Hiring Attorneys
How do you hire an accident lawyer?
Just as with many services and products in society today, choosing the best lawyer to represent and advance your legal rights and interests can be confusing and at sometimes downright overwhelming. However, with a little diligence, the best attorney can be found.
Initial Research For A Good Lawyer
To begin with, you can often obtain some preliminary background information by researching firms or attorneys online. Most up-to-date firms are aware that consumers are more sophisticated than ever before. Accordingly, the vast majority of successful law firms have at least some significant web presence. Further, you can also sometimes obtain informational material simply by calling and requesting it directly from a firm. Many firms have informational brochures available upon request. However, only so much of a decision can or should be based upon where an attorney went to school, what associations she is a member of, or what treatises or classes he has written or taught.
Personal Interview
The absolute best way to determine if any particular firm or attorney is going to be an effective, knowledgeable, aggressive legal representative is to speak with him or her. The old saying goes “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Therefore, you certainly shouldn’t judge an attorney based solely on one criterion such as how much information they put on their biographical page. Accordingly some considerations may be useful, and you may want to ask yourself:
Do you like the attorney as a person?
While you don’t have to be best friends, you will be dealing with this professional for an extended period of time. If the attorney is most interested in impressing you with all of his accomplishments in the practice of law and life, he may be too concerned with himself to give enough attention to your claim. This is one of the most important determinative factors in whether an injured Iowan will be satisfied with the claim process and resolution.
Do you like the staff at the law firm?
While it may seem somewhat trivial, a claimant may well be dealing with an attorney’s legal assistant as much or more so than the attorney given that the attorney is out of the office in depositions, hearings, mediations and other matters on cases on a regular basis. Accordingly, you may want to consider,
"How helpful, knowledgeable, and attentive is the staff at a law firm?"
How big is the law firm?
Is it just one attorney or one staff person? If so, will this firm have the resources available to adequately finance a case of your magnitude? On the other hand, does this firm have 20 attorneys or maybe more? Will a firm with hundreds or thousands of clients be able to give you the individualized attention that you or your claim may need to effectively maximize your recovery?
"Will I get personal attention, or will I be ill represented due to lack of resources to do the investigative work or too many attorneys to be vitally important to the firm?"
How is the physical location itself?
I have often heard when meeting with clients that attorneys' websites make it look like they won a skyscraper, with the potential client only to discover down the road that their office is a small dingy office in a remote location. Once again, while you cannot always judge a book by the cover, successful civil trial attorneys should be able to have a nice professional office.
"Is there a lot of smoke and mirrors, but no real evidence of having succeeded in previous trials or other legal work?"
What type of representative cases has the attorney been involved with previously?
While an accomplished trial attorney can often effectively represent an individual on a number of different matters, it may be helpful to inquire about similar cases in which the attorney has represented people.
"Does the attorney have experience handling my type of injury claim?"
What types of outcomes has the attorney gotten in similar cases?
While it may get tiresome listening to some attorney toot their own horn, it certainly doesn’t hurt for you to ask what types of outcomes that attorney has gotten in similar cases.
"Does the attorney have trial experience, as well as experience negotiating settlements with insurance companies, and if both, what were the outcomes?"
If you were a juror listening to this attorney present a case, would you find him persuasive?
This may overlap with the first consideration. However, the ultimate resolution of a case, if it does not settle prior to trial, is determined by a trial to a jury. Accordingly, if you were a juror, would this professional represent you well in your opinion and be likeable and persuasive to a juror?
"Would I believe this attorney's argument, and find it compelling enough to send back a decision to help me in my case?"
There are a myriad of considerations that go into picking an attorney to represent your interests in an injury claim. These are a few that we have heard from clients that have been most important in their decisions.
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