Choosing the Right Personal Injury Law Firm: Questions To Ask and Red Flags To Watch For
Do you need to hire a personal injury lawyer? Finding a personal injury law firm in your area shouldn’t present any problems. About 50,000 such law firms exist in the U.S., according to IBISWorld, and many can provide a long list of personal injury services.
All that being said, not every personal injury law firm is up for the challenge of providing you with legal representation and helping you try to collect compensation. So, before agreeing to work with one law firm over all the others, make sure you ask certain questions and look out for red flags that could warn you not to trust some of your available options. Let’s walk through them below to help you make a more informed decision on your legal journey.
Questions To Ask Personal Injury Law Firms
When attempting to track down a personal injury law firm, contact at least a few options on your list and ask them the following questions.
How Much Experience Do You Have?
Recent reports reveal the personal injury industry is worth upwards of $53 billion. Because of this, many lawyers are starting to focus on representing personal injury clients rather than working in other law areas.
For this reason, you should always start an interview with a personal injury law firm by asking how much experience it has. Ideally, you want to work with a firm that has been involved in the personal injury industry for at least a few years, if not a few decades.
You should also dig a little deeper and ask how much experience individual personal injury lawyers from a law firm have. Even if a law firm itself is still on the newer side, the attorneys working for it could have a lot of experience handling personal injury cases. You’ll sleep better at night knowing you have lawyers like this working on a personal injury claim.
What Are Your Practice Areas?
The personal injury industry has become as big as it has in large part because of all the different practice areas that exist within it. The average law firm handling personal injury claims can work on cases involving car accidents and slip-and-fall accidents. By the same token, it might not always have the capacity to work on cases involving dog bites and rideshare accidents.
Don’t be afraid to ask a personal injury law firm for a list of their different practice areas. This can help with locating a personal injury lawyer who knows the ins and outs of the specific type of accident you were involved in.
Do You Charge a Contingency Fee? If So, How Much Is It?
Many, but not all, personal injury lawyers charge clients a contingency fee instead of charging them by the hour or asking them to put a retainer fee in place. A contingency fee involves a personal injury lawyer taking a percentage of the settlement or judgment they help a client collect in exchange for their services.
Contingency fees typically fall between 30 and 40% in many personal injury cases, but every personal injury law firm has a different contingency fee. Ask whether a particular law firm charges a contingency fee, and if they do, ask how much it is. This will allow you to compare the contingency fees that firms charge
Contact our team today so we can fight to help you get the compensation you deserve.
Red Flags To Watch For When Considering Personal Injury Law Firms
As you work toward finding a personal injury lawyer, do more than pose questions to the different personal injury law firm options in your area. Research those firms as well and look for red flags like the ones outlined below.
Very Few Client Testimonials
Personal injury law firms are usually more than happy to show off all the positive client testimonials they’ve received in the past. Many even have “Testimonials” pages on their websites to showcase them.
If a law firm doesn’t have a page like this or its existing page is nearly empty, take this as a red flag. This law firm might lack the proven track record of working with personal injury clients you expect when entering a legal relationship.
Bad Reputation Within Your Community
Don’t just look at client testimonials on the websites for personal injury law firms to see what people have had to say about them over time. Look at online reviews elsewhere to gain an even better sense of what those in your community think about any law firm you might be considering.
If you discover that a particular personal injury law firm has almost nothing but negative reviews, this should serve as yet another red flag you won’t want to ignore. Whether these reviews discuss poor communication on the part of a law firm or unfavorable outcomes in personal injury cases, they’ll suggest you should keep looking for the right firm for your case.
No Free Case Evaluation
Did you contact a personal injury law firm and hear back regarding how they would love to set up a case evaluation with you — but for a small fee? This is one of the final red flags to watch out for when you’re conducting a search for a law firm.
Steer clear of law firms that want you to pay to have your personal injury case evaluated by lawyers. So many other firms will gladly set you up with free case evaluations so they can learn more about you while determining the viability of your personal injury claim.
Let Us Help You Locate the Right Personal Injury Law Firm
Finding a personal injury law firm in Connecticut, Nebraska, Nevada, West Virginia, or another state is easy. But finding the right law firm to lend a hand with your specific personal injury case isn’t always without its challenges.
Accident Hotline can help by providing access to our nationwide network of personal injury attorneys. They can all deliver 24/7 consultations and assist you with your case. Find out more about us today!
For a free consultation, call (844) 343-9609
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