My general policy is to have as little to do with the legal system as possible, but I often hear advice that if you find yourself in trouble with the police you should call your lawyer. In practical terms if you don’t personally know any lawyers how do you “have” a lawyer? Do you just pick one out of the phone book and write their number down? Do you call their office and ask them if they will be your lawyer should the need arise?
Same way you have a doctor or a dentist or mechanic, really.
If you expect to need a lawyer, start shopping early.
Yeah, that’s great advice. Except I know what I want from a doctor or dentist or mechanic, having been to many in the past and having some idea of what a “good” one of them is.
I have no idea what it would take in terms of a lawyer. I wouldn’t even know what I was looking for. And I don’t make enough money to need one now. And there’s about a million types.
For me, my cousin is a defense attorney, so anything having to do with the police, I would call him. If I needed another type of lawyer, I guess I would call him and ask for a referral. Failing that, ask friends of they have one and what kind of lawyering he does.
At what point in the attorney-client relationship is an attorney legally obligated to maintain confidentiality? If I call a lawyer and the first thing I say is “I just murdered a guy in cold blood and I need you to represent me,” is he already required to keep that confession secret, or can he reveal it to the police?
That last bit is a good start- you don’t need a corporate lawyer or related field.
Are you expecting to face criminal charges? Or would it be more likely for someone to sue you over something?
In my experience, lawyers tend to specialize.
We “have” a lawyer - someone who did my brother in law’s estate (he died without a will), and our will, who does general law and spent some time in the criminal justice system as a public defender (he burned out fast - its apparently really hard work, but he’s had enough exposure to give some advice). He’d refer us if we had a need for a specialist - like I got caught holding a bloody knife over a dead body.
I’m in the UK.
I hired a solicitor to handle buying my house and dealing with my will.
If I was facing charges by the police, I would get my solicitor to recommend a barrister to represent me in court.
I can’t speak for every jurisdiction but at least in my Canadian province, and I presume this is the case in most other jurisdictions, confidentiality kicks in when you have a reasonable expectation of confidentiality. That would apply when you call a lawyer qua lawyer to seek his aid. In the situation you detail, the lawyer may want to know what happened before deciding whether to take you on as a client. Yet if you didn’t have confidentiality, you wouldn’t want to tell him before he took you on. You can see the problem that would pose.
However, if serious harm is likely to occur in the future, the lawyer can call the police. A lawyer’s job in that situation is to advise you and take you through the accusations against you within the law, not help you break more laws or stand by as serious harm comes to people.
Bar associations and attendant regulations will err on the side of granting confidentiality rather than not, otherwise it would lead to too much apprehension on the part of people who seek legal representation and they would hesitate to be forthcoming in disclosing their situation which ultimately would run counter to the purpose of a lawyer; having someone who knows how to handle legal matters for you. If the lawyer doesn’t have all the relevant information, he cannot represent you to the best of his abilities.
I don’t ever expect to need one, but you just never know when you’ll be in the wrong place at the wrong time or whatever.
So does having a lawyer mean paying one a fee every so often to be your lawyer, or do you just need to know a lawyer?
Usually just knowing one and calling on him or her when needed, the same way you refer to “my doctor” or “my dentist” even though you only see them once or twice a year. Very few people have the need or the resources to keep a lawyer on retainer for extended periods of time.
I’d imagine getting a lawyer would be pretty similar to getting an electrician, plumber, contractor, doctor, specialist, counselor… You perceive a potential need and do whatever you consider sufficient research as to getting a good enough one.
I suspect most folk would try to think if they know anyone who has used a lawyer in the past - whether for similar things or not. Or if you had an atty do a good job on your house closing, but now face a potential criminal charge, you might ask them if they know anyone who handles that sort of matter.
I’ve had different lawyers represent me in different types of matters - litigation, estates, real estate… I’d have no hesitation going back to any of them should I need similar services later. Not sure I or any of those lawyers consider them “my” lawyer in the meanwhile.
I ‘have’ a lawyer the way I have a general practitioner doctor. She would be my lawyer of record and first point of contact if something occurs where lawyers are needed. If what I need is outside her scope, she will recommend someone and we’ll go from there.
My procedure for choosing a lawyer? Talk to lawyers and find out who they don’t want to be sitting across the aisle from. Former prosecutors are generally ideal.
ETA: My dream team lawyer? Elsbeth Tascioni from The Good Wife.
Redhead and crazy like a fox.
You might be surprised. My S-Corp has a lawyer on retainer and it only costs us something like $300/year. For that he answers the half dozen or so questions that come up every year that can be handled with a phone call and he does the paperwork for the annual meeting we’re required to have as a corporation. It’s not pocket change but you don’t need to be a Rockefeller to afford it.
I think the phrase “I have a lawyer” is meant to imply a state of preparedness more than anything else. “I am terrified of, or try to avoid the legal system as much as possible and would need a court appointed attorney” is probably the default state of 95+% of the people on the USA. “I have a lawyer” is tantamount to saying “I ain’t afraid to bring it”.
Even if that really means “I remember the number 1-800-LAWYERS from the subway advertisements” 
I think the best way is by referral - someone you know who has had a similar need.
A bad way is on-line. Lawyers seem in general to be pretty clueless about the web. My son-in-law picked up a lot of clients from being one of the few in the intersection of lawyer and knows how to design a web site - and knows how to climb in Google search results also.
If you work for an entity that has an EAP (Employee Assistance) program, it may have a list of lawyers that you could go to for one free consultation per year. If so, then anyone on the list is potentially your lawyer.
When people say ‘call your lawyer’, they don’t mean the Firm of Bailey, Dershowitz & Cochran, whom you have on retainer and consult when you need to buy a house in the Hamptons. They mean 'Leave us out of this. Call a lawyer, if you want out of this mess." If you call one, and can afford him/her, they will be ‘your’ lawyer for the case at hand.
Some can be on retainer, but, this will be for people who can afford, and have a need, to have a lawyer on retainer.
You can hire a lawyer on retainer like that, on standby in case there’s trouble, ready to spring into action.
Doesn’t really sound like you need that sort of service though, nor want to pay for it.
Asking friends and family is probably a good start. Bosses, business owners, others who have had legal dealings.
Doctors are good, if you know one. Virtually every doctor has been in court at some point in their career.
Just note that “on retainer” is not some magical state that only the megawealthy can afford. It just means you pay $X per Y, and your lawyer will bill you out of your retainer account rather than asking you to send a check. If you actually got in real legal trouble the money you’ve prepaid via retainer won’t last very long.
If you’re in a business where you expect to need a couple of hours of legal work regularly every year or month, it makes sense to schedule your payments. You’ll still be billed for the actual work the law firm does for you, but you’ll have already paid for it in advance.