When you are ready to stand up for your rights and hold a negligent party accountable for causing your personal injuries, choosing the right lawyer will be the first important step you will take on the road to justice and compensation.
In fact, while retaining a personal injury attorney will be among your initial moves in your pursuit of justice, it will also likely be one of the MOST important choices you make in the course of your case. This is because, with the right personal injury attorney representing you, you can optimize your chances of:
When you are ready to start your search for the best personal injury attorney to handle your important legal matters, you may want to ask friends and family for referrals. If, however, you get a bunch of – or no – referrals, do an online search for local PI lawyers in your area.
Given that these searches can yield hundreds (if not thousands) of results, make a list of your top 10 (or so) candidates, based on looking through their websites. From here, you can start the process of narrowing down your best choices.
Personal injury is a vast area of law, and not every personal injury attorney will specialize in handling every type of case. Therefore, just because a lawyer’s practice is based on personal injury law, don’t assume that lawyer is experienced at handling cases like yours.
Instead, make sure to check out the stated practice areas on the lawyer’s website and/or call the firm directly to inquire about whether it handles cases like yours. Avoid moving forward with a personal injury attorney who does not specifically specialize in or have experience with cases like yours.
Check out the additional installments of this blog series for some more helpful tips that you can use when you are ready to choose the best personal injury attorney to represent you.
Once you have narrowed down your list of possible lawyers who specialize in cases like yours, you should then turn your researching skills to the state bar association where you can find out if a given personal injury attorney:
Here, the point is that you shouldn’t just expect that a lawyer has the credentials (s)he claims to have and/or that (s)he has a record of acting ethically and professionally. Crosschecking a lawyer’s reputation with the state bar can be an easy and yet powerful way for you to rule out attorneys who may be less than effective, trustworthy and/or experienced.
As you delve into the professional reputation of a personal injury attorney, what his former clients have to say about their experience with him will be just as important as what his record is with the state bar association. This is because former clients can give you a valuable insight as to what you can expect in terms of the personal experience that a particular attorney can offer you.
Specifically, you should focus on elements of the attorney-client relationship that you may value, which may include factors like:
Here, it’s also important to point out that:
You can only learn so much about a personal injury attorney from your online or other research. Once you’ve narrowed your options down to a handful or less, consider making the time to meet with each candidate – or, at the very least, arranging some time to speak with each personal injury attorney on the phone.
Whether you meet face-to-face or speak with a lawyer via phone, make sure you ask some specific questions that can better help you assess the quality of service a given personal injury attorney may offer.
Examples of questions you may want to ask when you speak to a candidate include (but are not exclusive to):
After you speak with your top choices for lawyers, make your final decision based on your instincts – namely, choose a personal injury attorney who made you feel comfortable, whom you trust and whom you can rely on for the weeks or months to come as your case progresses towards its resolution.
If you have an odd, uncomfortable or bad feeling about any of the lawyers with whom you meet, trust your gut and do not move forward with that individual. The bottom line is that you will need to be able to fully trust your personal injury attorney as you move forward, and your gut reaction should guide you in the final decision-making process.
If you or a loved one has sustained some type of personal injury, the Littleton personal injury lawyers at Bahr and Kreidle urge you contact us, set up an initial consult and learn more about how we can help you. Since 1983, we have been fighting on behalf of injured people. This means that you can trust us to help you hold the negligent parties responsible for your injuries accountable so that you are able to secure the highest possible awards for your injuries and losses.
To get more information about your potential case and set up a meeting, call us at (303) 794-7422 or email us using the form on this page.
From our law offices in Littleton, we represent clients throughout Colorado, including in the Denver Metro Area, Arapahoe County, Adams County, Jefferson County and the cities of Lakewood, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Castle Rock, Westminster, Centennial and Aurora.
