You suffered an accident, are hurt, and lose income because you miss work. It would help if you had someone to help you deal with everything in your life. A personal injury attorney can prove really useful because they have the needed knowledge and skills to assist you in the process of claiming compensation.
However, choosing an attorney to fight for you can be an arduous task because it looks that all law firms offer the same services. But do they really do it? It’s known that different providers have various offers, and not all fit your needs. At the end of the day, working with the best personal injury lawyer makes the difference between getting a fair compensation or settling for an insufficient sum.
Choosing a personal injury attorney to represent your case is quite difficult. You make a list of attorneys that provide the kind of services you need and contact them to schedule a consultation. Most offer free consultations to determine if you want to hire them. Use this consultation to ask them some questions that help you understand what qualifications and experience they have to represent your personal injury case.
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- How much does it cost to hire you?
Most personal injury attorney firms work on a contingency basis. What does it mean? They don’t charge legal fees unless they win your case. The fee is a percentage of your compensation and is established from the beginning. Ask the personal injury attorney what percentage they ask for and any additional costs you should be aware of. Sadly, some attorneys say there are no legal costs but ask you to pay postage expenses and copy documents. However, reliable legal professionals don’t charge for these things or absorb the costs into their fees. Besides the attorney’s answer, also check their reviews page to find out if other clients confirm their statements.
- Can you handle my case?
Get this question out of the way during the first minutes of the interview because it’s not worth spending your time interviewing an attorney who doesn’t have the needed skills or knowledge to represent you. Good legal specialists know their limits and understand what cases they can devote themselves to. You want to hire a personal injury lawyer that represents you because they believe in your case and are confident to help you win it. Reliable attorneys don’t sign clients up when they know they cannot provide them the attention they deserve.
Working with a smaller personal injury company is more likely to experience availability issues. So, it’s best to hire a team of seasoned Daytona Beach injury attorneys because they have experienced staff, multiple attorneys, record specialists, and paralegals to handle your case.
Make sure the attorney has the energy and time to become familiar with your accident case and fight for you.
- How many cases similar to mine have you handled?
Don’t rule out a legal expert because they don’t have extensive experience with cases similar to yours if an experienced attorney can support their work during the process. However, you don’t want your accident case to be the first personal injury lawsuit the attorney ever handled in their career. Only because they work with other seasoned legal experts it doesn’t mean they’ll benefit from continuous assistance. Therefore, you should seek a potential personal injury lawyer who has won cases similar to yours and has several satisfied clients.
- Why do you think my case is easy to win?
You don’t need the personal injury attorney to offer a comprehensive legal description. But they need to be able to identify some good reasons why they think they can obtain compensation for your injuries. Make sure they read the paperwork associated with your case before they answer this question and don’t speak from previous experience because each case is unique.
- Do I have to pay any fees if we lose the case?
Personal injury attorneys usually fund the legal costs of litigation. Therefore, the company pays expert witness fees, filing fees, medical records retrieval fees, and police reports. In order to build a strong case, they also hire medical experts like chiropractors and doctors to show that you deserve compensation. You aren’t responsible for the medical bills until you receive a payout from the liable party’s insurance company.
Some lawyers stipulate in the contract you sign what case-related fees you must pay if you lose the case. Ensure that you carefully overview them and understand the real extent of those expenses. When you hire legal services, always ask this question to know if you need to pay additional fees if the case is lost. If you don’t fully understand some of the contract agreements, don’t sign until the lawyer can explain them to you.
- What is your professional opinion of my personal injury case?
As the accident victim, you can easily assume that you’ll have no issues getting substantial compensation from the liable party or insurance company. However, even victims of similar accidents can receive different financial compensation or no payment at all. Sometimes the law or specific case circumstances make it difficult in court. This is why you need to hire the best legal expert in the sector to make sure they can fight for you. It would help if you had a seasoned and experienced lawyer who is unbiased and objective.
The attorney should review your case and tell what the chances of winning are and how much the case is worth financially. This is one of the questions you shouldn’t forget to ask to avoid frustration and headaches.
You need to know if there are any legal issues or challenges with your injury case. An experienced lawyer can quickly point them out and inform you how they plan to approach the case to ensure smooth sailing.
