The Divorce Lawyer: What Traits Make a Good One?

When the breakup of your marriage is imminent, it can be difficult to remain sane and calm about the practical things that need to be done. But they do need to be done, and hiring a good divorce lawyer is sometimes among those things. If there are kids involved, large assets, the possibility of alimony or settlements, or other indications that there could be a dispute, you’ll want to have an attorney on your side to take you through the legal system. The choice you make here could have an enormous impact on the process, and how successful you will be in getting what you want. Here are some traits that act as the hallmark of a good attorney.

Fight
You’ll want a divorce lawyer who has some fight in him. This might go without saying, but you would be surprised at the amount of attorneys out there who really don’t want to go to trial or contentious mediation. They want to concede until there is nothing left, bill for the hours, and move on to the next case. Don’t let yourself hire one of these people. Find someone who has a good track record and is ready to go the extra mile if it means getting you what you want out of a settlement.

Communication
Attorneys are busy people, there are only a few exceptions to this rule. But being busy is no excuse to close off communications. A good divorce lawyer should always be there to return your phone calls and keep you up to date on where you are in the proceedings. Of course, it can be difficult to tell whether or not he will do these things at the outset, but you can get a “feeling” just from the initial consultation. Does he seem as though he’s just giving you a canned speech, or is he really listening to you? This difference is an important one and could be a sign of things to come.

Teamwork
You’re hiring a divorce lawyer as your representative, but that doesn’t mean you should take a backseat to your own case. Not only should you be willing and able to participate in your own legal strategy, your attorney should be more than happy to allow you to help. This doesn’t mean you’ll be scouring legal texts for precedents and relevant cases, but it should mean that you have a say in exactly what strategies you are willing to proceed with. Many a client has found themselves embroiled in a bitter divorce which would have been much more amicable had the attorneys not gotten involved.