How to Select a Divorce Lawyer

By Attorney Gregg Herman
May 8, 2012

A recent article on CNBC’s Web site (quoting my friend, Randy Kessler, among others) discusses the importance of selecting a good divorce lawyer.  One lawyer says:  “Look for a lawyer the same way you would look for a surgeon — as if your life depended on it.”

That is not universally true.   For most divorcing couples, there is little at stake because they don’t own much.  Any competent lawyer can draft the proper papers and many of the factors suggested in the article (e.g., likability) aren’t really that important.

On the other hand, I am amazed at how infrequently potential clients who do need the right lawyer do not ask the right questions.  The most common question which I get asked is “What is your retainer?”  Is there a more irrelevant question?  The retainer is merely a downpayment – the lower the retainer, the more that is owed later.

Very, very, very infrequently, do I get asked the following questions:

Instead, I get “What is your retainer?”

Attorney Gregg Herman is a founding partner of Loeb & Herman, LLC in Milwaukee, WI. He practices family law exclusively, and can be reached via e-mail or by calling (414) 272-5632.