How to Find a Good Lawyer

How to Find a Good Lawyer

You may be entitled to compensation if you’ve sustained an injury due to someone else’s fault. While many victims independently obtain compensation from the at-fault’s party insurer, working with an attorney enhances the chances of a fair settlement amount.

Finding a suitable lawyer is crucial for recovering after sustaining an injury. If you’ve never hired an attorney, you may be in a dilemma choosing from the numerous options in the market.

Although there are many considerations when choosing the right injury attorney, the process is relatively simple.

Identify What To Look For In A Lawyer

Essential Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Lawyer

Here are a few questions you can ask a lawyer before deciding to work together:

Are You Going to Handle the Case Personally?

Usually, a law firm has a team of attorneys with varying levels of experience and specialization. If you want compensation for injuries you sustained in a truck accident, an attorney specializing in the field is your best bet.

Unlike a general practitioner, a truck accident attorney has in-depth knowledge and experience in commercial vehicles. More importantly, it pays to nurture and maintain the rapport with a specific attorney for a better outcome.

How Hard Will You Fight to Obtain 100% of My Damages?

It is essential to establish the strategies that an attorney will apply to maximize the value of your settlement. Although it is easy to find reviews, ratings, and online publications, by making a query from Google, talking to a lawyer helps.

Meet with the lawyer you intend to hire to understand their commitment to protecting your rights. A reliable lawyer will show willingness and confidence to answer all your questions. If the lawyer you’re talking to is dismissive and shows little interest in answering your question, it may be a sign to consider an alternative personal injury attorney.

Do I Even Need a Lawyer?

An experienced personal injury attorney may give you a free case evaluation, which is an opportunity to understand the merits of your case. Depending on the nature of your injury, an attorney can determine if you’ll benefit by working with a legal professional.

Suppose you’ve sustained a concussion injury after a car accident. In that case, working with an attorney may help maximize your settlement since your injury may later develop complications, necessitating additional medical care and support.

How Long Have You Practiced Personal Injury Law?

Having an experienced attorney by your side is an added benefit when pursuing compensation for injury-related losses.

A key benefit of working with an experienced personal injury attorney is strong negotiation skills. In most cases, an insurer is quick to table a low-ball settlement offer that barely covers your losses.

An attorney can table evidence proving the extent of your injuries and, consequently, negotiate for a higher settlement award. That said, understanding how long an attorney has practiced can help you determine whether they possess the right skills and exposure to tackle your case.

Are You a Trial Lawyer?

When you sustain an injury in a car accident or work-related incident, you endure physical pain and a worsened life. While many people obtain compensation from the at-fault party’s insurer, a few require the court’s intervention to enforce their rights.

An insurer may question the validity of your claim and blackmail you into accepting a low settlement offer. You, therefore, need a trial-ready attorney who can argue your case before a jury.

Since insurers hire highly experienced attorneys, your case deserves representation from an equally skilled attorney to defend your interest. A trial-ready attorney can anticipate any hurdle from discovery until trial hearings, making them better suited for seamless case completion.

As such, confirm with your personal injury attorney whether they can defend your rights in court.

Do You Have Any Certifications or Peer Awards?

Peer-to-peer awards allow employees or industry players to recognize each other’s hard work and dedication to service. In addition, the judges and panels that decide the winner of a certification or a peer award are objective and impartial.

Therefore, an attorney with a few certifications and peer awards is a testament to their skills and competence. Most importantly, look for an attorney with a reputable legal award. Identifying the award with a larger organization, where applicable, may help to ascertain the award’s reputation.

What Are Your Legal Fees?

Legal fees comprise the costs and expenses of hiring a personal injury attorney to represent your case. It is essential to understand the expected cost since it reduces the value of your settlement award.

Some of the key things to inquire about include:

Most attorneys charge a contingency fee, where clients agree to give up a percentage of their settlement or trial verdict as payment for the legal services. The contingency fee ranges from 30-40 percent, with a higher rate associated with those claims that go to trial.

The attorney deducts the contingency fee plus expenses upon receiving the settlement award. Cases that go to try are expensive to manage, with attorney fees covering costs such as:

When a lawyer works on a contingency basis, you only pay the lawyer when they recover compensation in settlement or trial. You may be responsible for paying some of the court expenses.

Therefore, ask questions before signing up if some things about the contingency fee arrangement need to be clarified.

What Are The Possible Outcomes of My Case?

Personal injury cases can take weeks or months and, in some cases, years. Considering the time and resources involved in finding a solution, it is crucial to understand the potential outcome before filing a lawsuit.

A clear understanding of potential outcomes will guide your decision on whether to file a lawsuit, make better preparations, manage your expectations, and make strategic decisions throughout the lawsuit.

