Before speaking with an attorney, it's a good idea to define what your goals are. You should have an idea of what outcome you want. Next, talk about strategy. If your attorney can't articulate to you what strategy they think is best, it might not be a good fit. You can ask what the procedure is going to look like, how you're going to get the issues in front of the court and how they're going to negotiate your case. Ask them how they will facilitate the outcome that you'd like.
You should always ask your attorney what their style is. Some people in family law are looking for a very aggressive bulldog. Other people are looking for someone who's interested in being efficient and effective with their resources and finding the best settlement possible. Other people want some combination of both. If you have a sense of what that looks like, you should ask the attorney that you're interviewing what they think of themselves and how they practice.
Ask them about their experience. You want to have a sense of how much you're willing to spend and how much you're NOT willing to spend. Is the attorney's experience that they bring to the table going to effectuate the outcome that you want? Some of the best attorneys in the industry are younger and some of them are older with lots of experience and knowledge about the experts and the community. Often, they can bring that into play for your case. However, if you have a simple straightforward case, you should consider working with an attorney who's perhaps younger, that's going to really expand the resources that you have and get you further down the road.
Next, find out if the attorney works with a team. Do they have resources available to them or are they independent, Lone Wolf's in the industry? Get a sense of what their resources are so that you know what you have behind you when you go into a fight. The next thing I would ask about is rates. This is very important. You don't want to hire a lawyer or sign a fee agreement before you know the hourly rate of the attorney that you're working with. Ask them about how much time they're going to need and how long is the case going to take? Remember that in a divorce case, if you're talking about a marital estate, the pool of resources is finite and how much you spend on an attorney on either side is going to diminish the amount of money either of you receive at the end of the case. Get a sense of what that looks like so that you're making an informed decision.
Finally, I would ask this attorney if what you are looking for what you want to achieve is reasonable. Frequently in family law, we have clients who come in and they want something that isn't supported by Colorado law. What matters is that the attorney gives you honest feedback and tells you what the law would support to get you as close to that outcome as possible, while keeping it within the confines of the law and not accidentally increasing the cost of the case or the length of the case.
Feel out how the attorney responds and how they guide you because the relationship you have with an attorney throughout these cases is going to be a close one, and it's going to develop over time. You want an honest relationship. You want someone who's going to be able to give you the good and the bad in a way that you're going to hear it and understand it.
