How do you pick an attorney? Word of mouth? A billboard? The Web? My friend especially likes the lawyer ads that she sees on the side of trash cans; she says it really puts the whole attorney thing in perspective. Obviously, she is not a fan of lawyers. But in today's world, where lawyers can advertise, you are inundated with ads in several different forms: the park bench you sit on, the radio you hear and yes, the trash can you throw refuse in!

The first thing to do is get familiar with the laws within your state. Internet sites are great because of this. A great website can give you a great overview about the laws in your region. With all the data available on the net, there is no excuse for being uninformed.

Here are several of the top resources to seek out good lawyers in your area:

If you know other business people within the community, you may wish to ask them for referrals and recommendations regarding good business legal firms and business lawyers within the community. Even though you will want to compile these recommendations, you shall also want to take them with a grain of salt because you're not able to be sure whether the recommendation is definitely an informed one. If you meet lawyers with specialties you don't need, you may wish to ask them for recommendations.

Nearly every law firm has a site. Law firm sites vary considerably within their quality and also the amount of information they provide. Some law practice websites provide an incredibly limited quantity of biographical information. Other web pages provide complete biographical information, and also publications, and sometimes even blogs and podcasts.

LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals. LinkedIn allows a user to post a detailed profile. Many lawyers are on LinkedIn. Some have posted detailed profiles, others have not. LinkedIn is growing, and even more lawyers appear to be taking it seriously. At the time of this time, LinkedIn is hit or miss on information regarding lawyers, but it really is worth checking.

Once you possess the name of a particular lawyer you want to research, Google (and additionally Bing and litigation experience Yahoo) may be valuable. In "Googling" a lawyer's name, for several often find other details about a lawyer, sometimes including links to articles the lawyer has written or links to cases the lawyer has handled. The "advanced search" feature on Google can be useful in narrowing results.

There are many subscription services that provide access to all case law and lots of legal publications, and additionally to news and information. It is possible to use these databases to search for cases that an attorney has handled. Most business people, on the other hand, do not have accessibility to these expensive resources. Thus, I mention them as possibilities for deep research, however they are really not essential to locate an excellent lawyer.