Is Using a Lawyer Advised?

I wouldn't advise it unless your case is very complicated. We were lucky in that our lawyer didn't require us to fill out all of the forms but that was about it. It cost a fortune, and they made several mistakes. Nothing major, and certainly not anything that would directly affect the validity of our application, but all mistakes that gave us a feeling that they really weren't being very careful/paying close attention. Advice that turned out to be wrong (but ended up having no impact since we didn't go with it), not informing us about fees despite being in charge of paying all fees (resulted in a six-week delay for us, but again, no massive impact on the application), moving offices and not filing the new contact address with CIC (again, more delays). Unless you can find one that comes highly recommended or, like I said, your case is very complicated, I would just get yourself very acquainted with the process and ask lots of questions on the boards!

Good luck!