[bragen]

It's really tough if you aren't one (probably akin to the often-mentioned difficulty non-technical folks have evaluating programmers).

But there are a few places to start. First, Martindale-Hubbell is a respected reviewer of legal talent and provides ratings.

Second, if your lawyer happens to be a "SuperLawyer" you're probably in good hands. SuperLawyers represent the top 5% of a given field as voted by their peers.

Hope that gets you started.