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DO YOU REALLY NEED AN ATTORNEY?
In some cases you may not need to hire an attorney to represent you to get the same result that someone would get with an attorney. However, there may be very good reasons to hire an attorney. So it is important to discuss your situation with an attorney before you decide to represent yourself.
Most attorneys are like me and don't charge for an initial consultation. Take advantage of this and find out if you do need an attorney's help!
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HOW TO SELECT AN ATTORNEY?
Ask friends for recommendations. Remember that some attorneys rarely ever go to trial. If you have an attorney who isn't comfortable with the words "let's go to trial", then you are missing the ultimate leverage a defendant has - a trial attorney for an advocate. The district attorneys know who is and who isn't a trial attorney. They know defendants who are represented by an attorney that doesn't try cases will plead out clients no matter how bad the DA's offer. Unfortunately, there is a certain amount of gamesmanship involved in the District Attorney's evaluation of their cases. Winning is important. Justice is very subjective anyway and statistics are very important to some of the DA's.
It used to be common for attorneys to have general practices: a little criminal law mixed with a little personal injury mixed with a little business law, mixed with a little family law. These days, to keep up with constantly changing laws, better attorneys have tended to specialize in particular fields.
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