Guide to Las Vegas Law Firms
What happens in Vegas sometimes ends up in a courtroom. If you need legal representation in Sin City, you may be overwhelmed by the number of Las Vegas law firms in the phone book. Take heart—it's not impossible to choose the law firm that will be right for your case. This guide will help you to find a firm that will meet your legal and financial needs.
Large Law Firms
Before you even begin looking at Las Vegas law firms, you should figure out whether a small or large firm can best represent you. Both large and small firms offer advantages and disadvantages for legal clients, and there is no one-size-fits-all law firm. You may generally want to look at big Las Vegas law firms if the following list describes you and your legal situation:
ñ You want a firm that has lawyers in many specialty areas—a “one stop” firm for all your legal needs.
ñ You require your firm to have a network of many experts who can act as witnesses in your case.
ñ You don't mind paying a lot for your legal services.
ñ You're all business and expect your law firm to be as well—you don't require a more “personal touch.”
ñ You are representing a corporation who needs Las Vegas law firms with experience handling corporate clients.
Small Law Firms
Smaller law firms may have a dozen lawyers or just one or two. These firms can offer some unique advantages but are not the best option for every client. If these describe you, you may want a smaller firm representing you:
ñ You have a small budget and want a law firm that understands and can work with you to reduce your costs.
ñ You want to feel warmly welcomed by and “at home” with your lawyer.
ñ You have a relatively common legal matter that requires competent representation but not a lot of experts.
Which type of firm you choose should depend on your situation. If you have been using a small law firm in the past but no longer feel it offers you what you need, you may want to investigate larger Las Vegas law firms.
General Practice Firms
When a firm offers lawyers who will work with most types of cases, they're called a general practice firm. Most law firms used to be of this type, but they are an increasingly rare breed today. A good general practice firm can offer you legal representation for nearly any common legal matter, and may offer reasonable price points for clients whose budgets are tight.
General practice firms tend to be the largest and the smallest firms, and you may get rock-bottom prices for legal representation at a very small (1 or 2 lawyer) general practice firm, especially one headed up by relatively inexperienced lawyers looking for legal experience. However, if you choose to take this route, be aware that it is substantially safer to do with a very normal, run-of-the-mill legal issue—an inexperienced general practice firm is probably an unsuitable choice for complex or unusual legal problems, and you may wish to seek more specialized attorneys.
Specialty Firms
Today, most Las Vegas law firms don't take all types of cases. Instead, they focus on just one or a few areas of law so that their lawyers become subject-matter experts in their legal field. For complex litigation or anything requiring technical or scientific knowledge, hiring a specialty firm may be the right choice.
Specialty Las Vegas law firms may specialize in a general area of law, like divorce and family law, or may narrow their focus even further—for example, firms that only handle child custody for fathers. If one of these very narrowly tailored practices would work for you, it may have lawyers with the highest level of expertise in that subject.
Other types of specialty law firms available in Las Vegas include firms specializing in immigration law, criminal defense, tax law, estate planning, personal injury law, medical malpractice, employment and labor law, and corporate law. There are many other specialties, so whatever your legal issue pertains to, you may want to look up related keywords and see what legal field your problem falls under.
Finding Las Vegas Law Firms
Before choosing a firm based on a television, billboard, or phone book advertisement, stop and think: how much information was really in the ad you saw? In general, law advertisements tell you nothing about a law firm's record or its real level of expertise in handling cases similar to yours.
A web search can be a much more fruitful source of information about Las Vegas law firms. Once you have figured out what attributes you want your firm to have (large or small, specialist or generalist) you can begin to look for keywords related to your case and start to identify Las Vegas law firms that can meet your needs.
Researching Firms
Once you have found some law firms, it's time to do your homework to narrow them down. You may want to actually visit two or three Las Vegas law firms for consultations to be able to do a direct comparison and make a choice based on a lawyer's personality or demeanor, but to get your list narrowed to that point, here are some suggestions:
ñ Examine the website of the firm you're considering. Does it seem thoughtfully organized and client-friendly?
ñ Do the lawyers have biographical information? If they do, you can find out how long most of the lawyers at the firm have worked there and what kind of legal education they have received.
ñ Does the firm appear to frequently handle cases of a similar type to yours? Las Vegas law firms are more likely to be successful if they have recent and recurring experience with similar cases.
Feel free to use your own impressions and criteria—your choice is entirely up to you, and your comfort level with a lawyer can make a big difference in your lawyer-client relationship. Choose a firm that seems like it can represent you and put your mind at ease. After narrowing down your search, call the firms for a consultation so that you can make your final decision.
