Verifying a US law firm

Factual Questions
1

I’m talkint to a law firm in the US that is to act as an escrow agent for a transaction I’m making between a US subsidiary and a third party (also in the US).

I have the name and address of the law firm.

I have googled it and while I can find mention of the firm, it doesn’t seem to have a website. Further, the attorney I’m talking to is using an ISP email address.

I’m sure it’s all above board and the firm is a little luddite in its operations. However, it’s a substantial amount of money so I want to be quite sure that it’s legit.

Is there a bar association or something that is open to the public, via which I can assess that the firm is indeed a law firm, and that it does indeed exist at the address and phone # listed?

Is there anything else I should be looking out for?

Thanks!

2

Call the Bar Association in the state where the firm exists, and ask them if the firm and lawyer(s) in question exist and are in good standing.

3

The most comprehensive listing of US attorneys is Martindale. If you let me know the state in which this firm is based, though, I might be able to provide a more local resource, such as the state’s bar association.

4

Most bar asociations I’ve dealt with have basic disciplinary records and status of bar admission for individual attorneys available online.

5

Thanks very much. I have located the firm via Martindale and am now handing the job to our US attorneys.

6

You will want to do more than that because you want to know that the person claiming to be the lawyer is the actual lawyer and not committing identity theft. There are escrow companies that would be better for a large transaction than a lawyer.

7

You can also usually find the state’s bar association’s website and look up a particular lawyer in their directory.

In Canada, it works pretty much the same way too. I can look up a lawyer on-line using LSUC’s directory.

8

FYI, a state bar licenses and regulates attorneys.

A bar association is a private group of attorneys.

Just be sure you are looking in the right place.

9

Resurrecting this old thread to correct this: “bar association” can describes both types of entity. For example, the Minnesota State Bar Association is the state’s mandatory bar. Most of the state bars were originally voluntary associations anyway.