Top 5 Criteria For Hiring an Employment Lawyer

Are you looking for an employment lawyer?  How do you know where to start?  When you sign up with an employment lawyer, you are entering into a high-stakes long-term professional relationship.  Here are some criteria to consider when you choose an employment lawyer for your case.

1. Are they experienced and specialized?

If you had brain cancer, you would not want a first-year brain surgeon removing your tumor.  You also would not want a plastic surgeon doing the surgery.  You would want someone who is experienced and specialized in brain surgery.  The same concept applies in choosing an employment lawyer.  You want someone who is both experienced and specialized.  Someone who deals with retaliation, discrimination, harassment, and wage and hour cases on a daily basis.  Someone who dedicates 100% of their legal practice to employment law.  Don’t hire a car wreck lawyer or a divorce lawyer to handle your employment dispute.  Hire someone who practices employment law, and preferably someone who has years of employment law experience.

2. Are they willing to go to trial?

Lawyers often correctly point out that over 95% of cases never reach a trial.  Most cases settle, and some cases get dismissed.  So, trials are rare.  However, the only way to maximize the value of your case is to be willing to take it to trial if you do not get a reasonable settlement offer.  Do not hire a lawyer who is scared of going to trial.  Do not hire a lawyer who tells you that they will settle your case right away.  There may be very legitimate reasons why a case should settle and it should not be tried.  Defendants recognize settlement mills, and they pay less to settle cases brought by those firms.  They pay more when an experienced trial lawyer who is willing to go to trial is representing you.  If you find yourself in a situation where the Defendant is unwilling to offer fair value, you want to know on the front end that your lawyer is willing to go to bat for you and try your case.

3. Are they transparent about fees and expenses?

You do not work for free, and neither do lawyers.   Make sure that you understand very specifically how your lawyer will be paid for attorneys’ fees and expenses.  In employment litigation, the lawyer usually is paid on a contingency fee, which is a percentage of the money recovered.  Also, typically in employment cases, the lawyer advances fees paid to third parties like filing fees court reporter fees, expert witness fees, etc., but you (the client) are responsible for those expenses when the case is resolved.  You want to have a very clear understanding of how fees and expenses will be handled on the front end, so that there are no surprises when you get the settlement check at the end of the case.  If a lawyer is not transparent about how they handle fees and expenses, that is a red flag.

4. Will they give my case personal attention?

Would you ever eat dinner at a restaurant where a single server is responsible for 30+ tables?  Probably not.  You would never get your food on time, and there would be no quality control or personal attention.  Similarly, you should not hire a volume-based law firm that has to take-on hundreds of cases to pay for its marketing budget.  Some lawyers are selective in the cases they handle, and they make their living off of quality of their cases, not the quantity of cases that they handle.  Those are the lawyers you want to hire.  The lawyers who make their living off of the quantity of cases that they handle are rarely able to give their cases the personal attention that they deserve.

Ask your lawyer how many cases they are personally handling before you hire them.  If they are unwilling to tell you, or if the answer is over 25, you may want to explore other options that prioritize quality over quantity.

5. Are they adaptable and responsive in their communication style?

A lawyer should be willing to communicate clearly and in the way that you want to communicate.  They should want to know whether you prefer texts, phone calls, or e-mails, and whether you prefer Zoom or in-person meetings.  If a lawyer cannot adapt to your communication style, it is a red flag.  

They should also be willing to commit to a response time.  Lawyers (like everyone else) can get busy, but no matter how busy they are, they should be willing to respond to their clients the same or next business day.  Don’t hire a lawyer who is unwilling to commit to a timeline for getting back to you.  

Also, don’t hire a lawyer who speaks in legalese.  A lawyer’s job is to take complicated topics and communicate them in a clear and understandable way.  Make sure your lawyer can communicate clearly with you on the front end.  If they can’t communicate clearly with you, how will they communicate clearly with a judge or jury?

Conclusion

At Bodzy Law, we meet all of the criteria discussed above. We are specialized and experienced in employment law. We are willing to try cases. We pride ourselves on our transparent, clear, and responsive communication. Reach out to us to experience the difference for yourself.