How To Choose the Best Personal Injury Lawyer
These days, personal injury lawyers are common, not like a century ago where there would only be about a hundred or so practicing in a state. Now there are hundreds of thousands of personal injury lawyers practicing throughout the country. But every personal injury lawyer is unique, and some are better than others. Most individuals who’re seeking damages for injuries only wish to work with the best lawyers, as these lawyers often achieve favorable outcomes for their clients. Here are the steps you should follow when you’re looking for the best personal injury lawyer.
Call us at 1-800-HURT-511 to speak with our highly sought after and experienced personal injury lawyers in Brooklyn. We’ve been representing clients in and around the Five Boroughs for over a decade, and we’ll make sure the at-fault party fairly compensates you for your injuries.
Understand Your Needs
Before you start searching for personal injury lawyers, it’s best to first figure out what you’re looking to gain from hiring professional legal assistance. How to choose the best personal Injury lawyer:
- Are you looking to hire a personal injury lawyer because you don’t want to handle the often stressful and costly process that is filing a lawsuit?
- Do you want someone with experience to pursue damages on your behalf?
- Are you looking to avoid upfront fees and pay only if a settlement is awarded?
- What kind of injuries do you have? Do you know how to attach a dollar amount to these injuries?
These are only some of the questions you should ask yourself. If you find that the answers to these questions are collectively steering you towards hiring a personal injury lawyer, then start conducting research online.
Ask For Referrals
Before you dig into online research, contact friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and other individuals in your life who’ve received damages from an injury case and were helped by a personal injury lawyer. For example, if you got injured in Queens—and your friend recommends a personal injury lawyer in Queens who knows the area and the common injuries that happen there inside and out—going with your friend’s recommendation would probably be a good move, provided you still conduct some research on your own.
Conduct Research Online
The internet has made it a lot easier to find the best personal injury lawyers in an area. However, one should still keep in mind that it may be worth it to travel if a high-quality personal injury lawyer is several miles away. There are also plenty of online reviews sites that rank local lawyers and provide authentic testimonials from former clients.
Create A Short List Of Candidates
After you’ve gone through several websites and browsed dozens of profiles, it’s time to create a short list of potential hires. Choose five to six lawyers who seem qualified, experienced, respected, sought after, and resourceful. Further analysis will still have to be conducted after creation of the short list, but with a short list you save yourself from spending hours and hours viewing lawyers’ credentials.
Review The Credentials Of The Lawyers On The Short List
It takes time to become a credentialed lawyer. A lawyer must go to school for a few years before they can earn a law degree (JD), and after this they must pass their state’s bar exam to become a member of the state’s bar association. When researching credentials, use the following questions to guide your research:
- -> From which school did the lawyer earn their law degree?
- -> When were they admitted to the state bar?
- ->Which additional licenses, certifications, and registrations do they possess?
- ->Do they hold a board certification in personal injury litigation?
- ->Which awards have they received during their time practicing?
- ->Are they affiliated with national associations like the American Bar Association (ABA)?
If you can’t answer all these questions while conducting online research, ask the questions you don’t have answers to during your initial consultation with a personal injury lawyer.
Narrow The Short List Down And Call Who’s Left
Once you’ve assessed all the lawyers on your short list according to credentials, it’s time to narrow down the short list to only three candidates. These are the lawyers you’ll actually reach out to and share details of your case with. Below are some points you should address during an initial consultation with a personal injury lawyer.
Ask About What The Firm Will Do
Ask about how operations work at the firm. Is the firm large or small? Large firms often have access to more resources, but your case may not receive a lot of attention if a large firm is handling it. You should also consider the experience and qualifications of support staff, paralegals, and administrators. Some mediocre lawyers pass off as fantastic because they employ invaluable assistants, whereas some of the finest lawyers aren’t able to achieve good results consistently because they don’t have a qualified support staff.
Ask About Trial Experience
While most personal injury lawsuits gets settled out of court, it’s good to hire a lawyer who has trial experience. A skilled trial lawyer will be able to thoroughly represent their client’s interests in court, and they’ll be able to persuade a judge and jury, not only with legal expertise and framing skills but with charisma and other personal qualities.
Ask When They Last Worked On A Case Similar To Yours
Personal injury is a very broad field of law, so it’s best to hire a lawyer who knows the injuries you sustained inside and out. When consulting a lawyer, ask them when the last time they handled a case similar to yours was.
Ask About Resources
A firm may need a lot of resources to thoroughly prove their client’s case. This is one reason why it’s good to go with a big firm, as they tend to have a lot of resources.
Hire The Lawyer Who’s The Best Fit
After you’ve interacted with all the lawyers you were considering, decide which one is best for you. Consider how friendly and engaged the lawyers were when you interacted with them. Who asked a lot of questions and who didn’t? Who treated you like a person in need of assistance and who treated you like just a potential line on the balance sheet? The person you hire will be working on your behalf to secure thousands of dollars in damages, so you should hire someone who’s easy to work with and going to deliver.
Call 1-800-HURT-511 when you want to hire the best personal injury lawyers in NYC!
Trusted Reviews
