Law is often difficult to understand and so it is a good idea to employ the services of a solicitor when getting into any sort of legal dispute or agreement.

There are many solicitors around but how do you choose which one to use?

It will help if you are clear what sort of solicitor you need - a generalist or a specialist. Specialists are very knowledgeable in their chosen area of expertise and are therefore very useful to have on your side if you are in need of specific legal advice. You will find that solicitors often have a few chosen specialisms such as Court of Protection, Wills and Probate, and Tax.

The first thing that you might do to go about locating a suitable solicitor is to ask friends and family if they know anyone. This is useful because if they do suggest anyone, the suggestion will be coming from a reliable source and so the solicitor is more likely to be an ideal match for you.

If you can’t get a personal recommendation then you will need to look around yourself. The easiest place to start is on the computer. Look up solicitors in your region by querying something like ‘solicitors Salisbury’ or ‘solicitors Southampton’. You will find that there are quite a few that are listed just on page one of the results. Anything listed under ‘ads’ is a paid listing. These can be trusted less because a company is paying their way to the first page listings rather than using the organic method where (in very basic terms) links from other websites act as an endorsement for a site and help get it to the first page.

If you need a specialist solicitor, try including that in your search, e.g. ‘residential conveyancing Salisbury.’ This will show solicitors that cover the exact area of law that you want.

When you have found a few firms on the web, look for testimonials and feedback. If you are happy with what you see, you will need to narrow down which solicitor you are going to use. This can be done by looking at where they are located (although it will be sensible travelling a little further to get to a better solicitor than just sticking with the closest one). You can also phone a few of your shortlisted firms and see if they impress you on the phone. Don’t be shy about asking what experience they have and what the outcome has been for them for similar cases.

You can also go to the website of The Law Society and use their lookup facility. They have information on you can expect, guides to common legal problems, and what to do if things go wrong. All listed solicitors in their ‘Find a Solicitor’ lookup will hold a license to practise from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

If you find a good firm of solicitors, the chances are that you will build up a relationship with them and if you need legal help again you already have a good solicitor to turn to.

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