The other day I was covering court here or a law firm out of South Florida. They asked if I would stand in for a DUI plea, and because I had court in that courtroom anyway, I told them I would be happy to do it. After meeting the client and speaking to her for a while, she was shocked to learn that the lawyer that she hired was not a 'st. augustine attorney', but one from south florida, hundreds of miles away. In this specific case, it probably didnt matter; and I will also preface this by saying that from what I know of this particular law firm, they do a good job.
However, when someone goes to the trouble of getting on the internet and googles "attorney st. augustine' or 'attorney des moines iowa', or 'attorney wherever', that person is trying to find an attorney in that specific area. Unfortunately, what has happened is that these law offices who spend thousands of dollars advertising on google, pay so their names come up in every county. Then, even worse, is when the client calls them to ask if they are in st augustine, they will say "we have an office there'. Well, they dont. And this happens in every city nationwide. Sadly, what the client is left with, is a big fee because they believe that attorneys who cover cases statewide must be worth the money. Invariably, at the end of their cases, almost all of these clients regret the decision. I am not saying that if you get arrested in St. Augustine, you need to hire a lawyer in St. Augustine. I would, but there are plenty of capable attorneys from around the area that could help you.
The point of the blog is to be careful and look out for this. I have been doing this for 14 years and have been to many counties. In the rare event that I take a case outside of my county, I make sure to call an attorney in that county to ask what to do. The good attorneys who come down from bigger cities like Jacksonville will often call local counsel for advice. Just use common sense, the local attorneys know the local system and it is different everywhere.
Probably 95% of my practice is in St. Augustine and every time i receive a call from someone asking me to take a case somewhere else, I make sure they are aware that my only office is here. This is not to say that being from out of town is always a disadvantage, many times it isnt. There are plenty of good attorneys that are fully capable of handling out of town cases, but the hiring of a lawyer is a very important decision. The last thing you need to be concerned with is a lawyer that is trying to be deceptive. And if you are googling "attorney st. augustine' and that attorney isnt either in st. augustine or hasnt handled numerous cases in st. augustine, that is deceptive.
