How Does One Find A Decent Lawyer?

[terpkristin]

So, if you've been following the disaster with my car (see this thread), you may know it's reached a breaking point. I've been extremely patient and tried to be understanding, but at this point, I'm looking into other options.

I've Google'd around, looking for consumer protection lawyers in my area, and seeing if I can find info on lawyer "recommendations" but as you'd expect, the internet isn't particularly useful for this type of thing--too much bias.

My family has a bad history selecting lawyers, we've needed them twice for matters outside of wills, and both lawyers we used have since been disbarred (I think that's the term for kicked out of practicing law).

I've been asking around at work, but not too many people I work with have had to deal with this. Just wondering if there's any technique to finding a good lawyer short of picking and hoping...

/tk

[st.cronin]

There's no such thing as a "decent" lawyer.

[MrBug708]

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/member.php?u=518
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/member.php?u=236
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/member.php?u=220

[Warhammer]

Do not use, Dewey, Screwem, & Howe.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

So, if you've been following the disaster with my car (see this thread), you may know it's reached a breaking point. I've been extremely patient and tried to be understanding, but at this point, I'm looking into other options.

I've Google'd around, looking for consumer protection lawyers in my area, and seeing if I can find info on lawyer "recommendations" but as you'd expect, the internet isn't particularly useful for this type of thing--too much bias.

My family has a bad history selecting lawyers, we've needed them twice for matters outside of wills, and both lawyers we used have since been disbarred (I think that's the term for kicked out of practicing law).

I've been asking around at work, but not too many people I work with have had to deal with this. Just wondering if there's any technique to finding a good lawyer short of picking and hoping...

/tk

TK,

Do you know any lawyers? Any friends or family (or even friend's family members) who are lawyers? That's really the best place to start. While the person you know (or sort of know) may not be the right attorney to handle this issue, they should hopefully either know a good local attorney who can help you out or at least ask around at their firm if anyone knows a good attorney.

It's pretty common at my firm, for example, for attorneys to ask everyone at the firm if they can recommend an attorney for a specific matter. I would ask around here, but I don't think I'd have much luck given my current firm is only Michigan-based.

[molson]

You could go through the Virginia State Bar. They'll at least refer you to someone how has some kind of specialization in the area you need, and they'll only refer you to someone who's "currently in good standing" with the bar.

http://www.vsb.org/site/public/lawyer-referral-service/

Having someone you trust recomend someone is obviously preferrable, but going through the bar is better than picking someone randomly who might be on the brink of having his license taken away.

[-Mojo Jojo-]

The ABA has an attorney search that might help:

http://www.abanet.org/lawyerlocator/searchaop.html

[JediKooter]

You can try NACA. http://www.naca.net There might be someone listed there in your area that can help or perhaps refer you to someone who can.

[sabotai]

Why does California have the most number of lawyers and New Jersey has the most number of toxic waste dumps?

Spoiler

New Jersey had first pick

[terpkristin]

OH MY GOD I AM SO FUCKING ANNOYED I HATE ALL OF THIS SHIT.

So I called the VA state bar lawyer referral service, they said that because the car was purchased in Maryland, I need to call the MD lawyer referral service..

I call the number they give me for MD and they say that they can give me advice out the wazoo for $35, but if I need anything other than advice, I need to find a lawyer on my own, they aren't a referral service.

ISN'T ANYBODY OUT THERE NOT FULL OF SHIT?!!?
This entire experience has been a gigantic clusterfuck and I don't know where the hell to go anymore. The VA Lemon Law website says that because the car is registered in VA, I need to go through VA's law. The VA referral service says MD, because that's where it was purchased. MD says they're useless if I actually want to DO something.

Meanwhile, I think I've been treated like shit from the dealership, the car is STILL having issues, the local dealership has tried but can't figure out what's going on, and basically I'm sitting here FUCKING SCREWED.

^#@*&RTU#$#(^T*(#@$&(*)#@*&U)#@(

I hate this shit.
What the hell am I supposed to do, just suck it up and take it in the ass? I don't think so.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.
/tk

[Ksyrup]

If the VA service is a true referral service and won't charge you for a referral, you should try that service again and just tell them the car is in VA. All you need is an attorney who knows the law. Once you talk to him/her and explain the situation, you'll find out whether that attorney can help or not. And if not, I bet they know someone in MD who does that type of work.

Short of just picking someone out of the phone book, that's what I would do.

