One of the most common mistakes that lay people make when trying to find the right lawyer for their case is to assume that one lawyer will be just as good at handling their matter as any other. The truth is, attorneys vary widely not only in their specialization, but in their skill, diligence, and attention to detail. Having an attorney on your side who possesses the requisite skills can be the difference between a positive outcome and a disastrous outcome to your legal problem.

Legal work–and this is especially true in the litigation arena–is complex to a degree that most lay people don’t really understand. Cases have many moving parts, and in order to make strategic decisions, lawyers must assess a variety of factors, including damages figures, the facts of your case, credibility of witnesses, motivations of parties, financial positions of parties, and even the dispositions and tendencies of their opposing counsel.

A truly skilled attorney will drill down deep into all of these factors. The reason these factors are so important is because getting a more or less accurate read on these factors is how we make strategic plans in your case and how we keep you informed as to the case’s progress. Here’s the rub: Drilling down on these factors to the degree necessary requires diligence, determination, attention to detail, an appropriate risk assessment, and the experience to know what to look for.

Some lawyers may not take these tasks as seriously as they should–and it could be because their practice is such that most of their cases don’t require it, perhaps they’re too busy, or they’re just not accustomed to aggressively pursuing the other parties and their attorneys. Sometimes, they just don’t have the knowledge to dive deep into the litigation process, whether through investigating the facts or researching the law.

Many times, our law firm has inherited cases from other lawyers only to uncover, through determination and skill, facts or legal analyses that our predecessors weren’t able to find. If you’re in the middle of a complicated case, and wondering whether your lawyer is up to the task, give us a call and we can provide a second opinion on the matter. If we do believe you’re getting good representation, we will absolutely tell you so and to stick with your counsel.