Checking Attorney Credentials

If you find yourself in need of legal counsel for any reason whatsoever, hiring an attorney you can trust should be one of your first priorities. However, it is generally not as easy as simply opening up the phone book to the “lawyers” section and calling the first name you see. Choosing an attorney who will focus on your case and make your experience easier and less stressful requires that you do a little research beforehand.

One of the key elements to this type of research is determining the credentials of the attorney you choose to hire. Many lawyers will claim to have certain credentials, but it is up to you to make sure that these claims match up with reality. To make this easier, we have decided to create three categories of credentials that you should inquire about when consulting any type of lawyer for any type of case. These three categories are education, experience, and success rate.

First, education. You may not think that education plays as big of a role as experience or success rate, but education highly contributes to an attorney’s ability to come up with innovative and flexible solutions to problems that you may encounter throughout your case. You should ask any attorney you meet with about his or her education in the following way.

To begin with, ask him or her where he or she went to law school and how well he or she fared in class compared to his or her classmates. Although a person’s work ethic and habits can change over time, knowing how well an attorney did in law school can give you an idea of how much time, dedication, and effort he or she will put into your specific case. Next, you should ask what type of law the attorney ended up specializing in during his or her time in law school. Though many attorneys expand to different fields over the year, the type of law they specialized in throughout law school will often be their strongest point.

Once you have an idea of an attorney’s education, you should begin questioning him or her about his or her experience. For how long has this person been practicing? How many cases has he or she taken on in, say, the past year or two? What legal field have most of these cases fallen into (ie. criminal law, divorce law, civil law, etc.)? Getting the answers to these questions will give you a good idea of what the attorney’s strengths are and whether or not these strengths will benefit your particular case.

Lastly, you will need to inquire about the attorney’s success rate. This is a hard inquiry to make, due to the fact that many attorneys will not divulge this information in a completely honest way. As we all know, lawyers are good at twisting facts and manipulating data (it is their job, after all), so you might have to be very specific when you begin discussing wins over losses.

Of course, after you have gathered all of this information, you need a way to verify it, right? Well, although it’s impossible to verify this information 100%, there are some resources that can help you get an idea of whether or not the attorney you talked to is telling the truth. Lawyers.com provides a wealth of information on many attorneys throughout the country, so this is a good place to start. You can also contact your local bar association to get more background info about the attorney. Lastly, you can ask the attorney for names of previous clients who you might be able to chat with concerning their experiences with the attorney.

If you’re just looking for a starting point when it comes to finding a professional, trustworthy attorney, we have some recommendations for you in and around Colorado. We’ve checked these attorneys out, and you can be sure that they will take the time to give you a thorough consultation on whatever legal issues you are having.

Recommended Attorneys and Law Firms:

• DUI attorney Colorado Springs
• defense attorney Las Vegas
• bankruptcy attorney Denver

Advantages to Hiring a Defense Attorney

Getting into trouble with the law is something that nobody expects will happen to them. Finding yourself in a situation in which you are either suspected of a crime or having actual charges brought up against you can be confusing at the least. Generally speaking, most of us do not know enough about criminal law to defend ourselves in court, so the majority of those being accused of crimes will choose to hire a defense attorney. There are various pros and cons to hiring a defense attorney that are helpful to know before you find yourself in a situation in which making the decision to hire an attorney or not might have a drastic effect on the outcome of your trial.

Whether or not you need to hire a lawyer will often depend on the type and severity of legal trouble you find yourself in. Some areas of criminal law are a lot more technical and complicated than others, so knowing the limits of your ability to defend yourself, as well as taking into account the potential risk involved in doing so, is one of the first steps you should take when deciding whether or not you will be hiring professional legal counsel to assist you in your case.

Of course, this is where the top advantages to hiring a private defense attorney comes into play. Knowledge, experience, and dedication are the three primary things that a defense attorney should be able to provide you with.

First, knowledge. Lawyers go to school for several years to do what you’ll be attempting to do with what little legal knowledge you have if you decide to defend yourself in your criminal trial. Thus, a defense attorney will often be able to find weaknesses in the prosecution’s case agains you that you would otherwise miss. These weaknesses can definitely spell the difference between the success and failure of your defense strategy.

