Indianapolis is the fourteenth largest city in the United States. It has 829,718 residents according to the 2010 census. Over the past 10 years ending December 31, 2010 Indianapolis averaged 4705 new residents per year. Indianapolis reported 4844 divorce petitions filed in 2010, which represents an above average filing year and 2009 reported 5504, which was a significant increase over the average. It does not, however, rank among the top 50 divorce cities in the United States. The dubious distinction of being the divorce capital of the world belongs to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Many of the divorce petitions filed in Indianapolis are pro-se, which means that the person filing the petition is representing themselves. For the rest of the litigants who file or who are named as the respondent in these legal proceedings, they will be represented by a lawyer. Indianapolis Divorce Attorneys compete for the roughly 800 potential clients who file each month and they do so by print and electronic advertising. As the internet becomes a more popular venue for commerce, more and more lawyers and law firms are finding the internet to be a very dynamic venue in which to advertise their services. They employ a number of strategies to place themselves at the top of the heap, including paying major search engines for the right to be listed prominently at the top of the search pages. Since Google has the lion’s share of the internet market, this is the place where lawyers compete for position. At least those that know and understand the workings of the internet.

Despite this competition among divorce attorneys, and between all other attorneys for that matter, referrals from other clients and other lawyers remain the most common means of bringing new clients to the office. This may be due to the fact legal issues in general and divorce in particular tend to deal with highly personal and sensitive issues, and clients need to feel safe with the people who represent them. Finding lawyers that are known to their friends goes a long way to subdue any fears they might have about sharing their inner most thoughts with a complete stranger.

Many lawyers do not practice in this field, but virtually every full service law firm and even boutique law firms have at least one lawyer on staff who handle divorce and family law matters. There are very few attorneys who claim to practice exclusively in the family law arena, but there are a few. While this area of law is not highly technical or difficult, it does require a broad range of knowledge and it is not something a complete novice should tackle alone. There are simply too many pitfalls waiting for the inexperienced lawyer to stumble into as the case develops.