I guess you'd really be looking for exchanges located in a country with a working legal system, and is also regulated and licensed. Exchanges that pop into mind would probably be like Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken, etc.
Obviously no experience with these things, but you're definitely not going to have the same sort of experience if you were to go down the legal path with an unregulated and unlicensed exchange e.g. yobit. Also, if possible, choose exchanges based on your country. International law suits are probably going to be a hassle if not unfeasible anyways.
Just because an exchange is licensed doesn't mean that you should trust it completely. They could still screw you over by asking for draconian measures of KYC documents, or freezing your account. It's much better to choose an exchange that not only has legality, but also has a good reputation of being honest and just generally treating their customers with respect.
thanks for your post
The Bitcoin exchanges today claim to have learned from Mt. Gox and present themselves ... Coinbase has emerged as one of the high profile names in the Bitcoin world placing itself
the problem is, in every exchange when you click security, they only talk about security of the coins. they don't even care to explain what would prevent them from stealing you lol