To Avram
That was my point…in many cases, especially for younger men and women, a Rav/Rebbitzen may be the best person to START with since he/she has probably had to deal with just about any problem you may be confronted with and will have a network of contacts in subject matter fields (medicine, law, finance, employment etc.) which will provide you with a good start…certainly a much better referral service than the yellow pages or the internet. However, over time and with maturity, we learn to do our own due diligence and can bypass the Rav and seek guidance directly from subject matter experts. Obviously, some issues with have some aspect of halacha which might usefully involve a parallel consultation with your LRP.