Choosing a Mackay Lawyer, Solicitor or Law Firm
Because it is a growing town, there are many new residents living in the Mackay region that require the services of a Mackay solicitor* or law firm for the first time. Choosing a law firm to complete the legal work to enable you to purchase a home, to advise you about starting a business or to prepare important documents such as wills or enduring powers-of-attorney, can be a baffling and stressful time.
When you are needing a Mackay solicitor, lawyer or law firm you ought to consider looking for these attributes:
Happy Customers
For most people it is almost impossible to compare the quality of legal services that is provided by one Mackay solicitor/lawyer or another. Unless you are a regular user of a similar kind of legal service you are unlikely to be able to compare different law firms. Look for a Mackay solicitor that is proud of their past performance provides several testimonials from previous clients. If they have plenty of testimonials it tells you two things. First, that they have plenty of satisfied clients and secondly, that they take the time and go to the trouble to discover what their clients think of their service. They understand that theirs is a service-oriented business.
Local knowledge
A Mackay lawyer or solicitor should have good local knowledge and experience in assisting others in the region. Find out if the firm has worked on local developments or firms with established conveyancing sections that will have garnered a valuable amount of “inside knowledge” about the property market, local agents and banks which will make all the difference to the ease and efficiency of your transaction.
Breadth of Services
Because you will only need a lawyer rarely, there is value in choosing a Mackay lawyer, solicitor or law firm that can provide the full range of services without you having to find different law firms. Finding a firm that can help with conveyancing, estate planning, disputes, business services and even workplace or employment issues, means you can be confident that the one firm which will meet all your legal requirements. Law firms value clients that use several services, and are often able to provide services more cheaply and efficiently if they have provided other services for you in the past.
*In Queensland a person with legal qualifications was traditionally referred to as a solicitor while a person who “had standing” to represent you in court was called a barrister. More recently the general term lawyer has become more widespread and can be used to describe either of these types of legal practitioner. In some other states of Australia the conveyancing process (the legal process required to transfer ownership of house) can be undertaken by licenced conveyancers. This is not the case in Queensland where conveyancing must be undertaken by a solicitor/lawyer.
John Gray is a practising solicitor and marketing consultant who has worked with leading Mackay law firms. If you need a Mackay solicitor or Mackay lawyer contact John Gray for a recommendation.