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"Mr. Richardson and Ms. York were always available - and they did a terrific job."

"Chip Permar and his team were outstanding!"

"You showed so much concern for me as a person -- there is such a personal touch to everything you do."

"I don't know what I would have done without you!"

"We were nervous at first, but you put us at ease."

"John and Stephanie were patient with me. Great teamwork!"

"Being injured turned into a life-changing event, but it was comforting to know that you understood me and were only a phone call away."

"You guys are on top of your game."

"I researched law firms on the internet, and I could not have asked for a better attorney."

"Whenever I called I got answers."

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What is Board Certification? Does it matter?

A:

All lawyers in North Carolina are required to graduate from law school (usually taking three years to do so), pass a half-day ethics examination, and then pass a two-day bar examination. After that you can call yourself a lawyer and practice any area of the law you like. Ethically we're required to seek assistance in a case if we aren't really competent in that area of the law.  Less than 2% of all attorneys who attempt  a much more difficult examination, the Board Certification exams, actually pass.

To even sit for the exam a laywer must have several years of experience in the particular field, have undergone extensive additional training in that area of the law, have many of their cases reviewed to see how well they performed, undergo a secret evaluation by your competitors, and then take a one-day examination. Then, and only then, may you use the term "specialist" to describe yourself.

Does this matter for your case? There are good attorneys who have not taken the specialization exam. However when you have the opportunity to go with a firm with multiple specialists or a firm with none it may not make sense to go with the firm which has no specialists.