If you’ve lived in any large city in the United States, you’ve probably seen advertising for personal injury attorneys for your entire life.
You’ve probably seen the billboards on the highway, the cheesy commercials, along with the poorly photoshopped ads on the buses and benches.
“Injured? Call Me!”
“1-800-INJURED”
“Car or Motorcycle Accident?”
“We Can Fight The Insurance Company For You!”
In fact, there is even a personal injury law firm in Lubbock that did commercials with Vanilla Ice and Ric Flair, regularly hosting fancy concerts at Texas Tech University.
But, the unfortunate reality is that many of the law firms that engage in these types of advertising are what’s known as settlement mills.
Settlement mills often try to settle your case as quickly and as fast as possible to meet a quota for any given quarter or month. Additionally, these types of law firms also refer many of their cases to other law firms, often taking a large referral fee, which often ranges from 25% to 40% of the total settlement.
In 2017, Morgan and Morgan, one of the largest personal injury law firms in the U.S. was accused of false advertising since they advertised in Philadelphia, but they had no licensed lawyers in Philadelphia, and they were essentially acting as a referral firm.
Not that getting referrals is a deceptive tactic, but if there’s no established offices or lawyers from Morgan & Morgan who are licensed in Pennsylvania, that advertising tactic is questionable to say the least.
With so many personal injury lawyers out there, it can be so difficult to determine who is the right one for you, especially with so many firms that have multi-million dollar marketing budgets that can be difficult for smaller firms to compete with.
So how exactly do you know how to choose the right law firm for you? Let’s find out.
1. Assess The Firm’s Experience and Expertise
The first and most important aspect of picking the perfect law firm for you is to look at their expertise and experience. There’s a number of things to note which include:
- Years of Experience
- Track Record of Success (Case Results)
- Specialization In A Specific Type of Law
These three factors can be critical for your case, as making the smallest mistakes or filing a lawsuit outside of the state’s statute of limitations will lower your chances of winning your case.
It’s also important to be aware of the types of cases that your lawyer specializes in.
Too often, many injury victims will ask family or friends that are attorneys to handle their case, but the type of case the victim has is not their specialty. After this happens, once the case gets to an attorney who is the subject matter expert, it’s too late.
There’s probably been too many errors that have happened, such as filing outside of the state’s statute of limitations, and the damage has been done.
When you do research on a law firm, keep in mind the injuries that you might have sustained. Were you injured from a car accident, medical malpractice, or even from a defective product? Keep that in mind.
For example, a law firm that spends a majority of their time litigating medical malpractice claims probably won’t be the right fit for you if you’ve been injured from a serious truck accident.
With that being said, ask the attorney about their experience and expertise, and you can get an idea whether they know what they’re talking about or sense if they don’t.
2. Take Note Of The Firm’s Reputation & Credibility
Credibility of a law firm is key for making the decision to hire one.
Take a look at the law firm’s website and see how the firm’s involved in the legal community or even with local organizations.
You can also obtain public records from each state’s bar association and see if any attorney you’re looking at has either been disciplined or their license to practice law has been revoked. If so, you should probably steer clear.
The next most important factor is to look at the law firm’s reviews. Take a look at certain platforms such as Yelp, the firm’s Google Business Profile, and on legal service directory platforms such as Avvo and Justia.
Be sure to note the strengths of the law firm when reading other people’s reviews. If there are common threads in the reviews regarding expertise in a certain type of law, be sure to notice that if you end up speaking with one of the attorneys at the firm.
The reason it’s so important to look at multiple platforms is because there could be great reviews on certain platforms, and extremely poor ratings on others.
For instance, Rafi Law Group located in Phoenix, Arizona, has a rating of 4.4 after 2,300+ reviews on their Google Business Profile, while having an abysmal rating of 1.7 on Yelp after 54 reviews.
Keep in mind when looking for a lawyer, that the law firm you work with could be someone you will be with for potentially more than two years if your case ends up going to trial.
3. Look At Their Resources and Support
The support you get at a law firm can either make or break your decision to hire them or not.
A high quality personal injury lawyer will be aware of the fact that you’re likely going through one of the most difficult times in your life.
Take note of the support that you are receiving, along with looking at the body language and response of the attorney you’re meeting with. Ask yourself if the attorneys just see you as a number or someone they genuinely care about and will give an incredible effort toward your case.
According to Fiedler Deutsch, LLP, a personal injury lawyer in White Plains, New York, “In the end, it’s not just about choosing the right law firm, but about choosing the right people to handle your case with utmost expertise”.
With that to note, you should also consider the resources that the plaintiff’s firm will bring on to strengthen your case.
Will they hire doctors to give expert testimony or bring on accident reconstruction specialists to build a crystal-clear case to a judge and jury? Think about that.
Before you hire a lawyer to take on your case, you can start by giving the firm a call.
Get a sense of the attorneys’ demeanor, and even their paralegal staff. Think about if you could see yourself working with these people for a while, along with the size of the firm.
Take note of if the firm you’re working with is a boutique injury law firm, or one with millions of dollars in revenue. Will you easily get lost in the shuffle or will you be working with someone who can regularly address any concerns or your immediate needs?
Take note of every aspect of the law firm that is right for you, as making the wrong decision can lead to drastic consequences.
Summary
In summary, you can choose the right law firm for you by:
- Assessing The Firm’s Experience
- Looking At The Attorney’s Reputation
- Staying Aware of Firm Resources To Strengthen Your Case
By following these three steps and making careful considerations to choose the right law firm for you, you will have a higher chance of achieving successful compensation for your injuries.
