Find the Attorney Who Fits Your Personal Injury Needs
If you’re looking for a personal injury attorney, how do you know if you’ve found the right one?
Where do you even begin your search?
A personal injury attorney specializes in cases where someone is injured.
They assist victims in navigating their rights to fair compensation for those injuries.
Admittedly, hiring the right person to handle your legal case is not an easy task.
If you were injured in a car accident, suffered a dog bite, or have a slip and fall injury, you have to be sure that the lawyer you select is best for the job.
These days anyone can make a professional website, so how do you know who’s qualified?
Especially since the United States is full of personal injury law firms vying for injured accident victims’ business, it can be hard to cut through the clutter.
Some personal injury firms promote themselves heavily with a full-scale marketing assault, while others rely on referrals from past clients and other attorneys and word-of-mouth to get clients.
A quick internet search will return hundreds of thousands of results at the very least, depending on where you live.
So how do you narrow down your long list of choices and choose the best available personal injury law firm for your case?
Below we’ve advised on how to search for and find the best personal injury attorney for your case.
Table of Contents
- Understand What Your Case Needs
- Considering a Large Firm
- Know What To Look For In A Lawyer
- Know What Percentage of Your Lawyers Cases Come From Referrals From Other Lawyers
- Make Sure They Offer A Free Consultation
- Understand Their Fees
- Understanding Contingency Fee’s
- Do They Have The Financial and Staffing Resources To Take On Your Case?
- Are They A Member Of Any Legal Organizations That Specialize in Represent Injured People?
- How Long Have They Been Handling Personal Injury Cases?
- Do They Try Lawsuits In Court
- Consult an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer for More Information Today
Understand What Your Case Needs
Before you do anything else, you need to understand your case.
To know if a personal injury lawyer is a good fit for you, you should understand the basics of why you need the help of a lawyer to begin with.
There are many different law types, and each lawyer will focus on a different area of law.
If you’ve been injured due to another person’s negligence, you need a personal injury attorney.
You wouldn’t hire a plumber to fix your electricity, so you shouldn’t hire a bankruptcy lawyer to help with your personal injury case.
Many people make the mistake of hiring someone they know even if they aren’t the right type of attorney for the job.
Your accident also forms a significant variable in personal injury cases.
There are different types of personal injury attorneys, so you don’t want to hire a car accident attorney to help with a slip and fall.
Handling a car insurance claim is very different than going up against corporate giants and their insurers and lawyers.
You should also consider a lawyer’s experience with your injury type and the severity of your injury.
During your search, you will likely come across personal injury firms that prefer to take hundreds of cases involving relatively minor injuries.
They take this route because they don’t have to worry about medical diagnoses and treatments involved in severe or catastrophic injuries.
So if you’ve suffered a severe or catastrophic injury, always ask your lawyer how much experience they have handling cases like yours.
Even if your attorney practices in personal injury law, they may not have the experience or resources necessary to handle a wide variety of personal injury claims.
Considering a Large Firm
Larger personal injury law firms will have both the capacity and skills to handle a large variety of personal injury cases.
You still need to make sure you do your due diligence and research your firm before hiring them.
One of the benefits of hiring a large firm is that they will have greater resources and be able to put extra “firepower” behind your claim.
With large firms like this, though, you need to be sure they don’t have a reputation for treating their clients like just another number.
Your best bet is usually to hire a large law firm, but always make sure they offer high customer service levels.
If a large law firm still gives you that personal touch, you get the best of both worlds.
You’ll have greater resources behind your case, as well as the personal attention of their team.
You should also understand that there are different ways to seek compensation in your injury case.
Many times insurance companies will offer to pay some claims.
Other times your case might have to go all the way to court.
Your lawyer will need experience handling claims with many different insurance companies.
They should also have litigation experience in your type of case and the injuries you need to file a lawsuit.
Your lawyer shouldn’t be shy when it comes to taking on corporate adversaries and big insurance companies. They should know the negotiating tactics needed to resolve a claim successfully.
Know What to Look for in a Lawyer
Many law firms handle personal injury cases.
However, there are a few factors you should know about that separate the best personal injury attorneys from the rest of the pack.
You should first look at experience. New lawyers will not have seasoned attorneys’ expertise and may not know the “insider secrets” as lawyers who have established themselves after decades practicing personal injury law.
However, for a newer lawyer who works at a firm that provides highly experienced attorneys, the support and training should be okay.
Look for a lawyer with a good reputation.
Lawyers who are respected in the community with a positive reputation are often better than attorneys who have less-than-stellar reputations.
Positive reputations are often signs of a dependable lawyer who will fully commit to your case.
You should also take a look at the disciplinary record of your lawyer.
If your lawyer has missed deadlines, doesn’t keep clients informed, or otherwise acts unethically, will likely have ethics complaints filed against them with their state bar or licensing body.
Using your state’s bar or licensing body’s website, you can look up any complaints, suspensions, or disbarments on the attorneys you are researching.
Your lawyer should also be available to you.
If you have injuries that prevent you from coming to an attorney’s office, you need to make sure your attorney will visit you at your home or in the hospital.
The personal injury firm you choose should have team members available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Your attorney should also have a proven track record.
It doesn’t matter how many cases a lawyer has handled if they aren’t getting results for their clients.
Carefully read reviews from their previous clients regarding past case results.
While it’s not a guarantee that they will win your case, it will provide a good indication of what your lawyer could achieve for you.
Know What Percentage of Your Lawyers Cases Come From Referrals From Other Lawyers
The best way of finding out who the top-notch personal injury lawyers are in your community is by asking the lawyers who practice there.
It’s good to know what percentage of your lawyer’s caseload comes from referrals from other lawyers in your area.
