Does the lawyer have a documented reputation for excellent legal ability and high ethical standards?
I dont mean, ask the lawyer, Do you have a good reputation? I mean research objective sources. The gold standard is The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, which rates the legal ability of all lawyers in the United States as A, B, C or no rating. A rating of V is also given for high ethical standards. Why hire a lawyer with anything less than an AV rating? The directory is online at www.martindale.com. We are proud of our Martindale Hubbell AV rating, the highest available. You can also go to a firms website, and see where they were educated. For example: our lawyers graduated from Whitman, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, University of Washington and Tulane. You can check to see how other lawyers rate the lawyer. Are they repeatedly selected as a Superlawyer by popular vote of their peers in the annual Washington Law and Politics survey? Are they members of the most prestigious, invitation only groups, such as the American College of Trial Lawyers? If the lawyer doesnt list all those qualific
