It may be hard to recover compensation for your injuries after an accident. You may need to hire an injury lawyer to negotiate with an insurance company and protect your rights. But you don’t want to hire just anybody. Hiring the right lawyer can make the difference between whether you win or lose your settlement.
To this end, it’s important to know what questions you should ask before you decide to work with an attorney. We’ve outlined the most important questions below.
1. How Long Have You Been Handling Personal Injury Cases?
This is an important question to ask because it’s crucial to have an attorney with a lot of experience handling cases like yours.
If you have a serious medical problem, you probably want a specialist with extensive experience treating your condition. Give your choice of attorney the same level of care you’d give your choice of doctor.
Ask your potential lawyer how long they’ve been handling cases like yours and ask them what their success rate is.
2. Have You Handled Cases Like Mine?
It’s not enough just to have a lawyer experienced in injury law. You also want a lawyer with experience handling your specific case type. For example, if you’re looking for a car accident attorney, but your prospective lawyer only has experience in dog bite cases, maybe you should think twice before you hire them.
Ask your lawyer if they can share with you past results in cases similar to your case.
3. What Are Your Fees?
Most injury lawyers work on a contingency, meaning they don’t charge out-of-pocket or upfront fees. This means you won’t owe them money until and unless they win money for you for things such as lost wages or medical bills. They will give you a free initial consultation and you won’t get charged unless they win.
You’ll owe them a percentage of what they win for you if they win your case.
4. What Will You Expect of Me?
Prior to hiring an injury lawyer, make sure you know what your role will be and what will be expected of you by your lawyer. Some victims of injuries want to be very involved regarding the legal process and do things like attend depositions. Some lawyers will allow this to occur and others won’t.
Some injury victims want their lawyer to handle each and every detail of their case while they focus upon injury recovery. Make sure you and your attorney are on the same page regarding what kind of attorney/client relationship you want to have.
5. Can You Help Me Find Doctors?
Some injury attorneys help their clients find doctors who won’t charge them for treatment until the end of their case. This is helpful for clients who can’t afford to have their injuries treated.
When doctors do this for attorneys, this means doctors know the attorneys get great results for clients and trust them. It is a good sign when lawyers offer this service as it means they likely have a proven track record of success.
6. What Is the Value of My Case?
It may be hard for lawyers to accurately calculate the values of their clients’ cases, since every case is unique and different. There is no such thing as a settlement fee calculator or an accurate formula for determining case value.
After all, if you only receive a couple of scratches and a headache from a car crash, you likely won’t get as much out of a car accident lawsuit as if you became permanently disabled.
With that in mind, your attorney can give you a ballpark figure regarding the value of your case as they evaluate your case’s details.
The value of your case can be affected by the ability of your attorney to try your case at trial and negotiate with insurers. Attorneys who are ready and prepared to handle cases in court can fight for the most compensation possible. Attorneys who never try cases in court may choose to settle injury cases at a discount.
Past behavior is the best indicator of future action. Make sure your potential lawyer is able and ready to represent you in court.
7. How Long Will My Case Take?
Ask your potential attorney this question. The process of negotiating a settlement may take quite a while, especially if your injuries are serious. Insurance adjusters do not desire to expedite settlement negotiations. They want to delay them because they want to avoid paying you anything at all.
Your attorney will probably be able to give you a ballpark figure regarding how long your case will take. However, it will be unlikely that they will be able to give you an accurate, specific timeframe.
How long your case will take will depend on numerous factors, such as case complexity, court calendars, defendants’ willingness to settle, at-fault parties’ behavior, etc. If your potential car accident lawyer has significant experience handling cases like yours, they’ll be able to speak from experience about the potential length of your case.
