Practical advice with choosing a solicitor for international divorce case

[cato40]

Hi, I hope someone could advice on how to choose the right solicitor for my divorce case? First time dealing with this situation and I am feeling a bit lost, some practical advice would be of great help!
I am looking for an international divorce specialist and can only find large firms of individuals working for themselves. We are not particularly wealthy nor poor and wonder if the bigger firms will overlook my case in favour of divorces from high net worth couples? Would you recommend a smaller firm or independent solicitor as opposed to the large firm?
I have contacted a few firms and only three of them came back to me. I wonder if those who never responded are just too busy to take in more cases and should therefore not bother following up with?
One in particular seemed quite right for me but after calling and emailing I feel I am wasting time waiting on them and should focus on the others.
All these that came back to me quoted £300 + vat for an initial consultation and whilst I understand it is fair to pay for their expertise I can't spend £900 to choose between 3.
How do I choose?
Thank you to anyone who can advise!

It's not easy at all, I sympathise. What you can do is maybe look at the 3 you have and from their bios and experience try to see which matches your specific requirements best. Also if the £300 + VAT is for an hour, ask for 30 mins. You should be able to tell in that time. They should also accept information (which could be a lot) from you, be able to read through everything so they are ready and prepared for your initial consultation.

Thank you, I shall try asking them for the 30 mins option, that's a good idea!
And would you consider the larger firms as being primarily suited for the high net worth individuals? I'd happily shortlist the smaller firms but most of them don't answer phones or emails! Don't want to rush with one of these larger firms just because they have someone who answers the phone?

No problem :-) I'm surprised firms don't answer phones and emails. The bigger firms aren't necessarily the best but they can sometimes specialise in high net worth cases/individuals. The smaller firms can have those experienced in high net worth individuals as well and you need to comb through the different solicitors' bios for what you need. There are other factors to pick out that could match your requirements and circumstances. It can be a long process.

Bigger teams usually have a spread of solicitors with juniors supported by seniors, so you can generally get a lower hourly rate knowing there's someone more senior in the background if needed.

We do initial fixed fee meetings for £300 incl vat but if you wanted us to look through a large amount of documents prior to the meeting would have to charge you more. So don’t think you can give a solicitor an hours worth of reading then just pay for 30 mins.

With our initial meeting you tend to get around 90 mins but sometimes it can be a bit longer.

Smaller firms can have cheaper hourly rates than larger city centre practices but you can often get a lawyer with the same experience.