A big hello and thank you for all of the time that you have put into this website. My wife and I are astounded by your devotion to the expat community.
I will be coming over from the U.S. as a retiree and this is now starting from scratch.
We have always supported little businesses; we do not support the 'industrial model' of anything. This is how we do things. It is not always the easiest way. For instance, try buying online while avoiding Amazon.
We are a looking for a small, competent law firm to see us through our immigration process. The operatives are 'small' and 'competent'. While I am sure the Ei and Lexidy give excellent service, we feel that they are 'migration mills' and would prefer to avoid them. However I am very happy for you-all that you have found a sponsor in Ei.
Ideally, we are trying to hear from several people who have worked with small law offices and who have either positive of negative reviews to share. For instance, we attempted to use yelp.com to research 'lawyers' in Lisbon and came up with 9 pages, some of whom were immigration lawyers, but there were no reviews (to speak of) in all of the nine pages.
You are perhaps our best hope for networking in this fashion.
May you all be safe, well and happy,
Buckley and Nat