patent law, criminal law, workers compensation, social services or social security law. If your legal problem is in one of these areas, we regretfully recommend that you look to other attorneys for assistance.

3. SEARCH OUT THE ATTORNEY’S REPUTATION AS TO THE QUALITY OF HIS SERVICES. Inquire within your community as to our general reputation and the reputation of other attorneys you are considering.  An attorney’s reputation for superior legal service is critical in your search. 

We have client references available upon request.  These clients have advised us they welcome the opportunity to report publicly as to the quality of our legal services.

Suggestions:

- Talk to friends and persons you respect in the community. Check out names of attorneys you are considering to see what experience your friends or peers may have had with a particular attorney.

- Be careful of self promoting advertisements. Any attorney can advertise. The size of an "ad" doesn’t correlate to the size of an attorney’s superior reputation.

- Compare professional work histories, professional associations, numbers of years of professional work experience, cases reported of the attorneys you are considering. The information we provide on this Web site is to inform you of just such information regarding our firm.

4. MEET WITH NOT ONLY OUR FIRM, BUT ALL ATTORNEYS YOU ARE CONSIDERING; THERE IS NO OBLIGATION TO RETAIN AN ATTORNEY UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED AS TO YOUR CHOICE.

Once you’ve settled upon several "finalists" in your search for an attorney, contact each attorney and engage in a personal interview.

We welcome the opportunity to confer with you.  There is no charge for this conference.

Remember, all conversations you have with any attorney are confidential. Therefore, have a conference with each attorney you’re considering. Only after such an interview will you have the best information available to make your decision.

We welcome the opportunity to meet with you. It is important to have answers to any questions in your search for legal counsel to best assure that you’ll have a successful attorney client relationship.

Good luck :-)