Finding a lawyer is one of those things that you never quite do right the first time, but that you hope to never have to do again in order to learn from your mistakes.  It’s actually difficult to find a good lawyer, but so much is usually riding on the decision that we can’t really afford any mistakes.

My biggest advice would be to research any attorney thoroughly before making a decision, even if s/he comes on a recommendation from friends.  The one time I ever needed a criminal defense attorney in St. Petersburg, we took a friend’s recommendation and it proved disastrous: The guy was lazy and didn’t do his job, but of course I didn’t find that out until it was too late and we were in court.  If he’d followed through with a subpeona he was supposed to do, I really think things would have gone better for me.

Don’t get me wrong.  There are a lot of good lawyers in the area, and I’m sure if I had taken the time to do my research, I would have made a better choice.  My best friend’s ex-boyfriend, for instance, did his research when he was looking for St. Petersburg DUI attorneys, and found a really good one to represent him.

This just all goes to show that you can’t always depend on referrals from people you know.  Sometimes it’s better not to take the lazy way out, to look it up and do your own research.  It’s a little harder work, but it pays off when you know that you’ve selected an attorney you can really be happy with.  After all, you most likely won’t have a second chance, so you really need to be sure you get it right the first time!

Technorati Tags: criminal defense attorney in St. Petersburg, lawyer, St. Petersburg DUI attorneys