When looking for a personal injury lawyer, you are putting your trust in the attorney to represent you and look out for your best interests. This means that you should hire nothing less than the best attorney.
What factors should you consider when choosing a personal injury lawyer? Here they are:
Specialty
This is the first thing to consider. Just like medical doctors, lawyers also specialize in different areas of law. And for the best outcome, hire those specializing in personal injury.
You will even be better off if you can find an attorney that has specialized further. For example, if you had an accident at work, you will be better off hiring an attorney specializing in work accident cases.
Besides the specialist having vast knowledge of the specific area of interest, they also have a good reputation with the various insurance companies, making the negotiations much easier.
As a rule of thumb, avoid a general lawyer when you have a personal injury case.
In the same way, you wouldn’t trust a general doctor with a hip replacement surgery, don’t trust a general attorney with your car accident case.
Reputation
You want to work with an attorney with an excellent reputation. Thankfully, with the advances in technology, it’s easy to find what other people have to say about the attorney.
If the lawyer in question has been practicing for a sizable amount of time, they will have reviews published on their Yelp, Facebook, and Google pages. You should read these reviews to know what to expect.
Not even the best attorney globally has a perfect 5-star rating, so you shouldn’t expect your lawyer of interest to have a perfect score—they should generally have good remarks.
Carefully go through the remarks and study them. If most of the clients are saying that the lawyer charges a high fee, this might be something you should also expect to go through.
If, on the other hand, only a few clients have complained about different things, the chances are high that they have been disappointed by the way their cases turned out, which is normal.
If you can get hold of the people who have worked with the attorney before, it would be good, as they can shed more light on how the attorney works and whether they would recommend the attorney for your case.
To avoid surprises, take your time to research and ensure that the attorney you hire is highly reputable and won’t disappoint you.
The lawyer’s winning record
You don’t want to be on the same side with a loser, do you? As you are having an interview with the lawyer you are looking to hire, ask them about their success inside and outside the courtroom.
The best personal attorney is a talented negotiator and an aggressive, compelling trial lawyer.
Most personal injury claims settle without going to court, so you want to hire an accident lawyer with a strong record of success at the negotiation table.
If the party isn’t willing to settle the injury claim for a fair amount, the personal injury attorney should be ready and confident to win at trial.
When you meet your desired attorney, ask them about specific statistics of the cases they have handled before.
How many have they won? How many have they lost? Also, ask about the amount they recovered in the cases.
To reiterate, don’t side with a loser. If the attorney doesn’t have a good statistic, don’t work with them.
Ease of communication
You want an attorney that you can easily communicate with, not just on the phone, but also face to face. This means that the lawyer should be easily available to you.
When you are hurt and in the hospital, you can’t travel to the lawyer’s office. You also can’t explain everything over the phone.
A good lawyer should be able to travel to the hospital so that you can have a face-to-face meeting.
The attorney also needs to listen to you.
Some lawyers fail to listen to their clients as they deem them unknowledgeable, which is wrong.
If you are having a meeting with your attorney and feel they aren’t listening to you, it’s time to leave and find another attorney who will give you the ear you need.
Attorney fees and costs
How much will you have to pay to have the attorney represent you? You should know about this before you sign the retainer agreement.
Before you do anything, discuss the attorney’s fee structure, bill practices, and cost payments.
Most personal injury lawyers take cases based on a contingency fee. This means that the attorney doesn’t receive any money for their services until they recover the money for your claim.
You should agree on the percentage you will pay the attorney upon recovering your claim money. The percentage represents the attorney’s fees, and if the attorney fails to recover the money for your claim, you don’t owe them anything.
Besides paying the lawyer fees, you also need to pay the case costs. These are the expenses related to your case. The most common costs are: deposition fees, travel expenses, expert witness fees, court fees, copy and postage charges, and document request fees.
Depending on the lawyer, you may pay a fraction of the costs upfront, or the attorney deducts the costs from the settlement amount.
You should agree on all the fees and costs involved beforehand to avoid confusion.
Are you ready to hire a personal injury lawyer?
With so many personal injury attorneys in the market, separating the wheat from the chaff can be overwhelming.
Thankfully, most reputable attorneys offer free consultations, and you should take advantage of this and use the consultations to “shop around.”
Schedule consultations with many lawyers in your area and treat every appointment like an interview.
Use the time you get wisely and get as much information from the attorney as possible.
An ideal personal injury attorney should specialize in personal injury cases, be a good communicator, and be there for you. You shouldn’t settle for less.
Related: Recovering from a Car Accident – Both Physically and Emotionally
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