Your choice of a personal injury lawyer should depend on how satisfactorily some important questions are answered. The question is what questions need to be asked in order to figure out that the lawyer is the right person to handle your personal injury case with dexterity. With the field being overcrowded with many competent lawyers, you need to be more careful while preparing a set of questions. Here is what you need to ask during your initial talks with a lawyer.
How many years of experience do you have in handling my type of case?
In the field of law, “Personal Injury” is an umbrella term. It covers a wider range of injuries. Personal injuries could be any of these:
- Animal Bites
- Assault and Battery
- Car Accidents
- Defamation
- Medical Malpractices
- Product Liabilities
- Slip and Fall
Many of the aforementioned categories have subgroups. For example, medical malpractice includes misdiagnosis, birth injuries, surgical errors, traumatic brain injuries etc. Some categories are so unique that a lawyer must have additional knowledge, experience and skill in handling the cases.
The personal injury attorney you choose to represent your case must have profound knowledge and experience in handling the case similar to yours. Experience gives the lawyer exposure to legal knots and puts them in connection with the investigators and other specialists who can be consulted for your case.
What is the chance of winning the case? If I win, how much will I receive?
Truly speaking, giving an exact answer goes against the professional ethics of any lawyer. This is simply because a positive answer may exaggerate your case’s merits and balloon up your expectations. However, the lawyer should give you a rough prediction about the chance of your winning the case and the amount of compensation that you may receive during settlement or winning at trial.
Who will work on my case?
Many personal injury lawyers don’t have the time to look into every single detail of the client’s case. They usually get some work (for example, preparing legal documents and letters) done by a paralegal assistance or a legal secretary. However, you should not hire an attorney who leaves the lion’s share of legal work to the junior associates. A good lawyer should invest his/her valuable time in handling the most complicated legal aspects of the client’s case and overseeing the juniors’ progress.
How much will you charge?
The majority of the personal injury lawyers representing the plaintiffs accept contingency fee-based agreement to take up the case. It implies that they get paid only if they can help the clients recover some sorts of compensation. Most lawyers charge 33% of the recovered amount. However, the exact amount depends on several variables.
What is the level of your courtroom experience?
Contrary to what we watch on the silver screen, most civil cases are not dragged to the courtroom. The scenario does not change even if you hire an experienced lawyer.
Hiring a lawyer with little courtroom experience will be a great mistake on your part. Firstly, it will reduce your chance of winning if the case visits the courtroom. Secondly, with no or little experience of courtroom drama, your attorney will be more in favor of out-of-court settlement and may convince you to accept a lower offer.