Hiring a personal injury lawyer like appointing someone onto your home security system. If you lag in any of the mentioned parts, your life will be crushing over your shoulder very soon. Your case could be slipping on someone’s property, or having a major spine injury.
On the other hand, hiring an experienced and dedicated lawyer can increase 50% of you winning the settlement. For that, you have to do some background checks and homework to ensure the right lawyer according to your case history.
How to find a personal injury lawyer
You need to research their background, ask from your friends and interview them on your terms.
List your criteria
Every lawyer working for a certain law firm is efficient in their field. But you may find your criteria different. You should look for not so busy yet experienced and dedicated lawyer so that he/ she can study your case properly. One thing you must clarify is that your lawyer is licensed at your specific state.
Make a list of the lawyers
Make a list with a bunch of lawyers’ names of your choice. Then according to accessibility, experience, background, wins- categorize them. After a little research, shortlist 2-3 lawyers to go on further.
Ask for a reference from friends and families
After you have shortlisted your lawyer list, verify them after gathering information and reference from your family and friends. There are so many personal injury lawyers’ advertisements on TVs and social media such as Facebook, YouTube, etc. that it is difficult to find out which one is to choose. That is why you can get help from your friends holding previous experience in your case.
Check online reviews
Every renowned law firm has a well-decorated website. There, you will find their full introduction, blogs, online reviews. Some of the reviews could be paid, and you can find the real ones if you read carefully. Pay heed to that and use your gut to select.
Check the lawyer’s background
It is important to research your preferable lawyer’s background on your own. Online reviews or your friend’s reference, everything is your second-hand experience. Save something for yourself before you get blinded with so many recommendations. Check his background history, training centre, reputation and winning numbers, etc.
Call and meet the lawyer
If you like their history and background and they meet all your criteria, call their office and fix a meeting with them. Then go meet with your future lawyer with proper preparation such as negotiation and some other case-related questions which you want to clarify.
Interview them
Interviewing them doesn’t need to be like an employee-employer relation.
You can casually ask them about:
- Their experience with other clients (you can talk to their previous clients beforehand to collect a view about their ability)
- Ensure that youcanbe comfortable around them or talking about your cases
- Examine their negotiation ability
- Ask about their experience with your types cases, if yes how they plan to proceed on your case
- Listen to their plan and try to pitch in your ideas so that they understand your wants.
Find out if they have good judicial connections such as attending campaigns or social works, engagement with local judicial association etc. Ask specifically, after filing a lawsuit, about how much time it will be needed to get a verdict from the court.
There could cause some disagreements with payment after winning the case. So, work on the negotiation and payment part so that you don’t need to regret it later. Overall, casually but cleverly, find out every possible detail you can because here your money is involved.
Sign the contract
If all the negotiations come to a positive agreement, keep everything on a legal document. Sign a retainer. Spare no details of your contracts, your details to the law firms, your payment amount, and so on.
Sometimes, for you, it is impossible to pay your lawyer without the settlement money. In that case, you should settle and have a written document on how much you are going to pay from it. In many states, it is up to 30% of the settlement money, and you have to pay. So, negotiate and pay what you have agreed on.
Conclusion
A settlement is not something you get as a bonus. Instead, it is the compensation you get for your injury, medical bills, or worse, loss of livelihood. So, hire your injury lawyer surrey wisely who can win you your deserved money.
