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This is too important a decision to leave to chance. You want an attorney with the skills and the resources to successfully handle your case -- and win. You deserve an attorney who is among the top lawyers in our region. You deserve a lawyer who has years of actual courtroom and other essential experience in this area of the law. And you deserve a tough advocate and skilled negotiator, who knows how to build a winning case.
Choose a lawyer who is known and respected by their opponents. Judges should appreciate the way your attorney handles their cases. And you want a lawyer that insurance companies know is a tough opponent who will not be pressured into a bad settlement.
Many people do not realize that you can and should expect to have all of these qualities in your attorney. And you can hire this kind of top quality lawyer for the same fee that you would be paying for those lawyers who are inexperienced, have never tried a case, or settle all of their cases. But first you must learn to ask the right questions.
The simple truth is that all attorneys are not created equal -- and your choice of an attorney can have a profound effect on your future -- and your family’s future. I have set forth below a list of the Top Ten Questions to Ask before Hiring a Lawyer for Your Injury Case. These are the kinds of things that most people don’t think to ask before hiring an attorney, and sadly, they regret that they didn’t ask these questions before placing their well-being in someone’s hands.
Some lawyers are general practitioners who do a little of everything, including personal injury practice. Their work may include occasional personal injury cases. But, if they do not do this type of work everyday, injured people who hire them may be at a disadvantage. It takes a specialist in any legal field to really know that field backwards and forwards, to practice at the highest skill level possible, and to get the best results for their client. Just as you would not hire a doctor who is a general practitioner to perform orthopedic surgery, you should not hire a lawyer in your personal injury case unless that is their area of expertise.
As a general rule, lawyers who specialize in personal injury lawsuits for injured persons charge the same fee no matter how long they have been practicing. That means that for the same fee, you can get a lawyer with one or two year’s experience, or a lawyer with twenty years of experience. As in any other field, experience makes a difference. Do not be fooled by claims of lawyers who work at firms where the combined years of experience total fifty, when no one lawyer has been practicing personal injury for very long. You want your lawyer to have significant experience practicing in this field, and they should be happy to tell you about that experience if you ask.
This is an important question that many people never think to ask. There is only one way to get top dollar for your case in a settlement. That is, to show the insurance company that you are ready, willing, and able to try the case in a court of law.
If you hire a lawyer who always settles and never goes to court, be prepared to take a substantial discount on your case. That is because the insurance carriers and the defense lawyers who they hire know which lawyers try cases, and which do not.
You want your lawyer to be one who actually goes to court to try cases in front of judges and juries. Real trial lawyers settle cases out of court too; however, they also compile a track record of verdicts that becomes valuable leverage for all of their clients and in every case they handle, settled or not. A trial lawyer will tell you about his or her verdicts if you ask. I will, gladly.
The longer the list of successful case outcomes, the better it is for the client. The insurance companies who defend personal injury cases know who the attorneys are in your area who actually go to court, and who do not. Ask your lawyer about some of his accomplishments in the courtroom, and specifically, his jury verdicts.
Even if you are impressed with the lawyer you first meet, you will need to ask this crucial question. Find out if the lawyer plans to actually work on your case, or give it to another attorney to work on. It is not unusual that you would be assigned a paralegal or other team members that work with your lawyer to keep your case moving efficiently. However, some law firms introduce you to the name on their letterhead, but promptly pass you onto an associate who may not have the skill and experience of the lawyer you want working on your case.
Lawyers who frequently lecture at legal meetings call “CLE or continuing legal education” have the esteem of their peers. Lawyers who regularly write articles in legal publications also can usually be counted on to know what they are talking about.
Major organizations include the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA). These organizations provide extensive education for their members. You can certainly find a lawyer who doesn’t belong to these groups, but why would you want that lawyer to represent you in a serious injury lawsuit?
A lawyer who represents the interests of injured victims had better be selfless, at least to some degree, or that lawyer is in the wrong field. After all, lawyers in this field of practice are supposed to be in it for the victim, not themselves. If the lawyer takes the time to give back to his community that has made him successful, that is a strong indication of someone who understands their priorities, and has the right motivations.
Consumers need to be careful, because this can mean different things. Every lawyer who charges solely on a contingency basis–that is a percentage of the amount recovered–will charge “no fee” if they lose your case. However, expenses are handled differently by different law firms. On a big case, expenses can run up to $100,000 or more. These are amounts paid to third parties to keep the case going, such as court costs, expert witness fees, court reporter fees, charges for graphic designers, treating healthcare providers, nurse consultants, and many other expenses that go into a lawsuit. It pays to hire a lawyer who has the financial resources to take a case all the way to trial, and who can fund the expenses of the case on your behalf. The bottom line is that you need to find out the lawyer’s practice on what he or she does about case expenses when the case is concluded, win or lose. And don’t let the lawyer tell you “I have never lost.” Every good lawyer loses some cases.
Lawsuits involving serious or catastrophic personal injuries can be very expensive to take to court. A typical case can involve three, six or even more medical specialties, each of which needs to have an expert witness hired to deal with issues in that specialty. If a lawyer lacks the resources to fund a case properly, corners can be cut at the expense of a client’s case, or a client can be pressured into taking an inadequate settlement. It pays to hire a lawyer who has a successful track record of winning, and who has the financial resources to take a case all the way to trial, if necessary.