Fighting a legal battle in India is no less than the Mahabharata, and if you don’t get a \”good charioteer\” on your side, who can advise you at times, protect you, get you out of ugly situations, or in short, drive you towards a win, you are destined to face defeat. A good lawyer can be that charioteer in your legal battle. According to the Bar Council of India (BCI), there are approximately 1.3 million lawyers in India, and this number is increasing every year at a rate of around 4%. So, there is definitely no shortage of lawyers in India. But then the question is how to choose the right one for you. To answer that, first you have to determine what type of lawyer you are in need of.
Types of lawyers:
- Criminal defence lawyers: They advocate on behalf of those accused of criminal activity and ensure that their liberties and basic rights are fairly upheld within the justice system.
- Family lawyers: They deal with all family-related issues like divorce, child custody, alimony, adoption, paternity, juvenile delinquency matters, child welfare, etc.
- Corporate lawyers: They handle legal matters for businesses and ensure that all company transactions occur within the legal framework.
- Civil rights lawyer: They help people protect their civil rights or recover damages if their civil rights have been violated by anyone.
- Immigration lawyers: They help individuals or companies with immigration processes, paperwork, visas, and deportation processes.
- Estate lawyers: These lawyers draft legal documents like powers of attorney, trusts, wills, and tax implications.
- Tax lawyers: These lawyers understand the ins and outs of tax laws and regulations. Their work includes handling tax disputes, drafting documents like wills, employment-related agreements, tax forms, etc.
- Intellectual Property Lawyers: They handle cases ranging from patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
After determining what type of advocate caters to your needs, you must move on to the next question of what qualities you should look for in your potential lawyer.
What should you look for in your potential lawyer?
- Comfort: If you are comfortable with your lawyer, then you will be able to share all the relevant information about your case with ease and honesty. And this will make things go smoothly between you and your lawyer.
- Good communication skills: Possessing good communication skills, both oral and written, can be of great use while representing the case in the court of law. A good lawyer should know how to use words persuasively.
- Experience: Experience is the teacher of all things, and experience in legal matters can teach a lot. If you find an experienced lawyer, he will know how to best represent your case.
- Record: Records are like results. If you choose a lawyer with a good track record of winning cases, then the chances of your winning are high as compared to a lawyer with a bad track record.
- Approachable: The lawyer you choose must be approachable not only with legal advice but also when you need emotional support because legal battles are lengthy and exhausting.
- Analytical Skills: It\’s necessary for a lawyer to have amazing analytical skills so he can with critical thinking analyse the events and every bit of information to make your case strong.
- Logical Thinking Ability: The ability to make, draw, or arrive at logical and logical conclusions from limited information provided and received. Logical thinking ability will be of great use to even make a weak case strong.
- Reasonable: Aside from any other qualities, a lawyer will only suit you if he suits your pocket. If you can find a good lawyer at a reasonable rate, then it will be icing on the cake.
Before choosing a lawyer, it is also important to check their websites, reviews, feedback from their previous clients, etc. to get an overall impression of whether or not to approach him/her further. Taking advice from friends and family on this matter also becomes important, as a bad lawyer can be very dangerous. He/she will not only be a financial burden but also a health burden, as the lengthy legal battles will leave you all exhausted. After you go through all this checking and finding, there are some questions you must ask in your meeting with the lawyer.
Questions to ask on meeting your potential lawyer:
- Is there any other means to solve my legal issue? If less expensive and time-saving options are available, a good and ethical lawyer will always let you know.
- What are the probable outcomes of my case? A good lawyer, after hearing all the necessary details of your case, will tell you every possible outcome and also what your chances of winning or losing are.
- How long will this case take? While discussing the case, an advocate must provide you with an estimated time your case will take, and on the basis of this, you can calculate the expenses of fighting a case.
- What will your strategy be in my case? A good advocate will provide their client with an outline of the ways in which he/she will take the case forward and also keep their client updated about the next move.
- How will we communicate with each other? It is crucial to establish good communication with your lawyer, and for that, it is necessary to know the ways in which you will be in contact with each other. In this way, you will get to know if your lawyer is approachable or not.
Asking this question will help you in choosing the best lawyer for you.