When I meet someone for the first time and they find out I am a bankruptcy attorney I usually get asked about how to get out of a traffic ticket, how their friend can get a deadbeat dad to pay child support or some other legal question that has nothing to do with bankruptcy. What follows is an explanation of how I focus my legal practice on representing debtors in consumer bankruptcy and I don’t have any experience with these other legal issues. They always seem a little surprised. I explain it in this way. You wouldn’t go see a podiatrist (foot doctor) about your heart murmur. You would go see a cardiologist. Lawyers have their specialties too.
The law is complicated and each legal discipline requires very specialized knowledge. That is why it is so important to pick your attorney carefully. If you search the internet for a bankruptcy attorney in Dallas you will find hundreds of them. So how do you pick the right one? Check and see if they practice other types of law. If an attorney advertises that they practice bankruptcy, criminal law, family law, and probate law, it makes me suspect that they don’t practice any of them especially well. Pick an attorney that focuses on your legal issue. Also, check websites that rate attorneys, like www.avvo.com. Avvo provides profiles for attorneys and allows their clients an opportunity to review them. Don’t just focus on their ranking. Pay close attention to what other customers have said about them. If you find an attorney that focuses their practice on your legal issue and whose other clients are happy with them, you probably have found a good choice for representation.