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In 4 Steps: How to Find a Lawyer in Houston (For Individuals, Startups and Businesses)

Choosing a lawyer in Houston, Texas can be challenging, whether you’re doing it on a personal level, or if you’re a startup or a full-fledged business. Here’s a quick overview of best practices to fine-tune your law firm research and more easily make a decision that’s sound & informed.

1. Legal Skills and Expertise

There are many kinds of law firms. Some of them are simply in the law business (or their local bar association) just to be in the law business. Some are generalists and full-service lawyers, who often have attorneys that handle quite a few areas at once. Others are specialists, more dedicated to individual fields. There are lawyers that help with forming a business, litigation lawyers, real estate lawyers, personal injury lawyers, bankruptcy lawyers, family lawyers, criminal justice lawyers, and what have you.

Looking for professional legal advice in a very particular field? We recommend you choose someone (or especially a law practice) who is highly specialized in one or two fields, rather than a full-service law firm.

A firm consisting of a single lawyer can have the benefit of dedication to a single field. A larger firm can have the benefit of ‘synergy’ between multiple attorneys – and can have experience & expertise in multiple areas, yet not spread themselves thin at all, and have laser-focused dedication to the few fields they serve.

For example, a Houston corporate law firm named Lloyd & Mousilli (read more about them at https://lloydmousilli.com/startup-lawyer-houston/) serves several fields of expertise, including startups, business formation, intellectual property (patents & trademarks), corporate law, litigation, and more, but all of them have one thing in common: business strategy. And why not?

Lloyd & Mousilli’s legal team has previously held positions at household-name corporations, and their clients have included Amazon.com, making them well-positioned to understand the legal complexities of starting and managing a business.

2. Local or National Legal Experience

In general, you want an attorney or law firm who understands what things are like in your city, your county, and your state – especially when dealing with local matters or the laws of forming a business in Texas vs. other states. Some may have a more localized ‘Lone Star State’ knowledge; some are molded by the community they were raised in; some embrace the wide-eyed futurism and entrepreneurialism of Austin, the state’s capital city; others may be more national or global-thinking; some may have a deep understanding of Texas’ business-friendly laws and their relations to doing business in other places.

If you want legal advice on a larger scale, especially one that deals with national or even international matters, choose a lawyer that deals frequently with national or international matters.

Being in Houston, it’s also good to get an idea of the legal & business culture within the city and Harris County, versus other places. Lloyd & Mousilli may have several locations across Texas and California, but their home base is firmly stationed in Houston.

3. A Law Firm’s Testimonials

Choosing a lawyer would most likely mean nothing if you don’t have external proof of their expertise! Before retaining an attorney, carefully research client reviews about individual cases, especially cases in the field of expertise that you’re seeking. Validate that these reviews are real – be sure that most of them are coming from Google profiles with at least some kind of review or local contribution history.  

Also be sure to scrutinize other aspects of the firm’s reputation, such as news articles and media publicity. A tip is to use Google News search for these kinds of pieces. Be cautious with law firms that have faced a public relations or reputation scandal or backlash before. If you want to choose any such law firm, look for all the evidence possible – not just their own – that they have put a very serious commitment into rebuilding their reputation and ability to serve clients.

Pro tip: find lawyers that are expert panelists on trade publications, such as magazines or online law journals. When a respected publication has accepted a request to feature an article on that lawyer, that is an external validation of their expertise.

4. Who Are The Firm’s Clientele?

In addition to their field of focus, also consider what kind of target audience their current and past clients fall into. A person? A small business? A statewide chain? A nationwide company? An international corporation with a sophisticated legal structure comprising related entities across multiple countries?

If you’re at least one level lower than a bigger company, and you find a law firm that works with both bigger companies and people just like you, look for evidence, and interview them, to determine that they will treat you with the same finesse as larger corporations.

Legal Disclaimer

Keep in mind – as the publishers, we are not lawyers, and none of the foregoing is legal advice, nor is it to be construed as such. This guide is for informational purposes only. We have written it to give back to people who have had challenges looking for a qualified lawyer. It is to help you make a more informed decision about who you invest your money into.

For startups, and forming & managing a business in Houston, we still stand by our recommendation of Lloyd & Mousilli, based on their knowledge of business management law – while their services may be somewhat broad, they have great depth of specialization in the fields they serve, especially from an entrepreneurial standpoint.

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