No matter what field or profession you work in, the other professionals who work in the field will usually know who’s good and who’s not.
If you have a friend who is an attorney are you know someone else who practices law, ask them if they know any good personal injury lawyers in the area.
Even if your friend doesn’t handle injury cases, they will likely have colleagues familiar with personal injury lawyers in your area who are recognized by their peers as being the best in your area.
Make Sure They Offer A Free Consultation
Anyone who has ever seen or received advertisements from personal injury firms quickly learns that every injury lawyer makes the same offers.
They should all say that there is no fee if there’s no recovery, you get a free initial consultation, and they can visit you at home or in the hospital while you’re nursing your injuries.
Every personal injury attorney should offer you a free consultation and let you know the work on a contingency basis, meaning they don’t get paid unless you do.
Personal injury attorneys who make these claims are nothing out of the ordinary.
Just about every lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases will make these same offers.
Understand Their Fees
Perhaps the main thing that keeps injured accident victims from hiring a lawyer is what they think it will cost.
We’ve all heard about the law firms that charge hundreds of dollars per hour and $100 for a short phone call.
And we get it; you don’t want to worry about money.
Especially after being involved in an accident that has already caused you to lose money.
That’s why you need a lawyer who meets your needs with a fee structure you’re comfortable with.
Some lawyers’ fee arrangements are confusing, and that’s why you should always ask questions until you understand what your lawyer expects of you financially.
Luckily, almost every personal injury firm will operate on a contingency fee basis, as we’ve mentioned before.
Understanding Contingency Fee’s
A contingency fee agreement keeps you from spending a penny of your own money.
You only pay if your lawyer wins you a settlement.
Under a contingency fee agreement, pursuing a lawsuit is free, and all of the work your attorney does to prepare and process your insurance claim is free.
You don’t pay anything unless you have a successful resolution.
When you receive compensation, though, part of your settlement will cover your attorney’s fees and costs.
Your contingency fee agreement should be written in black and white before you get started about much of your payment will go to pay your lawyer.
Make sure you feel comfortable with that amount before proceeding with the lawyer.
Don’t pay anything out of pocket or come up with money upfront if you’ve been the victim of a personal injury.
Contingency fee arrangements benefit both you and your attorney.
You don’t have to worry about paying an attorney up front, and you can pursue your injury claim even if you can’t afford it right after your accident.
Your attorney only gets paid if you do, so your attorney will do what’s best for you because that will be best for them as well.
This also shows you that your attorney is confident in your case.
An attorney is unlikely to take on a bad case on contingency because there’s nothing in it for them.
Do They Have The Financial and Staffing Resources To Take On Your Case?
Lawsuits involving severe or catastrophic personal injuries can be costly to take to court.
Your typical medical malpractice case can countless medical specialties.
Each specialty will need an expert witness to help you deal with issues in that specialty, and those experts aren’t free.
Serious injuries sustained during a trucking company can involve accident reconstruction experts and trucking safety experts.
It may also need experts to testify about the nature and extent of your injuries.
Hiring experts like your treating physicians, life care planners, vocational experts, and economists take a lot of time and money.
If your lawyer doesn’t have the resources to fund a case adequately, they will likely cut corners at the expense of your case.
Or you might be pressured into taking an inadequate settlement.
It’s always in your best interest to hire a lawyer with the financial resources to take a case to trial.
Are They A Member Of Any Legal Organizations That Specialize in Represent Injured People?
Many national and state organizations are comprised of lawyers dedicated to representing injury victims.
These organizations will sponsor legal publications and legal education programs for personal injury attorneys.
They also conduct lobbying activities for the rights of consumers.
The most prominent national organization is the American Association of Justice (AAJ).
You can find a decent lawyer who doesn’t belong to any of these groups.
However, why would you want a lawyer without those connections to represent you in a serious personal injury lawsuit?
How Long Have They Been Handling Personal Injury Cases?
We’ve already touched that the more experience a lawyer has, the better of you’re going to be.
However, for the most part, personal injury lawyers charge injury victims the same contingency fee.
Regardless of how many years of experience they have.
A lawyer with only three years’ experience may charge you the same fee as a lawyer with 25 years of experience.
If this is the case, shouldn’t you consider hiring the more seasoned lawyer?
The experience of your lawyer can make a massive difference in the outcome of your case.
Do They Try Lawsuits In Court?
Most people believe that all personal injury lawyers go to court and try cases regularly.
However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
There is a surprising number of lawyers who hold themselves out to be “trial lawyers” or “personal injury lawyers.”
What is truly surprising is that these lawyers have little to no jury trial experience.
You should ask your attorney whether they try cases in court, and if they do, how often.
This is an essential but often overlooked question to ask your lawyer.
You should also know that most personal injury cases settle out of court.
As a result, your lawyer should do all they can to get you what you deserve without going to trial.
Consult an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer for More Information Today
If you don’t know where to discuss your legal rights after a personal injury, consult a personal injury lawyer.
Call around until you find the personal injury lawyer who is right for you.
Everyone and every case are different.
It’s crucial to find a lawyer you feel comfortable with handling your case.
Never take choosing a personal injury lawyer lightly.
If you’ve recently been the victim of a personal injury, you need a lawyer.
An excellent place to start your search is the Angell Law Firm.
The Angell Law Firm takes all personal injuries seriously.
They understand that dealing with an unexpected injury can be painful, stressful, and expensive.
But with their help, you may be able to recover compensation for several things.
These may include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, property damage, and more from the insurance company.
To schedule your Free Consultation with the Angell Law Firm, click the button below.
The post How Do I Find The Best Personal Injury Lawyer For My Case? appeared first on The Angell Law Firm.
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