What Type of Law Firm is Needed?

When a legal need arises, what sort of law firm is most appropriate to handle the case? There are many areas of specialization that attorneys may focus on. Some firms employ lawyers that all handle similar sorts of cases, while others diversify and partner with a range of attorneys with ranges of expertise. Law practices also vary in size. Some may be huge groups of individuals housed on several floors of an office building while others may have two partners sharing an office. There are pros and cons to large vs. small practices. Here are several firms’ specialties that a person may consider:

- Business practice: Business attorneys may provide legal guidance to small businesses, large corporations, retail conglomerations, franchise restaurant owners or sole proprietorships. Contracts, leases, taxes, property sales and acquisitions, employee issues, copyright laws, patents, employees’ immigration paperwork and more may be covered by professionals in this type of office.

- Divorce & separation: Dissolution of marriage or legal separations would be handled by a practice specializing in divorce legalities. For these professionals, a competent and savvy knowledge coupled with compassionate understanding of clients’ emotional upheaval clients will be helpful.

- Family issues: These legal specialists would handle all matters related to the family. Some examples are domestic abuse cases involving parents and children as well as spouses. Child and spousal support would also fall into the expertise of lawyers practicing in this office.

- Criminal law: Criminal lawyers would represent a wide variety of clients who have been accused of a range of crimes. Some examples include white collar crimes, abuse, theft, burglary, assault, drug offenses, driving under the influence, prostitution, fraud and more. All of these offenses carry serious consequences and require the expertise of a team of professionals. This may be a time when a larger firm is appropriate because “two or more heads are better than one.”

- Personal injury: A group of personal injury specialists would focus on accidents, injuries and fatalities that have occurred due to negligence. Workers’ compensation cases are included in this category as well as traffic accident injury cases, trucking incidents, injuries from being hurt in a public building and more. Medical malpractice claims would also be handled by this type of firms’ specialists.

- Immigration attorneys: In order to get work visas, green cards or apply for citizenship, clients need to seek legal guidance from immigration attorneys. Especially today, this is a complex legal arena.

- Bankruptcy specialists: With the American and global economy in a downturn, many individuals are declaring bankruptcy in order to start over again. It takes a certain type of lawyer to oversee Chapter 7 and 13 filings.

- General practice: Another type of firm is more general and will handle a variety of areas out of the same office.

When a person needs legal advice, he or she needs to seek guidance and representation from the appropriate type of law firm. Categories such as business, divorce, family, criminal, personal injury, immigration and bankruptcy are grouped together in order to provide service to their clients.