Hiring an attorney is generally a good idea. That is if you can afford one. With the rising costs associated with the legal practice, and of legal education, the high cost of a lawyer may not be merited if you have a small issue.
Sometimes all you need is the right information. That, of course, is the key: the right information. Finding good legal information that you can rely on as a non-lawyer can be stressful. You may not even know where to turn.
One place is your local library. Most public libraries have some legal self-help books. These can be a great resource. Plus they are free. The only thing is that you do need to be somewhat familiar with the issue that you are facing. The books can be a starting point, but you should not limit your search simply to these books.
Another place to search for legal information may be at a nearby law school library. Law school libraries are generally Federal repository and therefore are required to be open to the public during normal business hours and to have a number of legal self-help books on-hand for the general public. Law librarian can help point you in the right direction. They will not do the work for you, but they can be immensely helpful. Plus, they are usually super excited out legal research.
Online databases can be helpful, but there are so many that it can be difficult to find any relevant information. One way to find good content online is to ask a law librarian. These tools can be easy to use, but can also return a large number of results. A good law librarian can give you a few quick pointers on what to look for and how to go about your search.
In the end you should not limit your search to any single method. You should mix and match to find the information that help meet your needs.