1. you don't need to hire a lawyer. you can DIY. but you need read the instrction carfuly and prep the doc. me and my friend we both did for our families and did not have any probles.
2. since the new policy just put effect on 3/5/2008. we did not have enought info from any case indicated what is the time window between the fliling and the finger print even you file application with the request for expedited processing. Hopfuly, we will see some post regarding this time window in the near future.