Now-a-days, you can find thousands of lawyers in any attorney directory. But, choosing the best one for your case is as difficult as finding a needle in the hay stack. There are several attorneys who advertise themselves through attractive ads, but are very difficult to work with. Therefore, never fall for such advertisements. After all, all that glitters is not gold!

Here are a few effective tips to avoid bad lawyers and keep away from their slapdash legal advice:

1) It is in your own favor to hire a specialist rather than a general practitioner. To put it in simple words, it is always better to go for an attorney who is specialized and experienced enough to deal with your case. For instance, if you are considering a personal injury claim, it is advisable to look for a reputed personal injury attorney of your state. This is because a specialized lawyer can solve your case in a matter of hours, while a general practitioner might take several days or months to do research and gather all the required documents.

2) Before contacting any lawyer, you should do some basic research regarding the fee charged by him/her. This legwork can be done either by consulting his/her previous clients or by making some phone calls to get a rough estimate of the fee charged by different attorneys and law firms. Alternatively, you can also do your research on the Web. Once you are done with the initial research, try to figure out if your case is worth a hefty legal fee, and finally, meet the lawyers in person to discuss your case and the fee required to solve it.

3) Hire a lawyer who has been referred by your family, friends, colleagues, or some other reputed attorney you know. To avoid bad lawyers, make sure you do proper background checks and get references before hiring anyone for your case.

4) Make sure you get a written fee agreement from the attorney. A good attorney will always make it a point to explain to you all the factors that can increase or decrease the fee, and will also give you everything in writing.

5) Also, avoid lawyers who claim that you have got a 'slam dunk' case. No good lawyer would ever make such assessments without doing proper research on your case.

Thus, following these tips would surely help you find a good lawyer and avoid the bad ones.