Hiring a lawyer to deal with a legal issue abroad

Travel is usually exciting and fun, but sometimes things can go wrong. You can have an accident, be affected by a health-related issue or get caught up in a natural disaster. Occasionally, this can mean that you need to hire a lawyer. Perhaps to help you to secure compensation or deal with the fact that someone is suing you. The list of legal professionals you may need to hire to handle a legal wrangle abroad includes personal injury, criminal and accident lawyers.

Regardless of which kind you need, it is important to hire the right one for the job. It is all too easy to end up hiring the wrong one and losing out. The tips below will help you to find the best lawyer to deal with any foreign legal issue.

Someone you can communicate with effectively

At the top of the checklist is hiring someone that you can communicate with effectively. If you cannot understand each other properly the chances of things turning out well are very low indeed.

At the very least you need someone that speaks your language and does so well. Most embassies maintain lists of lawyers that do so. Some governments like the United Kingdom maintain a central list that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. It is also possible to find foreign language lawyers using expat websites and newspapers.

Before hiring your lawyer, try to speak to them in person and correspond with them in writing as well. This enables you to ensure that their written and spoken language skills are good enough for you to be able to communicate with them effectively.

A lawyer that has the right type of experience

If possible, hire a lawyer that has experience of dealing with your type of case. Taking this simple step will greatly increase your chances of success.

Check their credentials

Before hiring a lawyer, you should always check their credentials. Across the world, there are scammers operating as fake legal professionals. So, it is always wise to check with their local bar council or equivalent organization, that they are in fact fully qualified.

Make sure that they can represent you in court

If there is a good chance that your case will end up in court, it is best to hire someone who will be able to represent you in that setting. In many countries, there are different classes of legal professionals. Some can represent you in court, others cannot. The last thing you need is to have to hire a 2nd legal professional to appear in court on your behalf.

Make sure they have a good track record

Once you have narrowed your options down, take the time to find out more about them. In most parts of the world, this can easily be done online.

Putting their name into a search engine in speech marks along with a few relevant words will normally bring back press reports of cases they have dealt with. Sometimes a few forum comments will appear in the search results. In many cases, you can use review websites too to find out more about what they have to offer. Using Google translate is usually enough to enable you to create foreign language search terms that will allow you to find out what you need to know.

Provided you follow the above advice you should be able to hire a foreign lawyer that will win your case.

Andy Higgs
Andy Higgs

I know what it's like to go from being a crazy backpacker without a care in the world, via being a vaguely sensible parent to being an adventurer once more. In other words, evolving into a Grown-up Traveller.

Like everyone else, I love to travel, have visited a lot of countries and all that but my big thing is Africa.

I also own and run The Grown-up Travel Company as a travel designer creating personalised African itineraries for experienced adventurers

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One comment

  1. I love that you talked about checking their credentials so that you know they are qualified to handle your situation. My husband needs to find an international trade attorney that can help his business with some trade laws. He will keep these tips in mind as he searches for a professional that fits their needs best.

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