Omaha Law Firms

Guide to Omaha Law Firms

When you want to find the best law firms in Omaha to represent you, you may be overwhelmed by your choices. With thousands of lawyers to choose from, how do you pick the ones who will be right for you? This guide can help you to identify Omaha law firms to take your legal case that will fit with your personality and budget.

Before You Get Started

When you begin to look for lawyers, you can do yourself a big favor by thinking hard about your own desires and preferences. Begin by getting out a pen and paper so that you can write down any preferences that come to mind. Remember that no law firm is right for everybody, and that there are enough Omaha law firms that regardless of your needs, you will be able to find the right representation for you.

Start by writing down your actual legal problem (like “My wife served me with divorce papers”). After that, write down your ideal solution to the problem (“I want to be able to have joint custody of the children, keep my car, and keep the dog.”) Keeping your problem and its ideal resolution in mind can help you pinpoint which Omaha law firms will handle your case best.

After writing your issues and solutions down, next you should try thinking about the kind of lawyer and law firm you want to represent you. Is your ideal lawyer aggressive, all business, formal, casual, relaxed, a skilled negotiator? Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Being honest about your preferences makes it more likely that you'll end up with the lawyer you really want.

Large Law Firms

Before deciding anything else relating to your legal representation, you may want to decide how large the firm that represents you should be. There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing either a larger or smaller firm, so this guide will help you understand some of the differences. In general, you may prefer larger Omaha law firms if these seem to describe you:

ñ You want a firm with a businesslike, professional atmosphere and a large number of lawyers with different skillsets.

ñ You have many different legal issues, or an ongoing need for representation, and prefer to keep all your legal work with a single firm.

ñ Price is no object, your legal services budget is quite high.

ñ You don't mind talking to a lawyer's secretary or a paralegal rather than your lawyer him or herself.

ñ You are looking for Omaha law firms for a corporate client rather than yourself as an individual, and want to find a firm with corporate experience.

Small Law Firms

If a big law firm doesn't sound like what you're looking for, you may like the greater range of smaller law firms. These Omaha law firms vary much more widely in terms of environment, price, and specialty area than larger firms.

Because small firms operate with less overhead than larger firms, most small firms have significantly lower hourly billing rates for their services. This can mean substantially cheaper legal representation for you. You will also be much more likely to have good access to your lawyer at a small firm—at the smallest firms, you will likely be given your lawyer's direct number instead of needing to go through a legal secretary first.

Small Omaha law firms also may develop a unique legal culture in ways larger firms do not. Many smaller firms have a more casual, laid-back environment that can be less intimidating for people without a lot of experience with the law. These lawyers may also use less formal language and understand how to make first-time clients comfortable.

General Practice Firms

The guidelines above should help you decide whether you want a large or small law firm to represent you. After making this important decision, you can start further narrowing your list of Omaha law firms by deciding whether you want a firm that limits its cases to a few legal areas or that will take nearly any case or client.

Firms that accept clients with a broad range of cases are called general practice firms, and they offer a good option for people who have normal legal concerns that don't require specialized or technical knowledge. For people facing traffic tickets, uncontested divorces, bankruptcy, or other common legal problems, general practice Omaha law firms may offer some of the lowest prices.

If your problem is less common, a general practice firm may not be as good an idea—remember that if you are looking at lawyers who take all types of cases, finding one with extensive experience with cases similar to yours may be much more difficult.

Specialized Firms

Instead of taking all types of cases, specialized firms limit their business to only a few legal areas. There are almost as many types of specialized firms as there are legal issues. You may want to look at specialty Omaha law firms if you want to hire a lawyer who has dealt with many cases similar to yours and understands the finer technical details of the law.

Understanding what type of specialty law firm handles cases like yours is important so that you can limit your searches. If you are interested in filing for bankruptcy, for instance, specialty bankruptcy Omaha law firms may be your best option. If you are adopting a child or getting a divorce, even though these are substantially different legal matters, both use the family court system and specialized family law firms will usually have lawyers experienced in both.

Some Omaha law firms also specialize in immigration law, criminal defense, tax law, intellectual property/patent law, medical malpractice, personal injury, real estate law, estate planning, employment and labor law, and many other areas. If you are having trouble understanding which specialty would best match your legal issue, you might try online searches for both Omaha law firms and keywords relating to your case (like “alimony” or “child support” in a divorce case). This kind of searching will tailor your results and ensure that the law firms that come up in your search will be able to serve you.