Kamis, 29 Agustus 2019
If you’ve just being injured as a result from an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, you will need to make some big decision about your injury. One of the most important decision is, whether you want to pursue your claim against insurance company. If you do, then you will need a help from an accident injury lawyer.
Accident Injury Lawyers Near Me - How to Pick One?
Choosing an accident injury lawyer can’t be based from commercials alone. You will need to do some “homework” on the lawyers in your area. For an instance, you will need to check their track record, their reputation among other lawyer, or whether they have handled injury cases before.
Accident Injury Lawyers Near Me - 8 Questions to Ask
When you decide to contact an accident injury lawyer and meet them in person, you’re gonna need to ask the right questions to find out if the accident injury lawyer is the one you need. Below are eight questions you need to ask before you hire a lawyer:
1. How do their colleagues rate or say about them?
One of the most commonly used way to find out a lawyer’s reputation is by checking sources or websites that rate accident injury lawyer reviews based on oppinions from their fellow lawyers. There are numerous website that provide such information, one of the example is Martindale-Hubbell. Please note that these ratings are just reviews from other lawyers and not “official” rating.
2. What percentage of their cases are referrals from other lawyers?
To find out which accident injury lawyer in your area is the best, you can ask the lawyers (not specifically personal injury lawyers) who practice there. The professionals who work in an area usually knows or recognize who is good and who is not. It is important to find out if a significant amount of a lawyer’s caseload are from referrals from other lawyers. Because if it’s so, that means he or she is recommended from other lawyers.
3. Does the lawyer have financial resources to handle my case?
Most of the times, lawsuits involving serious personal injuries can be very expensive to take to court. This is because accident injury cases will have to involve several experts or people who have specialties in that area, which are not cheap to hire. If a lawyer do not have the financial resources to fund your case, you can be pressed to accept an unfair settlement. So, it is important to hire a lawyer who has financial resources.
4. Does the lawyer have specialties in personal injury law?
Like any other profession, legal pratitioners also have several area of experties, one of them is personal injury. It is better for personal injury case to be handled by someone who has specialties in personal injury law, because most of the lawyers hired by insurance companies to defend them are experienced specialists who specifically limit their practice in personal injury defense. So, it is better to fight with an experienced personal injury lawyer as well.
5. How long has the lawyer been handling accident injury cases?
As mentioned before, insurance company who you may want to fight will most likely have seasoned injury law specialists to defend them. That is why having a personal injury lawyer alone is not enough. What you need is an experienced personal injury lawyer who has been handling injury cases for a long time and has experience in fighting against seasoned specialists that defend insurance companies. The experience of a lawyer can make a critical difference in the outcome of someone’s case.
6. Has the lawyer actually tried lawsuits in court?
In the people’s eyes, all personal injury lawyers must be going to court and trying cases on a daily basis. But the reality is not like that, not even close. There are considerable percentage of lawyers who label themselves to be “personal injury lawyers” or “trial lawyers” have an insufficient or no trial experience. So, i tis important to ask the lawyer whether he or she has tried in court, and if so, how often do they try in court.
7. Is the lawyer a member of legal organizations that specialize in representing injured people?
Why is this important, you may ask. The answer is, because both of state and national organizations of lawyers who are dedicated to represent injured people, can conduct lobbying activities for client’s rights. In the US, the most famous national organization is the American Association of Justice (AAJ). Of course you can hire a lawyer who is not member of these organizations, but why do you want to hire them to represent you in such crucial case?
8. Is the lawyer board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy?
Originally, the board certification is designed to determine physicians who expertise in a specific specialty or sub-specialty of medication. This system of peer evaluation was emulated in legal profession by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA), who is responsible of civil trial certification for lawyers.
NBTA “civil trial attorney” certification is only given to lawyers who have comprehensive experience in court trial and preparing case for trial. Along with having courtroom experience, lawyer must also pass an examination from the NBTA before receiving board certification as a civil trial attorney.
Those are eight questions you will need to ask to your soon-to-be accident injury lawyer. Always keep in mind that choosing a lawyer can be tricky, especially when it comes to accident injury lawyer. So, make sure to be careful and fully consider your lawyer candidates before hiring one.