Picking the right lawyer is important because depending on the lawyer you pick, you’re going to spend a year or two with that lawyer, as well as the outcome of your case, the value of it, determines on that lawyer’s reputation in the community and with the insurance companies that are defending the lawsuit.
How can you know if you’re picking the right personal injury lawyer? It comes down to a couple of things. First, you want to ask the potential law firm that is representing you how many cases does each attorney have? The numbers vary wildly. There are some personal injury firms that have a hundred cases per attorney, and then there are some firms that will have something like ten or even five in some cases. If you just look at that, what seems more likely that you’re going to get better representation? It’s pretty simple to see that the fewer cases the attorney has, the more likely you are to get better results.
Second is you want a firm that goes to trial regularly. Insurance companies keep track of how often the law firm goes or is willing to go to trial, and it makes a big difference in the value of your case. If the insurance company defending the case knows that there is no possibility of trial, they will never pay the value of the case. When you are interviewing potential lawyers, ask when is the last time that you went to trial? How often do you go to trial? Do you have a regular trial team? Do you have multiple trial teams? Do you have a reputation for going to trial?
The last thing is after you think you have picked this lawyer, you’re going to be spending a year or two years with him. Right in the beginning when you think you’ve picked, pick up the phone, call a couple of other lawyers in town, and ask what the reputation of that lawyer is. You will often get answers that are not the exact same as some of the advertising that a lawyer may do, and you really want the answer to be yes, that lawyer is excellent, we’ve heard lots of good things, or I’ve seen him in action. That’s the kind of lawyer that you’re looking for.
