A personal injury lawyer is a professional who represents individuals who have been hurt as a result of an accident. These professionals work in tort law, which includes negligence acts and intentional acts. The goal of a personal injury attorney is to pursue compensation for victims of accidents.
These cases often involve another person’s negligent acts, such as what’s seen in car, pedestrian, truck, and bike accidents.
There are other types of accidents that personal injury attorneys might handle, too, like premises liability, which includes slip and fall accidents, animal bites, and medical malpractice.
Personal injury attorneys have many roles. They work to recover compensation for their clients for the damages they suffered, like their medical expenses, loss of income, and emotional distress.
Personal injury lawyers are careful about who they take as a client because they almost always work on a contingency fee basis. When an attorney works on a contingency fee basis, they don’t get paid unless they recover compensation for their client. If they do recover compensation, they’re paid a percentage of that.
Personal injury attorneys often offer free initial consultations, and this is a chance for a client to figure out if the attorney is a good fit for them and also for the attorney to assess the merits of their case and decide whether it’s something they’re interested in taking on.
With that in mind, the following are important things to know and keep in mind if you’re preparing for a consultation with a personal injury lawyer.
1. Keep An Information Log
When you’re going to a personal injury attorney, you want to be prepared with anything that could help them negotiate with insurance on your behalf. As early on in the process as you can, start to prepare an information log.
In this log, write down details and dates that you can use to give your personal injury attorney a concise, succinct overview of what’s going on, helping them form a picture of your case.
If you’re going to a personal attorney because of injuries from a car accident, for example, you’ll want to include the date of the accident and details surrounding it, when you first noticed your injuries, dates you got medical care, what doctors you went to, and so on.
2. Bring Relevant Documents
The documents you bring to your consultant can vary depending on your case and the type of accident or injuries you sustained.
You want to bring all correspondence you’ve had with insurance companies so far, the police report if you have one, and you also want to bring any documents and bills you have from medical providers.
3. Write Down A List Of Questions
It’s likely you’ll talk to at least a couple of different personal injury attorneys, and you want to have a set of questions you have for each of them so that you can compare their answers.
It’s a good idea to write your questions down, so you don’t forget and so that you make sure you’re asking everyone similar questions to give you a solid basis for comparison.
Questions to consider adding to your list include:
1. What Are Your Fees?
Most personal injury attorneys, as mentioned, work on a contingency fee basis, but you’ll want to verify this is how an attorney works and learn more about the percentage of your award they take as a fee. It’s typically between 24-40%.
2. If I lose, Which Expenses Am I Responsible For?
Your attorney won’t recover their fee if you lose, but you may have to pay certain expenses, even if you don’t recover damages.
3. Have You Handled Cases Similar To Mine?
Not all personal injury attorneys have the same types of experience. For example, if you’re dealing with a car accident, you don’t want an attorney that typically specializes in premises liability.
4. How Much Time Will You Devote To My Case?
One reason attorneys turn down a case is if they don’t have enough time.
5. How Long Do You Think It Will Take To Resolve My Case?
6. What Is The Likelihood My Case Will Go To Trial?
The vast majority of personal injury cases settle and don’t go to trial, but you want to get a feel for what the attorney thinks could happen in your case, and you want to learn what their trial success rate is too.
7. What’s My Case Worth?
Your attorney should be able to break down the factors in your case and give you a rough idea of a settlement amount.
It can be uncomfortable to share certain information with your personal injury attorney, but it’s important that you’re open and honest with the person you’re going to work with.
They need to know the truth about everything to represent you in the best way possible. Some of the things to make sure you share with your attorney include the following:
- Whether you have any prior injuries or illnesses. You need to be upfront about anything you’ve been diagnosed with because it’s likely that the opposing attorney will do a background check of your medical history.
- If you’re dealing with financial issues or a potential bankruptcy, let your attorney know because if you file during your case, your non-economic damages could become an asset of your estate, depending on the state where you live. Basically, that means if you were to recover compensation for pain and suffering, it might not go to you. It could instead go to your creditors.
- If you have a criminal history, let your attorney know. Your attorney needs to make you appear as credible as possible, so they need to know this information and not be blindsided if the opposing attorney digs it up.
Finally, let the attorney know if you have Medicare or Medicaid and if your insurance covered any medical bills that were associated with your injury. Otherwise, if you don’t tell the attorney early on, it could take longer to resolve your case.
Ella Marcotte
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