Go to the website of the Law Society of Upper Canada, you can call their referral service and get free 1 hour consultation. They will take basic details of your case and refer you to a specialist. Mostly you just want an experienced divorce lawyer, but you may have particular issues.
When you speak to your lawyer, have all the details of your case with you in a binder, including the financials from your husband. Use a highlighter pen to mark what you think is false.
Have a sheet with personal details for you, your husband, children etc, birthdates, SIN, business address, schools, length of your marriage, etc.
Have a sheet outlining your family assets, cars, home, cottage, RRSPs, insurance policies, etc. If you don't know the exact amounts, estimate values. Write this up as "summary", later on you will get copies of statements and assessments. The summary is just for conversation. You want to know about what you should get in equalization, and whether it's worth putting up a big fight if he's already made an offer.
On the pages leave lots of blank space for notes. Have a copy of each page for the lawyer and one for you to make notes.
Make a list of questions before you go in. Lawyers love to talk and this will eat up a lot of your hour. Don't hesitate to control the meeting, keep an eye on the time and make sure you get answers to your questions one by one. Write down the answers.
If your are considering hiring a lawyer, make sure they listen as well as they talk. At the end of the meeting ask the lawyer to sumarize what they think your goals are for a settlement. Pay attention to their answer, see if they actually understood what you want. This is a very important part of the interview. Some lawyers will not listen and push ahead with a paint-by-numbers divorce case and do a lot of things you don't want.
Never feel pressured. The lawyer isn't getting divorced, you are, so any decision affects your life, and you will make the decision. There are lawyers out there who forget this.
