The first thing to check when you find a company is to ask if it's law firm or just a referral service? Referral companies have web sites that make them appear to be law firms. They take cases and then sell them to law firms, who pay a fee for them. Make sure you are hiring the entity who actually will work on your case.

What is involved in your lawsuit? You want to get an overview of the process, and what your role will be in it. You also want to get a sense of how good a communicator your legal attorney is.

You can seach on 'legal attorneys' on the internet until you get RSI, but eventually you'll have to pick one or two providers. You can get 'surfer's fatigue'; so tired from research you can't think straight. That's a good time to make a note of your favourite sites, and go out for a walk. Clear your head, and let your sub-conscious mull over the choice.

Your best way to find a legal attorneys is to use Google, and add 'stop' words to the query. Your query would look like this: legal attorneys -disbarred -biz -"total incompetent", where 'disbarred' and 'biz' are words, and 'total incompetent' is a phrase, from type of sites you don't want in the search results.

What should you look for in taking-on a legal attorney? You need someone trustworthy, who talks your language, and gives good, fast support. The internet is a mammoth, free yellow pages. Who can you trust?

If I don't reply to your email, please don't get angry. It's because I can't help you. Some products on this site are only open to UK residents. Others are only available to 'First-world' countries; if you live in Venuezela, you're out. I'm basically a one man band. There are two things they ain't making any more of: legal attorneys, and time. And I'm starting to value mine more.

Legal attorney fees can sometimes be based on contingency or ‘no win, no fee’ contracts, if the case reeks of money. This means that the legal attorney receives a percentage of the amount the victim recovers if the suit is successful. If the suit is not successful, then the legal attorney earn no fee.

Make sure your attorney knows that you will NOT pay anything that is not covered in advance by a signed and agreed estimate.

If during the case new costs arise, make certain he understands that you must pre-approve the expenditure or it will not be paid for by you. Put that in writing.

Disputes arise over assumptions not put in writing. He has his version of your ‘verbal contract’, and you have yours. Disputes are best avoided by clearly understanding everything up front; the essence of a good contract.

Another trick I'd use is to type 'legal attorneys forum' into a search engine, and see what comes up. If you find a lively forum, you can ask questions about the law firm you're keen on, or ask for other users' recommendations.

WARNING: Some touts for law firms may lurk in these forums; you may not get unbiased advice. Also, some posters are overly negative; they hate everyone! Or they are fools, or ignorant. Search thoroughly: you'll know the truth when you find it.