Here are the possible outcomes of your case:

• Out-of-court Settlement: Only a handful of personal injury cases go to trial. Once you engage an attorney, they will inform you to prepare for a trial. However, chances are you’ll arrive at a settlement with the defendant before trial since no one wants to undergo the lengthy and expensive litigation process.
• Going to Trial and Winning: If you can’t settle with the at-fault’s party insurer, the case proceeds to trial. If you win the trial, you may receive substantial damages to cover medical expenses, lost wages, emotional anguish, and other injury-related losses. The possibility of winning the case depends on a few factors, including the strength of the evidence, the credibility of the witness, and the nature of the arguments.
• The Case is Dropped or Dismissed: Sometimes, a plaintiff may later decide not to pursue the case for a specific reason. For instance, the plaintiff dropped the case after discovering they had weak evidence with low odds of winning the case. Alternatively, the defendant may succeed in dismissing the case after demonstrating flaws in the plaintiff’s arguments.
• Going to Trial and Losing: Losing a personal injury trial means you’ll not receive compensation. Although losing is the least desirable outcome, you can appeal to soften the blow of losing a trial. The odds of an appeal depend on the ability of an attorney to prove that the lower court made some procedural error.

What is the Best Way to Communicate With You?

Keeping in touch with an attorney is as vital as doing the job. At some point, you’ll need the status update of your claim or send new pieces of evidence to the attorney handling the case. You should ask the attorney for their preferred method of communication.

Inquire whether the attorney prefers a phone call, email, or a social media message. Even though electronic methods of communication are primarily effective, face-to-face communication is equally important.

Request the attorney to give you a method of communication that is equally convenient for you.

Can You Add Value to My Case?

If you sustained a minor injury, understanding the impact of an attorney can help you make the hiring decision. Injured victims usually obtain compensation directly from the at-fault party without legal aid.

Even so, some insurers make low-ball offers that barely cover injury-related losses. Most insurers take advantage of injured victim’s lack of awareness about their rights or legal processes during negotiations.

A personal injury attorney’s experience and knowledge can tip discussion in your favor during negotiations. For instance, an attorney can prove the extent of your injury by compiling crucial evidence, including incident reports, medical records, witness statements, employment records, and images of the injury.

Talk to the attorney to understand how they intend to enhance the value of your settlement, whether it’s through litigation or by negotiating with an insurer.

Why Should I Hire You?

You may be confused about the next steps after sustaining an injury because of someone else’s negligence. You may face an extended recovery, mounting medical bills, wage loss, and pain and suffering.

Therefore, a personal injury attorney should give you a clear insight into how they’ll objectively handle your case, leading to a positive outcome.

Check the following indicators of a reliable attorney:

• Initial consultation: If you’re experiencing severe pain and suffering following an injury, you may lack the composure to deal with a claim. Listen into the conversations to understand if an attorney has insights into dealing with the claim. An experienced and skilled personal injury attorney can offer extensive legal knowledge on how to solve the claim, leading to a fair settlement value for your losses.
• Expedite Your Claim: Sometimes, the at-fault party’s insurer may delay your claim, frustrating your recovery efforts. Your health condition could also restrict you from filing a claim if you sustained a severe injury. An attorney can speed up the claim process by collaborating with the insurer. Alternatively, they can expedite the process by filing a lawsuit on your behalf that compels the insurer to settle the claim.

What Is Your Firm’s Track Record?

Request the attorney to give you more information about their reputation, which is a sign of being a trusted service provider. There are several indicators of good reputation, including customer satisfaction. If an injured victim obtains satisfactory representation, they will tell others about their positive experience.

While an attorney may refer you to their website to check a section about their impressive track record, you can verify their reputation from the following sources:
Conduct a general search.
You can get a summary of the company’s reputation by conducting a name query in the search engine. You’ll find the most relevant information about the law firms once you input the company’s name in a search engine.

The search engine results page will likely bring up any recent reviews, Yelp and Facebook pages, Google business profiles, and additional but helpful information.

If the personal injury attorney has recent positive reviews, it could indicate their strong reputation in the market.
Check the Social Media Accounts
Many businesses, including law firms, have a strong presence on social media platforms. You can gauge the perception of the law firm among its consumers by checking their level of engagement on social media with clients.

While you can expect to find a few negative comments, many disgruntled customers could indicate the attorney may be offering poor services. Social media platforms like Facebook have a review section; check if the law firm has positive ratings to gauge its reputation on the market.

Get in Touch With an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney

Suppose you’ve sustained an injury following a slip and fall accident while working at a hotel. In that case, you deserve compensation for injury-related losses like medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and emotional anguish.

Working with a legal professional like Burger Law, a personal injury law firm with over 70 years of combined experience, can only benefit your case.

Contact us online for a free case evaluation.