How to Find a Good Personal Injury Lawyer?
How do you find a good personal injury lawyer? What does a good personal injury lawyer look like? What qualities should he or she possess? Most people don’t think much about personal injury attorney’s in their day-to-day life, so they don’t have a good idea what they should look for in a lawyer when they actually need one.
You may know some of the basics about finding a lawyer—asking for recommendations from family and friends, reading reviews online, and such—but once you have a few lawyers in mind, it gets a little trickier when trying to figure out just which qualities you need to pay attention to that might make a difference to your case.
Look for a lawyer who treats you well from the beginning.
One of the things you should look at is how your potential lawyer treats you when you call. Are they friendly or are they very matter of fact? Are they empathetic or just trying to get through the call and move on? Do they answer all of your questions or try to rush you off the phone? That’ll set the tone for everything else in your attorney-client relationship.
If you get a lawyer who doesn’t care upfront, they aren’t going to start caring down the line. As your case progresses, you’re also going to need more than just a lawyer who understands the basics of the law. You’ll need someone you can count on for updates, to take your calls and answer all your questions. Knowing what kind of lawyer you’re dealing with on the phone is key to knowing what kind of lawyer you’ll work with in the future.
Look for a local lawyer in Lafayette.
Along the same lines, you should also look for lawyers who are local. Find out if there’s an office in town, so you can walk in any time and check on your case.
Look for a lawyer who will keep you informed.
Overall, what you want is a lawyer who cares enough to make it a priority to keep you informed. We try to call our clients every couple of weeks at the outset and then about every month, even when not much is happening in the case. Litigation has a way of moving slowly in some parts of the process, and we understand how frustrating that is for our clients. You want your lawyer to be reasonably available to you. That’s why I take my clients’ calls personally.
Look for a lawyer with a track record of success.
Beyond that, you should look at a lawyer’s track record. How successful have they been with cases like yours? You want someone who has had experience and has gone through the various iterations, the various difficulties, that arise from case to case. While every case is unique, having a broad amount of success with similar cases over the years will help ensure your lawyer is capable of handling any- thing that comes up as they pursue your claim. An established lawyer will also have all the required staff and financial resources to handle your case.
Too often, new lawyers can run into financial trouble trying to handle big cases with big expenses. They just don’t have the money for all the costs involved in litigating the case. You don’t want to put yourself and your case in that situation. Before even making a phone call, you can get a feel for how experienced your lawyer is by reviewing their biography on their webpage. The more years of experience and the more success they’ve had, the better. For example, I have been practicing for 34 years now, and our firm has recorded several millions in recoveries.
That’s the kind of thing you want to see on your potential lawyer’s webpage. So, whenever you speak to your potential lawyer, be sure to ask them all of the following: “Have you handled cases like mine? Have you handled large cases? Do you have the staff to handle my case? Do you have the financial resources?” The answers to those questions are crucial going forward.
Look for a lawyer you can trust.
One of the more elusive qualities you want in a lawyer, one of the hardest to test, is honesty. You want a lawyer who will tell you honestly what your case looks like today and what the most likely result will be at the end of the case. So, ask them what they anticipate from your case. Sure, it’s early in your case, and it might be difficult for a lawyer to give a specific value upfront, but they should be able to lay out the general direction and expectations for your case. If you’re looking at a car crash with a minimal policy limit, or where there was minimal damage, your lawyer should know that they’re not going to get a huge verdict. In that situation, you want to be informed, and you need a lawyer who will do that.
Hall-Justice is Lafayette, Indiana’s Best Reviewed Law Firm
At Hall-Justice law firm you will find all the above qualities. Our reviews speak for themselves. We get to know our clients personally and we fight to get their lives back in order. Whether it is a car accident, motorcycle crash, truck accident, slip and fall, dog bite, or another injury, if you need to find a good personal injury lawyer look no further – Get Justice!
