Find legal help and check a lawyer’s current license
For people looking for legal help in the United States.
I need a lawyer. How do I find a suitable referral and check the person I’m being referred to?
Start with the place and type of problem. Use a state bar’s referral service, an official lawyer finder or a local civil legal-aid program to identify a possible office. Match the individual lawyer to their regulator’s record, then ask the office whether it handles this type of work and can consider it in time.
Choose a route that serves your problem
Write a one-sentence description of the problem, the state or locality involved and the date of any scheduled event. A referral office can use those facts to distinguish, for example, a tenant seeking housing help from a property owner asking about a construction contract.
The American Bar Association links to state directories and lawyer finders. For a civil problem and limited resources, Legal Services Corporation’s locator can identify programs serving an area. Ask the program which matters it accepts, how it determines eligibility and when it can review an inquiry.
Match the referral to an individual license
Get the lawyer’s full professional name, licensing jurisdiction and identifier if the regulator issues one. Match the name and identifier to the official licensing record. Read the current status and public disciplinary information in the regulator’s own terms. Preserve the date you checked and clarify ambiguous entries with the regulator.
A directory entry can establish that you found the right individual. It may tell you little about whether that person handles a particular matter or can meet an approaching date. Use independently obtained office details to ask who would evaluate the case and which lawyer would handle the work if accepted.
Find out whether this office can take the work
Ask whether the office handles the subject and location, what an initial consultation costs, and when it can decide whether to take the matter. If it can offer only a limited service, ask exactly what that includes. Keep a short list of names, regulator results and next steps so you can follow up with another provider if needed.
Worked example
Illustrative referral. A tenant needs help with a housing hearing next week. A referral service supplies two similar names. The tenant matches the first lawyer’s identifier to an active licensing record, then learns that office handles commercial leases only. A local civil legal-aid program serves residential tenants and offers an eligibility screening. The tenant records the screening time and asks who, if anyone, has agreed to handle the hearing.
Primary sources
Related work at Agentic Attorney
This legal-help referral guide is part of the shared Agentic Attorney resource collection. The hub describes AI consulting and implementation for legal teams. The licensing and legal-aid directories above serve readers looking for a lawyer. Explore Agentic Attorney’s approach to AI implementation.