The following are things to look for in choosing a bankruptcy lawyer:
1) Will you meet the lawyer immediately and talk with the lawyer only during the initial meeting, or will you meet a paralegal? At the Rashid Law Firm, you will meet the lawyer, and your case will be discussed with the lawyer.
2) Will your lawyer go the the meeting of creditors and to any other legal proceedings such as the confirmation hearing with you, or will another lawyer go that you have never met before? At the Rashid Law Firm, your going to have your lawyer by your side, not a lawyer that you do not know, and that does not know you or your case.
3) Will your lawyer do everything possible for your benefit, or try to do everything possible for the lawyer's benefit? At the Rashid Law Firm, we never cut corners to benefit ourselves. We always look for the most affordable payment plans for our chapter 13 clients, and always try to place our clients in chapter 7 if they qualify, and always look for what would be best for our clients during the preparation of their case.
4) Will you be treated with patience, respect and understanding, or will you be treated rushed, and like just another number? At the Rashid Law Firm, we will not rush you, we will respect you, and we understand your going through a very difficult time.
5) Will you be quoted an hourly fee for a chapter 13, or a fixed fee? At the Rashid Law Firm, we almost always, 98% of the time, quote a fixed fee.
6) Will your lawyer also practice other areas of law, such as immigration, divorce, criminal defense, patents, wills, social security, etc... or will your lawyer practice bankruptcy law exclusively, 100%? At the Rashid Law Firm, we believe a jack of all trades is a master of none. We practice exclusively bankruptcy law.
7) Will your lawyer meet you on a Saturday, or at 6 pm, or only meeting you M-F during from 9-5? At the Rashid Law Firm, we regularly meet people on Saturdays and at 6 pm if they have no other choice.
8) Will your lawyer have dozens of 100% excellent reviews online, or only very few, or none at all? At the Rashid Law Firm, many of our clients have been nice enough to leave us excellent reviews and testimonials on multiple different websites that review lawyers.
9) Will your lawyer be endorsed by many other lawyers, or not endorsed by many, or none at all? At the Rashid Law Firm, many other lawyers unaffiliated with us have publicly endorsed us online.
10) Will your lawyer know who you are, think about your case at night, and treat your case like their only case, or will your lawyer just treat you like any other person that they do not really care what happens to them and will do the absolute bare minimum work? At the Rashid Law Firm, we treat every case like it is our only case.
11) Will your lawyer be someone who has authored a great book on consumer bankruptcy that is available online for purchase, or will your lawyer not have written and published any books on bankruptcy? At the Rashid Law Firm, we authored and published a book on consumer bankruptcy law.
12) Will your lawyer have multiple real offices to meet clients in for their convenience, or will your lawyer have one office convenient only for them, or multiple offices that are not established offices and are instead known as virtual/day rental/shared offices? The Rashid Law Firm has two offices, established for years, our own offices, in Houston, in convenient locations.
13) Will your lawyer have over 7 years of experience and nearly 500 cases personally filed, or will your lawyer have very little experience and has not filed many cases personally.
14) Will your lawyer provide a completely free consultation or will your lawyer charge for the initial consultation? At the Rashid Law Firm, we always offer free initial consultations to everyone.
15) Will your lawyer be an active member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the largest association in the country, or will your lawyer not be involved with any associations? At the Rashid Law Firm, we are proud to be a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and the Houston Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys as well.
16) Will your lawyer be able to recite case law and statutes by heart, or will your lawyer not know what code section or what case law applies to a common issue? At the Rashid Law Firm, often times a common issue arises with a client, and we are able to recite which case or statute, by case name or statute number, pertains to that issue. We sometimes pull it up on the screen for clients to see and read it with them if they are interested.
17) Will your lawyer's paralegal all have been new and have a revolving door of staff, or will your lawyer''s paralegal have been with their law firm for multiple years? At the Rashid Law Firm, our paralegal has been with us for multiple years, and is also among the best, if not the best, bankruptcy paralegal.
18) Will your lawyer be someone who received such high grades in law school that the school reduced their tuition only because of receiving such high grades (A's), or will your lawyer be someone who merely passed without any high grades? At the Rashid Law Firm, the bankruptcy lawyer's received tuition reductions only because of their high grades in their classes. One favorite course was secured transactions, which is a very common issue in bankruptcy.
19) Will your lawyer be expensive, or reasonable? At the Rashid Law Firm, our fees are not expensive. We determine your fee based on the complexity of your chapter 7 case, or the up front chapter 13 fees based on the ability to pay. If your case has no issues warranting a higher fee, we will quote you among the lowest fees in Houston.
20)Will your lawyer tell you the bankruptcy case should not be filed, or will your lawyer tell you that you should file even though you probably shouldn't? At the Rashid Law Firm, at least once a month, we have to tell people their bankruptcy cases should not be filed. We are honest. We do not want to file cases just to make money, and not care about what happens to you or your case afterwards, we always make sure, by triple-checking everything, that you, in fact, should or should not file a bankruptcy at the time of meeting us.