I need some help from the collective wisdom on SI. I have interviewed 3 lawyers and ruled out one. But for the life of me, I cannot seem to move forward with making a decision on which one to choose. It's like I'm frozen with fear.
I know that part of this comes from a fear of failure (part of my own FOO problems), but part is that I don't know what the best strategy would be with my WH. He is likely BPD/NPD, based on history and the assessment of my therapist, and I'm terrified of making a critical error at this stage. I don't want to be engaged in a long-term battle when there are no custody issues to consider.
Lawyer #1 is intellectual, organized, all-business and was the first lawyer I spoke to, back when I was still very emotional about the whole situation. She comes highly recommended, has a reasonable number of years experience, but I felt really discouraged after talking with her because she didn't seem to think that I would be able to keep the house (a very important issue for me, for financial reasons). Even though WH makes twice what I do and could afford to move anywhere, he will likely fight for the house as well. Her rates are reasonable (middle of the road in our town, as far as I can tell), and she has a paralegal and a younger lawyer working with her.
Lawyer #2 came up on a list of local lawyers who deal with high-conflict divorce, and has a number of videos on her website dealing with different issues. I was not able to get a consultation with her directly, but rather with a junior lawyer in the firm (there are 2 juniors). Her videos show a bolder personality and recommendations state that she is very successful in the courtroom. Her rates are also reasonable (although slightly higher for her, lower for using the junior lawyer). She also comes highly recommended. In fact, both of these lawyers have written recommendations for each other on Avvo. However, there is something I can't put my finger on that makes me feel uncomfortable with the lawyer (I truly don't know why, it's just a gut thing), but I'm afraid to let that influence my decision.
A little background: I live in an at-fault state where the judges are somewhat conservative. I'm told that there is precedent for rulings that favor betrayed spouses. But that only helps if we end up in court, which I'm hoping not to do.
Lawyer #1 has the same fees for uncontested/contested, with the retainer running about $3000 to start with uncontested. Lawyer #2 has a flat-rate fee of $2500 (for junior lawyer) for an uncontested divorce (this would be $5000 for the senior lawyer) that can be wrapped into a retainer for contested (I was quoted around $5-10,000, depending on whether it is junior or senior partner).
There's nothing negative about either one that I can find. I'm stuck. I really could use some insight, or at least some support. If anyone has any thoughts about things I should be considering, I would greatly appreciate it.
Me - BS 59
Him - WS 59
AP - his "friend" (she was 24 when the A started, he was 52)
M 34 yrs, together 39yrs.
2 adult offspring
D-Day#1: 6-29-14 , Final DDay: 5-19-15 (too many others in between to count, due to continued breaking of NC