5 Tips for Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have been hurt in an accident that someone else caused, hiring a personal injury lawyer is one of the most important things that you can do for yourself after you have addressed your medical issues, injuries, and the other immediate impacts of the accident.

Once you have gotten treatment and are able to think about the recovery process, you will need to file an insurance claim to get the money that you deserve from the insurance company. This process can be frustrating and overwhelming even for someone who did not just experience a significant accident, so the stress is increased when you are focusing on recovering from your injuries.

The following tips are a great way to start on the right path towards hiring a good personal injury attorney.

Tip 1: Ask Friends and Family

If you know anyone who you trust who has been through a personal injury case before, or who has successfully worked with a personal injury attorney in order to reach a settlement in an accident, reach out to them and ask them about their experience with their attorney. Word of mouth is still a very effective way to get connected with trustworthy and effective legal professionals.

Tip 2: Schedule Initial Consultations

Most personal injury lawyers offer initial consultations—often free—where you can speak directly to a member of their firm about your accident. During these consultations, you will have an opportunity to ask questions, discuss your accident and injuries, and get a better idea of how that specific legal firm would be to work with. The more initial consultations you go through, the more confident you can be when you do decide which attorney to work with.

Whilst you are having initial consultations with potential attorneys, it would make sense to continue researching different firms and their backgrounds, because their experience in personal injury cases is crucial. You might look into firms like Jeffrey Weiskopf, P.C. to see how they handle cases similar to yours. Sometimes, you may speak with a single attorney and immediately know that they are the ones that you want to work with, but in other instances, you will want to do your research.

Tip 3: Ask the Right Questions

Part of hiring the right attorney is about the rapport that you feel during your initial consultation, but a major part of hiring the right attorney is knowing that you are both on the same page about the things that you think are important, and whether or not you are comfortable with the way they handle cases like your own.

A good way to get to the bottom of these issues is to ask direct questions about how they handle cases like your own, what their history of successes have been, and how they would work with you in order to get you the money that you deserve.

Tip 4: Ask For Examples of Past Cases

A good indicator of an attorney’s ability to represent your own case is their past successes with similar cases. If you have been in a car accident and are dealing with some common injuries, ask about other cases where the victim was in a similar situation as your own.

If you were injured because of a defective product, learn more about when and how the law firm has represented past clients for injuries from defective products, and ask about how successful the case was for the victim.

Tip 5: Talk About Money

Many people feel uncomfortable talking about money and costs, but these are some of the most important details about the work that you and the attorney will do together in the future.

Remember that hiring an attorney is a business transaction above all, and although you will have personal interactions with the attorney and their team, you are hiring them to get you the money that you need and deserve. Knowing exactly what to expect in terms of price schedules, fees, and more will be a very helpful way to determine which attorney you will go with after you have completed your research.