The path to winning a personal injury case doesn’t start when you or your attorney appears before the judge in the court of law. The first and most important step is hiring the right attorney. Going to the court to prove a point is not as easy as fictional characters make it out to be. Hence, if your attorney is not good enough, you may just end up losing your case. On the other hand, if you have a good attorney to defend you, you’re halfway to winning your case already. This is why it is imperative that you know and understand what to do in order to find the perfect personal injury lawyer for you. The following tips should put you on the right track.
Ask Friends And Relatives
One of the best ways to find the right lawyer you need is to ask friends and relatives who have dealt with an attorney before, for their input. They might end up referring you to the attorney that helped them win their personal injury case. However, this is not enough to confirm if an attorney is right for you or not. Once they refer you to the attorneys that served them well, you should only note down the names of such attorneys, don’t settle for that alone. You must realize that the fact that an attorney helped someone win a case doesn’t mean they will put in the same energy for you as well to win your personal injury case. Different factors may be associated with their winning of the case, which may be absent in your own case. So, if you’re being referred to an attorney, you should try to meet them in person, discuss your case with them, observe how they respond to measure their level of interest in the case. If you’re convinced at the end of the day that they are right for you, you can then proceed to hire them.
Call The Lawyers You Know
If a lawyer once represented you in a case and you’re satisfied with the outcome of the case due to their input, in case such a lawyer does not specialize in personal injury cases, they can easily refer you to a lawyer who does. Importantly, you need to confirm the specialty of the lawyer you are referred to. What kind of cases have they won in the past, and the situations or difficulties surrounding such cases. In the event that they are well established in personal injury cases, then, fine, they can serve you. If on the other hand, they haven’t represented much personal injury cases, or it’s not their forte, you may want to look the other way. Though lawyers may sometimes want to do things that are out of their specialty, thinking if they can do well in one aspect, they can do well in the other aspect as well. This is not what you want. You want more than just an ordinary idea. You want to experience and expertise. You can ask such a lawyer to refer you to another lawyer that deals with personal injury claims. Lawyers often refer clients to themselves, so it’s not unheard of. Many lawyers prefer to refer to personal injury cases to experienced law firms like Fielding Law.
Interview More Than One Lawyer
After collating the names of all the attorneys that met your standards and requirements, the next thing to do is to interview them one after the other. When you interview the lawyers, you should ask questions regarding your case and see how well they respond. You should find out about their experience defending personal injury cases. You also need to know whether or not they have a working relationship with the insurance company in your case. That’s not all.
Another thing you want to measure is the confidence level of the lawyers. If you hire a lawyer that is not smart and lacks confidence, you’re close to losing your case already even before it starts. A bright and confident personal injury lawyer knows the right time to object in the courtroom, which can make a big difference in influencing the final decision of the judge.
Discuss Payment
Many people often ignore this aspect, and in most cases, it often leads to regret. You should talk about payment with the lawyer you want to hire. Ask them what percentage of the recovery they’re willing to get and have an explicit agreement signed afterward. Some lawyers will not charge you until the case is over, while some prefer to be paid on an hourly basis. Whatever method of payment your lawyer prefers, you should ask, and clarify things before you proceed to hire them.
Follow these tips, and you will be able to make the right choice of lawyer to help defend your personal injury case.