A bad lawyer is rarely bad in every single case. Going with the recommendations of friends is basically going with anecdotal evidence.

Most bar associations operate a referral service that weeds out lawyers with bad histories. You pay the bar ~$100 and they give you the contact info for the next lawyer in the queue who practices in the field you need.

At least this way you can be sure of getting a lawyer who does not have a history of screwing over any clients badly enough to get a complaint filed rather than a lawyer who did not screw over the one client who happens to be your friend.

I don't know why, but I've always had more luck asking people about lawyers than I have getting lists off of legal organisations. Perhaps because the interactions people have with lawyers are more refined than just whether they messed up the case completely or not?

That is good advice though ^_^