Finding and Hiring a Harassment Attorney

Sadly, as we found out through our whole fiasco, restraining orders, no contact orders, orders for protection, and various types of dispute cases (defamation, libel, slander, etc) and trials are all actually quite common. That isn't to say that is truly is common in and of itself, but, what is common is people suing each other for everything, all the time.

I won't get on my political/social soapbox much more other than to say it's sad that this has become such a litigious society that people are looking to get each other in court for little things, all the time, often, simply in an effort for a quick buck, or for the court to settle what they simply don't want to face.

We didn't want to go the courtroom route, we had it thrust upon us after 2 years of hell, trying mediation, personal discussions, consulting police for advice and more. It wasn't until my wife was assaulted and criminal charges were pressed that we finally admitted we had no choice.

Some people you simply can not have a real conversation or work things out with, they simply have no realistic understanding that the world is not theirs to treat people however they feel.

However, back to the subject at hand, because of the ridiculously litigation-happy society we have, attorneys are available everywhere. But they do not come cheap.

I am, at this point, unsure if one needs a specialist in harassment for simple cases. If you are clearly being harassed by some neighbor, ex-spouse or whoever, the more important thing you need is an attorney that is an experienced trial lawyer that knows how to cross examine witnesses, knows how to push buttons in order to get reactions out of these people.

Especially true with a mentally unstable adversary, it is pretty textbook procedure to push the right buttons in a person if you know approximately what their mental illness is (and let's face it, if one party didn't have some sort of mental illness this situation likely wouldn't exist, as normal people don't act this way). Each has their common characteristics, which means they have common hot buttons that can get a reaction for the whole court to see.

Family practice lawyers that do wills, bankruptcies and such things likely wouldn't be of much help, but, if you get an attorney specializing in harassment, criminal law, divorce or such other commonly hostile legal practice, they can likely do the job very effectively.

Do You Need An Attorney?

From what we witnessed, it seems that if you do choose to go it alone, something I don't personally recommend, the judges we watched seemed to be very good at guiding the trial themselves and working with the parties without attorney's by leading them through the steps of trial.

It seems to me that if both parties are without attorneys it is more manageable by the judge simply speaking directly to each party from the bench. If one party is represented by an attorney and the other is not it would get a bit intimidating.

The way I explained my thoughts on the matter to my wife were simple...we have one shot at it, make it count, hire a professional. Well, as it turns out our "shots" at it seems to keep coming...