[digamma]

Call Virginia back and get a referral to someone in northern Virgina. That person can either help you or give you the name of someone they know in Maryland.

[Ksyrup]

Great minds think alike.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

If the VA service is a true referral service and won't charge you for a referral, you should try that service again and just tell them the car is in VA. All you need is an attorney who knows the law. Once you talk to him/her and explain the situation, you'll find out whether that attorney can help or not. And if not, I bet they know someone in MD who does that type of work.

Short of just picking someone out of the phone book, that's what I would do.

I should add that the VA lawyer service said that their lawyers don't really do much with consumer protection/lemon laws.

What the hell.

I guess it's going to the phone book for me, I'm just so freaking annoyed by this entire disaster, I'm just taking it more and more in the ass and getting screwed the farther this goes.

/tk

[SunDevil]

In my experience, people have always referred me to good ones. I have been lucky I guess. Ask older family members, bosses, co-workers and such, you never know.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I should add that the VA lawyer service said that their lawyers don't really do much with consumer protection/lemon laws.

What the hell.

I guess it's going to the phone book for me, I'm just so freaking annoyed by this entire disaster, I'm just taking it more and more in the ass and getting screwed the farther this goes.

/tk

I'm sure you've done the basic google searches, but there seem to be a few sites with some legal info (statutes, AG's guide, etc.) and attorney contacts on the pages I looked at. I can't really help you with a specific recommendation, but with this kind of stuff, I think a free consultation/discuss is typical, so try a couple and see if they know what they're doing.

[Ksyrup]

Also, along the lines of the AG's office, I noticed this link (http://www.oag.state.md.us/Forms/lemon.pdf) to a complaint form. If the case is cut-and-dried, it may take a while, but the AG's office may be able to force them into taking care of this rather than risk an investigation or bad publicity. You might also want to try a local consumer reporter who takes on "injustices" and airs them on the news.

[Surtt]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Do not use, Dewey, Screwem, & Howe.

How about Lies & Bullis?

hxxp://www.liesandbullislaw.com/

[CamEdwards]

Okay, no one has made reference to the "suck it up and take it in the ass" line? I'm so disappointed in FOFC.

Seriously, TK... I think the "find a VA lawyer to start with" is the best advice. I know a few, but they all specialize in 2nd Amendment issues, so that probably wouldn't help. :P

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

If the VA service is a true referral service and won't charge you for a referral, you should try that service again and just tell them the car is in VA. All you need is an attorney who knows the law. Once you talk to him/her and explain the situation, you'll find out whether that attorney can help or not. And if not, I bet they know someone in MD who does that type of work.

Short of just picking someone out of the phone book, that's what I would do.

The VA service is a $35 for one half hour with whoever they refer you to. The MD service is $35 for you to get advice but they can't recommend anybody to use. As I said, the VA service said they didn't really have anybody who did consumer protection/lemon law stuff.

To further complicate matters, I've been looking into some of this myself and can't figure out which (if either) state's lemon law applies to my case: the car is registered in VA but was purchased in MD. The research I've done on VA's lemon law says that it applies to cars purchased in VA, while MD's lemon law appears to apply to cars registered in MD, so I have no clue anymore.

I've been asking around at work, but nobody there has had any lawyers that have done anything but wills (and that was some years ago for a lot of them, and they don't remember the lawyer, blah blah).

Thanks for the advice, KSyrup, I guess I will be more or less resorting to the phone book and hoping, though I'll see if I can get any info on them via a consultation or other research.

I'm so incredibly frustrated with this entire mess, and I'm fairly emotionally attached to it (real vehicle problems aside, I've been treated like shiat from the dealership), combined with everything else that's going on right now (lots of stress in my work and personal lives), I can't honestly say I'm optimistic about anything at the moment. :-\

/tk

[DaddyTorgo]

I think we're all too upset for TK to make jokes at this point Cam. Or maybe it's just because it's real slow around here these days

[DaddyTorgo]

as an aside...how shitty would it be if you weren't covered by either lemon law because of the buying+registering. That'd be like a giant karmic-ass-fucking

[CamEdwards]

Okay, after seeing what you've seen regarding MD registration vs. VA purchase, I'd call both Maryland's Consumer Protection Offices and the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs to explain to them your situation. Perhaps they can explain/tell you what state you need to file your complaint in?

[Rizon]

I have no idea if this is the county you live in or if it's even relevant, but this is my contribution
hxxp://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer/consumer_protection_comm.htm