Why Hire A Texas Board Certified Lawyer?

Any time you are hiring someone for a service-whether it is a lawyer, doctor, electrician, plumber, etc-how do you know that the person you are hiring is good at what they do? Often people rely on referrals from other people, but the problem with that in the criminal defense world is that most people haven't had the need to hire a lawyer to handle such matters.

In 1974, the State Bar of Texas recognized the issue of consumers trying to find qualified lawyers and formed the Texas Board of Legal Specialization ("TBLS"). They are the only organization in Texas who is authorized to provide board certification service to Texas citizens. Their stated goal is to, "promote the availability, accessibility and quality of the services of attorneys to the public in particular areas of the law... and advance the standards of the legal profession."

According to the TBLS website, there are over 70,000 lawyers in Texas but only 7000 who are Texas board certified in 21 areas of the law, including criminal law.

Standards for Board Certification

Here's a discussion of what an attorney must do to become board certified from the TBLS website:

"The Board Certification process is rigorous and thorough with stringent, ongoing requirements after initial certification. In brief, an applicant must:

• have been in practice a minimum of five years with three years of substantial involvement in an area of law,
• complete TBLS-approved Continuing Legal Education course requirements,
• furnish at least 10 qualified, vetted references,
• provide extensive, relevant experience documentation and
• pass a comprehensive, daylong, specialty area examination."

Are there good attorneys who are not board certified in an area? Yes, but it may be difficult, especially for a non-attorney, to know who those people are.

If a criminal defense attorney has confidence in their experience and knowledge, they shouldn't have a problem going through the TBLS process. Ask if an attorney is Board Certified, and if they aren't, see what sort of excuse they give for why they are not. It's not an expensive process. And it isn't a time consuming process if you know what you are doing.

Stradley Chernoff & Alford has Three Texas Board Certified Lawyers

All three partners of Stradley Chernoff & Alford are Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. We want you to feel confident that you have the best lawyer to handle your type of case. Come visit us in person and find out the Stradley Chernoff & Alford difference.