The Pluses and Minuses of Using an Attorney Matching Service
Attorney matching services are a recent phenomenon in the world of finding an attorney online. Legalmatch and Legalfish operate as the two biggest matching service only sites, Findlaw has recently incorporated a service as part of it’s very popular web portal. These services allow a potential client to post their case into the matching service. A selection of available attorneys interested in the practice area will review the responses.
One considerable advantage of these services is that they allow participants to state the level of privacy that they desire. It’s up to the users if they want to show their contact information to any attorney that reads their case or if they want to see if the attorney can present a credible review or action plan before revealing their information. This makes these solutions especially suited to the locally prominent or paranoid.
An initial check of the attorneys bar status and a minimal level of malpractice insurance will be required before an attorney enrolls in any of these programs. Don’t forget to do your own due diligence because of this, these services do this prescreening mainly as a marketing mechanism. It’s a nice small side benefit, but ultimately you’re going to have to rely on your instincts and good judgment in selecting an attorney. The particular attorney matching programs do generally require a minimal malpractice insurance level and check to make sure there isn’t an excessive level of complaints registered with attorney registration entity or bar association. If you are concerned with either of these, then it’s not a bad practice to inquire of any attorney that you are considering, as the services don’t require continuing checks and an attorney might be with a service for several years.
These services will charge responding lawyers from several to ten of thousands of dollars for the right to respond to your case. One upshot is that since an attorney who responds pays a considerable fee that attorney would likely have a sincere and legitimate interest in your case’s area of practice. It’s a common marketing strategy to claim an expertise in virtually any practice area. Spending alot of money on something will naturally bring on volume and that leads to expertise.
In addition, by responding you can quickly garner information that the attorney needs work and is available for your case. This really is a slow low pressure way to find an attorney. You also won’t incur travel time, consultation fees, or the phone tag usually required of checking out alot of different lawyers.
Attorneys can take several days to think up an appropriate response, so these services might not be ideal for those with an urgent need. In addition, the high fees mean there will not be a large number of responding attorneys. It can be helpful to send an attorney a message to call once you’ve read a response. This lets the attorney know you’re a good prospect and have thoughtfully read the lawyer’s response.
Overall, for more complex cases, these can be an excellent service for both attorneys and consumers. Contested family law cases or more intricate personal injuries matters lend themselves to benefiting both the potential client and the intake lawyer with this method. The least productive areas would be bankruptcy or real estate closings where the essential elements of the case do not require much in the way of specialized consultations and can be easily price shopped without the need for an in-person consultation.
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