Contrary to what you may believe, getting professional representation for your injury case is actually not that difficult of a process. With the right steps and hiring considerations, you can find the best attorney for your exact needs, one who can represent your unique situation with deft professionalism.
Recovering from an injury is hard enough in itself; make sure you find the best representation possible when taking your claims to court.
1.) Know When You Need An Attorney
Before you can go through with hiring a personal injury attorney to support your case, you’ll need to determine when hiring an attorney is a practical option. Personal injury attorneys often take on cases dealing with a variety of injuries and causes, often specializing in certain case types. These unique case types can cover resulting injuries from:
- Drunk driving accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- ATV/dirt bike accidents
- Rear-end collisions
- Golf cart accidents
Beyond vehicular injuries and car accident cases, professional injury attorneys often pursue cases regarding injuries from medical malpractice, nursing home negligence and animal attacks. The first thing you should consider after an injury is what kind of personal injury attorney can best see to your needs, and whether or not your unique case can hold up in court. Fortunately, many attorney offices offer free initial consultations before they take on a case, to gauge your case’s strength and their experience as it relates to your situation.
2.) Seek Out Free Consultations
On that note, be sure to take free consultations whenever they are available! Often, accident victims are hesitant toward hiring a personal injury attorney, as they are wary of the commitments and financial risks that come with getting representation. Like anything else, there are no 100% guarantees as to an injury case’s success, or the compatibility between your unique situation and an attorney’s experience, and education.
It’s because of this, however, that many injury attorneys offer free preliminary consultations for every individual case. During these meetings, attorneys will evaluate your case, and determine whether it has strong legal potential. You can find out first-hand not only how well your case stands, but also the quality of service you can expect from your attorney.
3.) Traits To Look For, And Behaviors To Avoid
When speaking with a professional injury attorney, and especially during free consultations, it’s important to know what to look for and what to avoid. In a personal injury attorney, you’ll want to find a representative who exhibits:
- Attentiveness to client needs
- Accessibility and positive communication skills
- An ability to convey complex legal processes in a down-to-Earth manner
- Realistic expectations, and the honesty it takes to speak openly about them
- A proactive passion and commitment for your case
Even if you find a personal injury attorney who meets these basic traits, however, there are still warning signs and poor behaviors you should watch out for. Be wary of any professional attorney who:
- Requires up-front deposits
- Gives unrealistic guarantees
- Fails to follow up on calls or emails
- Neglects court bills
- Ignores full explanations of terms and processes regarding your case
4.) Interview Your Attorneys
During free consultations, or in regular conversation with your personal injury attorney, it can be incredibly helpful to have a pre-prepared list of questions and interview tools on hand. By knowing what to ask your potential representative during meetings, you can better judge how well they will likely handle your case, informing your decisions to hire or not. Consider asking potential injury attorneys:
- How their unique legal experiences tie-in with your needs
- How payment and compensation is arranged
- The length of their typical cases
- If they have ever been suspended from practice, or disciplined (this can be checked later on through state bar associations)
- Their honest thoughts on your case’s strength
- Who will be working on your case
- How your case will be handled, and the legal process
5.) Read Up On Attorney Backgrounds
Naturally, when hiring a personal injury attorney to represent your case in court, you’ll want to look in-depth into their backgrounds, experience and professional education. State bar associations will usually keep a record of attorney complaints, as well as proceedings, in a full database.
Look into your potential attorney’s educational background, in addition to how well their past representation experience aligns with your specific needs. If an attorney you are speaking with has extensive prior experience with motorcycle accidents, and your case concerns a work-related falling injury, perhaps you should seek out a more fitting representative. The more relatable background experience an attorney will have with cases similar to yours, the better your unique case will be handled; it’s as simple as that.
6.) Pay Attention To Detail, And Find The Proper Payment Agreement
As you might expect, a little attention to detail can go a long way when it comes to hiring the right personal injury attorney. Careful read every word of any legal contracts or agreements made between yourself and your attorney, binding or not, and meticulously scan the “fine print.”
While most attorneys will not try to cheat you into an unfair agreement, there can be small details that inevitably hurt your case, even when handled with positive intent. If you are unsure about a part of your legal contracts, or confused by unfamiliar terminology, ask your attorney for clarification, and move on from there.
Additionally, be sure to find a personal injury attorney who receives payment based on contingency; in these agreements, they take a portion of your compensation, and not a penny until then. They only get paid if you do!
7.) Use Your Most Reliable Contacts
Most often, accident victims miss out on professional injury attorney contacts hiding right under their noses: their friends, family and professional associates. Not only are these contacts readily available to you, but they will inherently have your best interests at heart, only giving recommendation for injury attorneys they feel will properly represent you.
Network, network, network. Following an serious injury, be it from an auto accident or medical malpractice, always look within your personal and professional network for advice. If a coworker has had experience with a personal injury attorney, ask them to rate their representation, and put a value to the service they received.
Finding a personal injury attorney doesn’t have to be a struggle. Know the important steps to hiring an attorney, and how to gauge not only legal skill, but also professional character. Contact us today if you’ve been in an accident and are seeking professional representation, or would like a free review of you.
