Understanding the questions to ask an attorney before hiring them allows you to ensure the best attorney for your case will be on your side, fighting to seek justice and obtain maximum compensation on your behalf.
Before hiring a personal injury attorney, it is important to understand the best ways to proceed with a lawyer to make your case and experience as successful and straight-forward as possible. Understanding what you should expect from your lawyer and from the legal process will ensure that you are receiving the optimal guidance and attention from your legal team, and will prevent you from encountering any unwanted legal and financial surprises during the process. Below are five important questions to ask your lawyer before retaining them for your personal injury case.
1. How Will My Final Judgment or Settlement Be Divided?
A personal injury attorney typically works on a “contingency fee” basis, earning a percentage of the final amount obtained. It is therefore important to have a clear understanding of the lawyer’s contingency fee percentage when you begin working together. Sometimes the contingency fee will change with an increased amount of work performed by the lawyer; for example, if the lawyer has to file a lawsuit or fight the case on an appeal the fee may be higher. A few additional items that may impact your final settlement amount include items that get deducted from the final judgement, such as medical bills, the lawyer’s case, and court fees.
2. What Percentage of the Lawyer’s Total Cases Are Personal Injury?
Personal injury is a specialized field, and as is true for all specialized fields of law, it is important to have an attorney who specializes in that line of work. If you have a personal injury case, the majority of your lawyer’s work should be focused on personal injury work, and if possible, you should choose a lawyer who focuses more than 75% of their work on personal injury cases.
3. Who Besides the Lead Attorney Will Be Working the Case?
The lead attorney in a personal injury firm will often be in charge of the trial of the claim. They will manage the overall progress of the case, but other attorneys and paralegals will conduct the day-to-day work on the case, in order to allow for an increased amount of attention to your lawsuit by the lead attorney. If multiple lawyers and paralegals are working on your case, make sure to ask who the best person to contact is for questions and updates regarding your lawsuit.
4. What Can I Do to Help My Case Be as Successful as Possible?
The success of a personal injury case depends not only on the lawyer’s actions, but on the client’s as well. Your attorney can give you a lot of helpful advice for how to make your case successful. They should ensure that you are diligent about anything from your medical treatment to how to take notes about how your life has been impacted by your injury. It is also important to ask your lawyer for advice about what not to post on social media, since that can negatively impact a personal injury case.
5. If I’m Having Certain Medical Symptoms, How Long Is it Okay for Me to Go Without Seeing a Doctor?
Sometimes a person with a personal injury case will go without medical treatment, because they have not heard from their doctors or lawyer, however it is very important that you continue to be diligent about your medical treatment if you have a personal injury case. Not only is this crucial for your own health, but it is also important for the success of the case. If you are not seeing a doctor or another medical professional consistently, insurance companies will try to make it seem as if you are not injured at all.
United States law gives victims of negligence legal recourse after becoming injured; hiring the best attorney will allow you to exercise these rights with optimal results. If you have been wrongfully injured by the negligent acts of another, justice must be served. Understanding the questions to ask an attorney before hiring them allows you to ensure the best attorney for your case will be on your side, fighting to seek justice and obtain maximum compensation on your behalf.
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