Choosing a Mackay Lawyer, Solicitor or Law Firm
Because it is a growing city, there are many new residents now living in the Mackay region who need to choose a Mackay solicitor* or law firm for the first time. Choosing a lawyer to complete the legal work to enable you to purchase a home, to advise you about starting a business or to prepare legal documents such as wills or enduring powers-of-attorney, can be a baffling and stressful process.
When you are looking for a Mackay solicitor, lawyer or law firm you ought to seek the following attributes:
Satisfied customers
For most people it is impossible to compare the quality of legal services that is provided by one Mackay solicitor/lawyer or another. Unless you regularly use a similar type of legal service you are unlikely to be able to compare different law firms. What you can do is look for a Mackay lawyer who is proud of their past performance and offers a number of testimonials from previous clients. If they offer numerous testimonials it lets you know two things. Firstly, that they have numerous happy clients and secondly, that they are willing to take the time and go to the trouble to discover what clients think of their service. They understand that theirs is a service-oriented business.
Local Knowledge
Your Mackay lawyer or solicitor ought to have a good local knowledge and experience in aiding others in the town. Look for firms that have worked on major local developments or firms with established conveyancing specialists who will have garnered a valuable source of “inside knowledge” about the property market, local agents and banks which can make a big difference to the way your transaction will be dealt with.
Breadth of services
Because you will only need a lawyer occasionally, there is value in choosing a Mackay solicitor, lawyer or law firm that can provide you with the full range of services without you needing to seek additional law firms. Finding a firm that can assist with your 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 a range of services, and will often provide services more cheaply and efficiently when they have provided other work 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.