How To Choose Your Personal Injury Attorney Or Lawyer?

In this article, you will learn:

• How to find a personal injury attorney and how to ensure they are a good fit for you
• What to do if you are unable to meet with an attorney in person
• How personal injury attorneys set their fees and make money

When choosing a personal injury attorney, you should make sure that you feel comfortable with the office and the attorneys. A good personal injury attorney will focus on personal injury almost exclusively. They should be able to explain to you how the system works, how the laws work, and be able to explain the process from start to finish for you. You should feel fairly confident and comfortable after speaking with an attorney that handles car wrecks. A good question to ask is what percentage of their practice is devoted to car wreck litigation and claims, or what portion of their practice is devoted to injury claims because many lawyers will advertise areas they practice in. If a lawyer doesn’t really do that much car wreck law, and how to fight the tricks that the insurance company knows and uses, then they may not know maximize your recovery at the end of your claim.

Red Flags To Look Out For When Interviewing Personal Injury Attorneys

If anybody says they bill you an hourly rate or ask for money upfront, they’re not a car wreck injury attorney. That’s not how the process works. Also, you should be leery of anyone that promises a specific settlement amount, and they say, “sign here, I can get you X amount of dollars.” It’s really hard for any attorney to give you a value on your claim without having the evidence that they’re eventually going to argue for you. Evidence is generally medical bills, medical records, lost wage proof, any documentation from the healthcare provider that shows your restrictions, limitations, and pain that you went through. So, anyone that promises you or tells you that they can get you a certain amount of money before they’ve thoroughly evaluated your claim is probably just trying to make a quick buck and get you to sign and then settle your case quickly as they can. That’s a huge red flag. Your case deserves a thorough evaluation, and not just someone blowing smoke at you to get you to sign up with them.

Questions To Ask A Potential Attorney When First Meeting With Them

Many people want to know how long it’s going to take, and no attorney can give you a guarantee or a specific number, but they should know how long their average case takes. They should be able to tell you how often they go to court, and they should be able to tell you how quickly they’ll return your phone calls along with who will answer them. They should have a local office. Many big law firms don’t have a local office, and they sign people up over the phone and internet, which is fine. Still, there should also be a place for a client to go if they’ve got a question or an urgent matter or just want to see their attorney. A local office is critical.

You should also have a direct way to contact your attorney, whether it’s email or phone or a dedicated person at the firm that you can talk to. You don’t want to get lost in a sea of other cases. It’s vital to set communication expectations on the front-end because if they say that’s how the communication works with them, then that’s how it needs to follow through and be. You should also ensure that you retain the ultimate authority to resolve your case. Your attorney shouldn’t be able to settle your case or file a lawsuit for you without your permission. It’s your case, and the ultimate decision should rest with you. Your attorney should be your advisor and your fighter; they shouldn’t be the ultimate decision-maker. At our firm, ultimate control of your case rests with you.

Options Available If Clients Are Unable To Visit The Office In Person

If someone calls and either their work schedule prevents them, they don’t have a car because they’ve been in an accident, or they’re at home with a broken leg, if they call us, one of us can go to their house and meet with them and answer their questions. We can also send our sign-at paperwork over for electronic signatures through email. But, still, we’re also more than happy to go to somebody’s house because many times, people don’t want to hire a lawyer without meeting them first and seeing them in person, which is a very important part of hiring a lawyer. Our office will always make time to go to a person’s house if they can’t come to us and want to meet us.

How Personal Injury Attorneys Are Compensated, And How Their Fees Are Set?

Attorney fees must be reasonable to be legal under our state guidelines and laws. And generally, it’s 1/3rd of your injury settlement. That amount usually goes up a little bit if a lawsuit is filed, but almost every personal injury attorney charges the same percentage; it’s just the amount that’s been reasonable, and everybody charges the same thing. No state law says, “We can’t or can charge anything different,” but an honest personal injury attorney will not charge you upfront, and they’ll get paid if your case resolves 1/3rd of the injury offer. They shouldn’t charge you anything for the property damage; we’ll help with that for free if you hire us for the injury case. We don’t charge anything additional for your property damage. In addition to the one-third injury settlement fee, there are also costs. Costs in most cases are minimal. For example, a common costs on most cases is from the hospital records department for getting your records or the cost for the police department to send your police report to us. If your case moves to court and is taken to court, then there’s a court filing fee that the courthouse charges, the process server fee, maybe some witness fees, and deposition fees. Those fees can get a little higher, but they only happen if your case goes to court. And before that happens, at least at our firm, there’s a long conversation about it. We talk about the risks and benefits, so you’re not going to have any surprise fees, and those are also taken out of the settlement or jury award at the end of the case. There’s no surprise hidden fee.

For more information on Personal Injury in Arkansas, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you seek by calling (479) 337-7077 today.