Should I hire a Literary Lawyer or get an agent?

In the beginning of this, I kind of thought I wanted to try and get published and submit manuscripts all on my own, without an agent. I found out pretty quickly that a lot of publishers don't even allow unsolicited submissions; that you only get a chance to publish with these houses if you have an agent or a referral to submit your work. I wasn't afraid of the rejections I knew I would get, so I wanted to do the work myself and figure it out. Now I'm in a bit of a pickle. If you get an offer from a publisher without an agent, you need an agent or a literary lawyer to help comb through the details and negotiate for you, unless, of course, you know what you should be looking for in these 20+ page contracts. 

For whatever reason, the publishing houses are responding to my queries, which is great! However, I have ZERO background in literary law, and I am now moving to the negotiating stages of my contracts, without an agent or a lawyer. So, that’s my next step in this process: get an expert on my side.

I have written offers on two different stories with two different publishing houses. One house has a third story in acquisition and another house has requested a revision and resubmit on a 4th story. Things are getting pretty complicated and I will be making some pretty big decisions here in the next few weeks about which way to go. The two written contracts I have right now expire in mid-August, which is rapidly approaching.

If you have any leads or advice on Literary Lawyers, please reach out to me! In the meantime, I'm channeling as much positive energy as possible from Figure 8. I have a few leads on amazing agents who might want to take a chance on me but there are no guarantees at all. If there is one more thing to say to whoever wants to bet on me and be on my team, it is this, "I will NOT let you down!"