Tips in finding a good personal injury lawyer that can help you make your accident or injury claim.
If you find yourself facing a major or complicated injury claim, you will most likely need the counsel of an experienced personal injury lawyer. It would not help to just seek out any personal injury lawyer. You need to get someone who has the experience and the caliber in representing injured parties in personal injury claims and one whom you feel trustworthy.
Looking for Experienced Lawyers
You can get referrals for personal injury lawyers from past plaintiffs. Once you get a few referrals, conduct a comparison check. You can do this by requesting for an appointment with each of your lawyer prospects and discuss your case with them before deciding on who you will hire. While this may be tedious work, it will save you from a lot of headache in the long run. Also be prepared for rejections. Although reasons for rejection vary, many lawyers do not just take cases. At some point, many do turn down cases.
You can get these referrals from friends, family, and acquaintances. You can get assistance from people who have had the same experience on personal injury claims. If the person you know had a good service experience with a particular lawyer, put the name of that lawyer on your list for appointment. But do not just take on a lawyer purely based on recommendation. Each case varies. Make sure that your decision in hiring one is based on personal assessment.
You may also get help from lawyers of your acquaintance. Since they are in the “loop,” lawyers can easily recommend those whom they know to be the best in handling personal injury cases. But make sure you schedule a meeting with these lawyers before deciding.
Selecting the Best Lawyer
To gauge whether the lawyer is right for you, meet the lawyer and discuss your case and the possible ideas in handling it. Be sure you have the pertinent documents with you as you meet the lawyer. These documents pertain to medical records, police report, medical bills, statement of loss of income, and all record of correspondence with your insurance company. Most lawyers you will deal with will not charge you for initial consultation. But it is better if you make an inquiry first. You might find yourself being billed for the first meeting.
Make Inquiries
After divulging the facts with the lawyer, it’s your turn to ask some questions. You need to find out the following in order to gauge his ability to handle your case:
- The length of his legal practice in personal injury
- The ratio of his representation, i.e., which party he represents more: plaintiff or defendant?
- Would this lawyer take on your case personally or would delegate this to one of his colleagues or associates? This is important because another lawyer may be brought into the case and you need to know if such person also has the expertise as far as your case goes. If so, then request for a meeting with that colleague or associate.
Settlement Objective
Once all the issues mentioned have been set aside, you may be able to get an idea how much the lawyer thinks your case is worth and the level of difficulty to claim from the insurance company. This is the stage where you would want the lawyer to:
- Get the settlement for you with the least hassle and costs;
- Get a settlement higher than what the insurance company has offered at the earliest opportunity; or
- Get as much claim as you could, regardless of the time and resources.
If you feel certain with the lawyer’s expertise and comfortable with his strategy on how to present your case, chances are you’ve found the best lawyer for your case.
