On your guard when dealing with divorce lawyers

Indian divorce is a bitter pill that you will have to swallow if you end up being in this situation.I totally sympathesize with you. The idea of divorce is disheartening itself, and the Indian Judicial infrastructure makes it even more difficult to bear.There are lawyers that are clueless, and have set way in which they will ask you to proceed, they do not understand that every case is different, and do not want to do the effort of really knowing your situation. They have cookie-cutter divorce procedures which they will hand out to you, and you will have to carve out your divorce from that only. Incompetent lawyers will many times land you in precarious situations. So be on your guard always, and make sure that you get second opinion after your lawyer's advice. Some lawyer's are so unscruplous, that they will take money from the opposite party, and ask you to sign on statements saying you have comromised, and you have nothing agaisnt husband,when you have actually not compromised yet, or worse , on blank sheets of paper. Never do it. How ever much they may pressurise you. They will back down eventually. Tell firmly that you will not write anything that you have not agreed to. even when you sign statements, make sure you cross out the blank area, so that it is not misused later for adding more statements.
Another tactic that lawyers play is to get you in deep mess first, and then charge lot of money to get you released on bail.
Trust your inner gut feeling, and always seek second, third, and fourth opinion before taking any major decision. Do not reveal everything to your lawyer either. It goes against conventional wisdom, but it is a practical advice that I have learnt after paying a big price. You learn from other's mistake. Tell only that which is relevant to your case. You never know in what ways and form the information gets leaked to the other party.
Make sure that you hire a sensible lawyer. Most lawyers do not want your case to settle, because you are a source of their pension and employment. Even though the lawyer is charging lumpsum for the case, he still will be getting more money from you for photocopy, getting copies of judgement, more counter cases that come out of your litigation. It is very common for lawyers to incite you to file more and more counter cases on your spouse, and get you into a big battle. Do not always agree blindly, think what will you get out of all the drama.. If it is worth it, go for it, but my suggestion is to stay away from expensive lengthy court battles as much as possible, and concentrate your energies on constructive things in life. Nobody comes out laughing from a divorce, except for the divorce lawyer !