Factors To Consider When Hiring A Personal Injury Attorney

The hiring of a personal injury attorney is an important decision for injury victims. You should feel comfortable with your decision. There are certain qualities and characteristics you should look for to help make sure the attorney is right for you and your case.

CONCERN AND COMPASSION:

Personal injury victims should strive to find an attorney who is concerned about their situation and has a true compassion for the legal challenges faced by people who have been wrongfully injured. With Madison Avenue advertising and a little charm, it is easy for an attorney to feign concern and compassion for personal injury victims. The cold hard truth is that personal injury cases can be very lucrative for attorneys and the competition for personal injury cases is fierce. (It’s actually considered one of the most competitive business environments in America.) Too many times the best interest of the victim takes a back seat to quick and easy settlements to help feed a lavish lifestyle and revenue for the next ad campaign. This is not to say you don’t want an attorney who has been successful, because you do. But you want to make sure, as much as possible, that his or her success has come through hard work and dedication to protecting the rights of injury victims and their families, not from short selling clients. One of the best ways to discern a personal injury attorney’s true concern and compassion for personal injury victims is to look at his or her commitment to organizations and groups that are dedicated to helping personal injury victims.  Membership in national organizations such as the American Association for Justice, Public Justice, the American Trial Lawyer Association or the Academy of Trial Advocacy indicates a concern for injury victims in general. Membership in your State’s Trial Lawyer Associations and victim advocacy groups within your area, demonstrates a commitment to helping personal injury victims in your community. Most of these organizations have various levels of membership and you should try to determine if the attorney has ever served as an officer or director for any of these organizations. Attorneys who are truly passionate about protecting the rights of personal injury victims are active in these national and state organizations.  There are also several well recognized trial advocacy colleges and programs that offer advanced programs and training sessions to help attorneys fine tune their courtroom skills and thereby be better advocates for injury victims.  You should determine if the attorney has attended any of these type programs or is enrolled in one of the on-going colleges. Many of these programs, such as the College of Advocacy, offer certificates for completion of various levels of training. For example, after completion of 40 hours of trial advocacy training programs by College of Advocacy, an attorney attains the “Advocate” status.  Finally, don’t be afraid to ask the lawyer if he or she teaches programs for other lawyers who represent personal injury victims or has published any articles benefiting personal injury victims.  The simple fact is lawyers who are truly concerned about the rights of personal injury victims and compassionate about the work they do strive to help others in the same legal field.  They want to help injury victims in general and devote their time and resources to this goal. (If you stop and think about it, a skilled trial lawyer who shares his or her knowledge with other lawyers [a/k/a competitors], is truly demonstrating a compassion and concern for all personal injury victims because he or she wants to help other lawyers be better advocates for personal injury victims.)

COMMUNICATION:

The number one complaint injury victims have about their attorney is lack of communication. Remember, you are hiring an attorney to communicate the issues of your case to an insurance company, a risk manager, another lawyer and maybe even a jury. How well the attorney communicates with you in the initial meeting and in follow-up meetings may be a telltale sign of how well he or she will communicate to the other side about your claim or case. You should consider how well the attorney explains legal issues such as liability, causation and damages. If you have never been through the process of a personal injury claim or case, you should come away from your initial meeting with a better understanding of the legal issues and process. Ongoing communication between the client and lawyer is also very important. When interviewing a personal injury attorney, you should ask how information about your case will be communicated to you and how often you will receive status reports or updates.

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