5 Important Things to Consider When Choosing a Personal Injury Lawyer

May 28, 2020 | Compensation, Personal Injury

What is a personal injury lawyer?

If you live in a city with billboards or simply own a television, chances are you have seen at least one commercial with personal injury attorneys providing details about how to contact them because “You may be entitled to compensation”.

You have also probably seen them when in just about any movie ever created about lawyers. In films, they are usually the “ambulance chasers” or the small-town firm going against the corporate giant.

While those two examples may seem like the “traditional” type of personal injury lawyer, they are actually far from it.

What does a personal injury attorney do?

While most personal injury attorneys do handle things on the commercials like mesothelioma/asbestos cases and they do help people who have become ill due to polluted water, they also help people with a very wide range of additional cases.

While some personal injury attorneys specialize in individual areas, many handle any case that involves an individual (or individuals) seeking compensation for an injury or illness that was the result of an accident or negligence.

Examples of common cases personal injury lawyers handle include:

• Car accident lawsuits
• Work injuries or workers’ compensation lawsuits
• Slip and fall lawsuits
• Wrongful death lawsuits
• Lawsuits against doctors, pharmacies, or hospitals (Also known as medical malpractice)
• Dog or animal bites/injuries (against the owner not the dog)

And the list goes on and on. Personal injury lawsuits can be made against an individual person, a group of people, or even a company.

How do I find the best personal injury lawyer for my case?

While every personal injury attorney is biased to the firm he or she works for, there is a general consensus surrounding the things you need to ask yourself and the steps you should take when choosing an injury lawyer to handle your case.

We have put together the most important steps you should take when looking for a personal injury lawyer to help guide you through a process that will likely be one of the most significant in your life.

We strongly advise you to read the steps below before making a decision on how to proceed with your personal injury attorney pursuit. We suggest that you make a list of potential attorneys or law firms and then narrow it down to a select few you want to contact for a free consultation.

Then, based on your discussions with them, you can make an educated decision.

The steps to finding the best personal injury lawyer for your case

Step 1: Determine the type of personal injury law firm that is best for you

The two of the most significant questions to ask yourself are:

• Do I want a big or small firm?
• Do I want a local or national firm?

Every person will have a different answer and different reasoning behind their answer.

Some individuals may want a big firm because they feel more confident when they have many people working on their case, but some people may want a small firm with one or two attorneys because they want to have a relationship with a partner who is dedicated to their case.

Depending on how you answered that question, you will most likely have a similar rationale when deciding to hire locally or nationally.

Step 2: Ask for recommendations from people you trust

One of the best ways to get an opinion is to ask for unbiased recommendations from someone you know and trust. It may be hard to find someone you know who has worked with a personal injury lawyer, but chances are, you can find someone who at the very least knows one.

If you trust someone you will most likely trust their opinion, and their recommendations (should they have any) will be a great place to start making your list.

Step 3: Search Google for local personal injury lawyers

This step has pretty much become commonplace in today’s society for most individuals looking to make a purchase or hire someone for services, however, finding a personal injury lawyer online should come with much greater research than any other online search.

Here are a few things we recommend you do when searching Google for the best personal injury lawyer:

• If you want a local attorney, make sure you have the name of your city, county, or state in your search (I.e. “personal injury lawyers in St. Louis”
• Read Google Reviews to find law firms with positive reviews*
• Visit the law firm’s website to see their practice areas and read employee bios to get an idea of what their personality is like
• Find their past cases and verdicts to both see if they have any information listed about cases similar to yours and see how much they have won for their past clients

* Some law firms and their marketing experts put more of an emphasis on getting Google Reviews then others, so we don’t recommend making your decisions simply because they have a lot of Reviews

Related: Frequently Asked Personal Injury Law Questions

Step 4: Create a list of questions you should potential lawyers for your case

By this point, you should have at least one personal injury attorney you think would be able to provide the best representation for your case.

Before you contact them to schedule your consultation, we recommend creating a list of questions you want to be answered before making your decision.

Questions to ask potential personal injury lawyers include:

• Do you think I have a case?
• Have you worked on cases similar to mine before and if so, what were the results?
• Would I be speaking primarily with you, another attorney, or an assistant/paralegal?
• What types of things will you do to research and build my case?
• What sort of compensation do you believe I am entitled?
• Do you charge hourly or are you paid based on the results of my case?
• Have you ever gone to trial or only settled out of court?
• Why should I hire you?

Step 5: Schedule your free personal injury consultation(s)

Most personal injury firms – especially the smaller firms – will provide a free consultation to hear the details surrounding your case.

When meeting with the attorney, they should give you an honest opinion about whether or not they think you have a case, give recommendations on moving forward, and also give you a breakdown of things like timeline and projected settlement or compensation.

We then recommend you go through the steps we provided above once again for each of the attorneys with whom you have met and combine those details with your opinions after the in-person meeting.

If you think you have found the best injury lawyer for your case, you can contact them and let them know you are ready to move forward.

If not, you can start the process again and continue consulting until you are 100% confident in the attorney or law firm you have chosen.