What To Know Before Hiring A Personal Injury Lawyer

November 5th, 2007

If you have gotten injured in an accident, you need to make
sure you find a good, skilled personal injury lawyer. Personal
injury lawyers are all very different from one another and if
you choose a bad lawyer, depending on the severity of the
injury, you might lose a great deal of money. 

You should look around and find a personal injury lawyer
that will take your case with no money up front and who will
advance you all of the expenses that will be involved in your
case. These expenses vary depending on your case but typically
involve filing fees, accessing records, getting expert
testimony and reports, and deposition costs. Depending on how
severe your injury is, these costs could possibly exceed ten
thousand dollars. If the attorney won’t make that type of
investment into your case, they might not be the best choice.
The attorney might not be able to afford it or might feel your
case isn’t strong enough. In that situation, you should
continue looking for a better lawyer.

Many lawyers use a contingency plan which means they don’t
get paid unless you get paid. This can be through a verdict
after a trial but usually is a settlement. Most personal injury
lawyers use this method as their clients are usually unable to
work or have spent their own money on medical care while
looking for a lawyer. You need to pay special attention to the
retainer agreement you make. Make sure you agree to all the
extra fees and make sure they are stated up front so you don’t
have to pay later for something you didn’t know about. A
typical contingency plan gives the lawyer about 1/3 of any
settlement amount as well as any expenses the lawyer has paid
for in advance. Be wary if the lawyer wants more than 1/3 of
your settlement or verdict amount.

You should get a free initial consultation so that the
lawyer can get to know all the facts and details that were
involved with your accident. Make sure you ask a lot of
questions because you will want to know everything you can
about what the lawyer will do. You can get an estimated time
your case will take and how much your attorney feels the case
might be worth. No legal professional can know the exact amount
of time a case will take or know the exact amount you will
receive but an experienced lawyer can make an educated guess
based on previous cases.

Just because you retain a lawyer doesn’t mean you have to
keep them. If you feel they aren’t doing their job properly,
are overcharging you, or you just don’t like them, you can fire
them at any time and get a new one. The old attorney might put
out a lien that will come out of a new attorney’s share of a
settlement so you should try to pick the best one possible the
first time.