Not sure what to do if you've been hurt in a car accident, a slip-and-fall, or at work? If you have already talked to your insurance company, it may be time to think about hiring a personal injury lawyer.
If you go right out and hire a personal injury lawyer after getting hurt, you might have to pay for their services out of the money you get from your settlement. So, it's usually best to talk to the insurance company first and only then look into legal options. Many times, talking to the insurance company will solve the problem completely. However, there are times when the insurance company will either deny your claim completely or decide to pay you in a way that you don't think is enough. When this happens, the fee you pay to a personal injury lawyer will be paid back to you many times over in the form of settlement money.
Now that you're sure you need a personal injury lawyer, you have to put in the work to find the right person for your case. Here are some tips to help you choose the right lawyer:
There are a number of online directories of local and regional personal injury lawyers. Most of these sites are pay-per-listing or free-to-submit, but some do offer reviewing services. Even here, though, you shouldn't put too much stock in what a website says because this kind of information is easy to change.
Using this online database and your local yellow pages as a kind of general list, you must then narrow this list by looking at the credentials of each attorney. Calling your free local legal aid clinic is probably the best way to do this. Even though these people are not in the business of making recommendations, there are usually between fifty and one hundred personal injury lawyers in a city. So, among lawyers, word gets around pretty quickly about who is good and who is not.
The bar association in your city is another good source. Your city bar will usually keep a short list of recommended lawyers and more general information about who has not been punished by the courts for malpractice. But again, this list should be taken with a grain of salt because there are also things going on behind the scenes. Most of the time, it's better to just make a list of three or four lawyers you're thinking about and then call the bar association to find out what they think about each one.
If you know someone in the legal world, you might be able to get a good referral. But if they don't, all a referral will tell you is that "he or she isn't stupid." Because, let's be honest, most clients don't know if the settlement they got was the best they could have gotten.
Meeting with the lawyer should always be the last test. In such a meeting, you can talk about how the person will be paid (based on results or a flat fee), but more importantly, you want to try to figure out if they are qualified. Note things like where he or she went to law school. Did they pass the bar the first time they took it? How long have personal injury lawyers in your state been in business? Will they let you talk to some of the people they've helped recently? When you look at all of these things together, you should have a good idea of whether or not your personal injury lawyer is competent, if not good.