Next comes experience. On top of the extensive knowledge of the law that defense attorneys have, they also have the knowledge they have gained through experience of other cases. Many of these cases have probably been similar to yours, so a defense attorney should have developed strategies that have worked in the past and will likely work in the future.

Finally, a private defense attorney can offer you the dedication of their time and effort. Although your criminal case will probably be the number one thing on your list of priorities, you will likely still have other life responsibilities to deal with, so having a defense attorney who will be able to take care of the nitty gritty aspects of your case can alleviate a lot of stress and allow you to continue living your life as best you can while the criminal proceedings are taking place.

In the end, hiring a private defense attorney will prove to be the best decision for most people who find themselves caught up in criminal proceedings. If you find yourself caught in legal trouble and don’t know who to turn to, we’ve listed a couple recommendations for expert defense attorneys in the Western and Southwestern U.S.

Recommended Defense Attorneys:

• Colorado Springs DUI attorney
• Las Vegas defense attorney

To Hire or Not To Hire?

Getting into legal trouble is nothing any of us ever want to do. A run in with the law, no matter how serious it may be, can be stressful, painful, harmful to one’s reputation, and extremely financially burdensome. The legal process is long and complicated, so many people who find themselves in a legally risky situation will ultimately decide to hire an attorney. In fact, if the case is serious enough, not hiring an attorney can actually cost you more in the long run. Therefore, it’s really important to know what you should base your decision to hire an attorney or not on.

Before making any decisions as to whether or not to hire an attorney, you need to know exactly what your issue is. And when I say “exactly,” I mean “EXACTLY.” If you’re on the defensive, you need to understand the charges or lawsuits that are being leveled against you thoroughly for several reasons. First, if you don’t understand the issue you’re facing, how will you be able to explain it to an attorney if you decide to hire one? In addition, knowing the problem you are facing can help you decide if you know enough to defend yourself or if you will need the help of a legal expert.

Once you’re sure of what your problem is, it’s helpful to ask those close to you for advice on solving the problem. If you know people who have been in similar situations as you, it might be helpful to talk to them about their experiences, so you can get an idea of whether or not you might need to hire an attorney. Getting as many diverse opinions and suggestions as you can on the issue at hand can help give you a more well rounded view of the issue. If you find that neither you nor those you know have enough legal knowledge to solve the problem you find yourself faced with, it’s probably time to consider researching a DUI attorney Colorado Springs has to offer an-d scheduling a consultation with one of them.

During this entire process, you also need to keep in mind the urgency of your legal issue. The more urgent the issue, the quicker you need to find a solution and possibly hire a professional like a criminal defense or bankruptcy attorney Denver has. If you need professional legal counsel, the sooner you hire someone and get them to start working on your case, the better your chances are of coming out of your case on top. Again, you may think that the fees of, say, a DUI attorney Colorado Springs has are high, but not hiring the right attorney when you need one will usually cost you more in the end.

These are just a few major considerations you should take when deciding whether or not to hire an attorney. Of course, there are other elements that are specific to certain cases, such as the need to immediately hire a drug lawyer Las Vegas if you are being interrogated by authorities in Sin City. In cases like these, you need an attorney as soon as possible who will ensure that you do not incriminate yourself needlessly.

Welcome to Anderson & Carnahan, Attorneys at Law

Welcome to Colorado Springs DUI Defense!

Clients want results & meaningful results. Our goal is to achieve those results through dedication, hard work and total commitment to professional excellence. With years of experience we have litigated cases throughout the entire state. In all, we have settled hundreds of cases.

We understand the anxiety and uncertainty that is often caused by those life shattering events. By closely communicating with each person who entrusts such important matters to us we inspire confidence and assurance in their cause.

While we respect the positions taken by our adversaries we are relentless in our pursuit of the truth and obtaining the best possible result as each case allows. If our opponents decide against settling your case on a basis that you find acceptable, we pledge that we will seek the collective determination of a jury in the time honored tradition of American jurisprudence.

We welcome any questions or comments you may have. Feel free to contact us at any time: