Searching for a lawyer online can be a frustrating endeavor. While a search for a book, movie or music album that you’re sure to love is a cinch, lawyers are a completely different animal. It’s difficult to find reliable reviews of lawyers online, there are a vast number of lawyers through which to wade, and after a while, all their websites start to seem the same. Fortunately, a growing number of lawyers are literally putting themselves out there so that people like you can judge how good a fit you and your case are with them and their firm: they’re doing this through attorney videos. Now, that phrase may call to mind the clumsy, direct appeals for clients that are so regrettably common in legal television commercials, but the online attorney videos are very different. These lawyers have decided to try and answer some common questions that they hear when they first meet with clients in order to both save time, and to help people like you find an attorney who meets your needs. In other words, most lawyer videos online are informational in nature, and will likely prove helpful to you. Here are some other ways attorney videos will help you in your lawyer search.

1. You can use your eyes and ears to judge. Short of meeting with a lawyer, attorney videos are the best way to make up your own mind about how good a fit that lawyer is with you. Someone’s body language can tell you an awful lot about what kind of person he or she is, and you’ll be able to take that into account—as well as their intonation–when searching for your lawyer. The content, obviously, also plays an important role. Do they sound like they know what they’re talking about? Does what they’re saying match what you’ve found out for yourself online? By the end of two or three short videos created by the same lawyer, you’ll have nearly as good a read on her as you would from a face-to-face meeting—but without having to make awkward chitchat.

2. You know they’re up-to-speed on modern technology. Firms that don’t utilize the latest technology put themselves and their clients at a disadvantage. Being able to use cutting edge tools in defense of a client is of real value, and you want to avoid those firms that can’t or won’t. Obviously, just choosing not to have attorney videos online doesn’t make that firm automatically a technologically inept firm; however, the firms that do put videos online send a clear message that they are technologically capable.

3. You can sort prospective lawyers more effectively. There are a ton of attorneys out there—far more than you’re probably comfortable wading through. Since it can be hard to differentiate between them, you can use attorney videos as a search criteria. By only looking for those firms who host attorney videos, you’ll save yourself significant time, and make sure that those who remain are both technologically savvy and confident enough lawyers to share some of their legal knowledge with prospective clients, free of charge.

4. You can get informed during your search. Many attorney videos are geared at helping prospective clients understand the law surrounding their potential cases. In other words, they try to answer many of the questions that you probably have about your legal problem. Although attorneys aren’t allowed to offer legal advice online, they can provide helpful information to you—the kind of information that can greatly improve your chances of achieving the justice that you seek. What’s more, you’ll also have a better idea of which attorney is a good fit with you and your case.
Attorney videos can both make your lawyer search easier and give you valuable information in the process.