Not knowing when you will need the services of a personal injury attorney is petrifying to admit. You don’t expect to be a victim of a severe accident or injury, meaning you have never thought of a scenario where you will require the help of an injury lawyer.

Unluckily, anybody can fall victim to an injury or accident at any time, even when careful. Whether it’s a vehicle collision, slip, fall, or medical malpractice, you can’t prepare for an accident, but you can plan for the aftermath. The best way to do this is by finding the best legal representative to represent you in the event of an accident. The challenge, however, is how to choose the best personal injury lawyer.

An experienced injury attorney understands that selecting an injury lawyer can be extremely overwhelming, especially when in the midst of recovery from your injuries.  Luckily, you can find the right professional for the job and one with experience in the type of injury claim you are filing. Below is a directory on how to find the best lawyer.

Make a List of Lawyers in Los Angeles, CA

If you have been injured or involved in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you have the right to seek compensation. Although the injuries sustained will require treatment, you will need to act fast because personal injury claims have statutes of limitations or timelines for filing claims. Therefore, as much as you want to focus on your recovery, you must find a lawyer to prepare and file a claim to recover all injury-related damages.

  1. Word of Mouth

To begin finding the best lawyer for the case, you need to create a list of professionals in your location. You can start by word of mouth to speak to family members, relatives, friends, and colleagues for recommendations. The people you talk to must have had claims like yours and were satisfied by how an attorney handled their claims.

Besides, you can talk to the medical experts helping you with the recovery to determine if they know an attorney who can help with the case. Remember, medical professionals work closely with personal injury lawyers and are likely to refer you to a few legal experts.

  1. Go Online

You can create a list of lawyers in your locality by visiting various legal directories online. These directories will help you find the best person for the job because they hone on the specific field of law. The State Bar of California and Nextdoor are some of the directories you can utilize to spot the best legal representatives based on location.

However, when using websites to search for a lawyer, you must be careful not to be misled by some recommendations because some sites are usually paid to advertise. Therefore, when you create a list of these legal professionals, you must conduct further background checks on them to ensure you know what to expect. Visit their websites and read reviews so that you can understand what other people that have previously worked with the lawyer have to say about the legal representation provided.

Narrowing Down Your List

After you have created a long list of lawyers handling injury cases like yours, it’s time to narrow down your search. Every lawyer in Los Angeles has a site with a lot of information regarding their practice and location. You can learn a lot from these websites if you know what to look for.

Conduct some background checks on the lawyer, the court they are admitted to practice, practice area, contact information, and any awards they might have won. Doing so will give you an overview of the kind of legal professionals you consider for your injury claim.

Similarly, you can read online reviews from individuals who have previously worked with a law firm or lawyer. If these previous clients seem to have had negative experiences in the hands of the legal professionals, it’s an indication you could end up with the same experience. You should eliminate any lawyer with negative reviews from your list.

You should also view the profile of the law firm you are considering. Large personal injury law firms mostly focus on big cases and often assign smaller cases to paralegals or junior lawyers with little or no experience. Therefore, if you have a small case, you should cross a large firm out of your list because they might have bigger clients who take up most of their time and resources, leaving you with less attention, resulting in minimum compensation. However, you should contact the law firm first and know who will be assigned your injury lawsuit.

After researching the lawyers on your list, narrow down the list to no more than five lawyers within Los Angeles specializing in your specific case.

Prepare for an Initial Consultation

Once you have narrowed down your list to three to five lawyers, the next phase is visiting their offices for a free initial consultation. The first meeting with the prospective legal representative is usually a two-way interview where both parties ask questions. You are deciding if the lawyer is fit for the job, and, on the other end, they are deciding if to take your case. For this reason, it’s critical to be prepared for this first meeting.

Remember, attorneys have tight schedules, and any time wastage is a loss of billable hours. Therefore, as much as they want to help you with your case, they don’t have the whole day for an interview. They will go to the point very fast, so prepare for this initial meeting and have all the documents necessary to answer the lawyer’s questions.

In this initial consultation, you will need the following paperwork:

  • Medical records detailing your diagnosis and treatment
  • Medical bills, including those paid by your insurer and out of pocket
  • Documents demonstrating future medical treatment, if the injuries sustained are long term
  • Any other medical service obtained like ambulance transport with names and addresses
  • Date of treatment, including the time of admission and discharge from hospital
  • A list of current medications and those prescribed by a physician for the injuries
  • Copies of all the relevant insurance policies
  • Documents proving your income before the injuries and lost income due to the injuries
  • In the event of a car accident, a police report detailing the events, witness statements, and photos of the injuries sustained and car damage.

Make two or more copies of the above documents so that you can remain with a copy after sharing one document with your lawyer. With well-organized documents, you will be ready to answer any questions directed to you regarding the lawyer’s claim.

Expectations in Your Initial Consultation

When meeting potential legal representatives for the first time, you must have particular expectations. As mentioned earlier, the first meeting usually involves a combination of you asking questions and the lawyer asking questions. The first question the lawyer is likely to ask is for you to explain your injuries.

Explaining what you feel to an attorney isn’t easy, so you need to feel comfortable around the lawyer. Regardless of the lawyer’s qualifications and experience, they might not be your best fit if you aren’t comfortable around them. For a solid argument in court, the lawyer must understand your medical history and current condition. You are not likely to share information if the lawyer makes you uncomfortable, which eventually might hurt your claim.

Although the lawyer won’t be sharing all your medical records with the public, you must trust them and have a good relationship.

It’s advisable to follow your gut when picking a lawyer so that you can have a trusting relationship and find it easy to open up about your medical history. When meeting various attorneys, opt for the one that cares for you as an individual and your future wellbeing.

Be very careful of lawyers who are more concerned about your case’s value instead of making decisions that will benefit your healing and damage recovery. You can tell if a lawyer is honest based on how they evaluate your case. A genuine lawyer will inform you of your case’s strengths and mention the weaknesses to understand all the possible outcomes of the case. Follow your instincts or gut feeling when meeting an attorney. If you find it difficult to open up to the legal representative, move on to the next lawyer in your list independent of whether the representation had commenced.

Questions to Ask Your Lawyer in the First Meeting

You will need many answers from an attorney you consider for your claim before picking them for representation.

The first question you need to ask is the level of experience of the lawyer. The more experienced a lawyer is, the higher the possibility of maximum compensation. The reason being they have seen it all, so they know how to deal with the greatest challenges in injury claims like proving complex damages and seeing through the tricks applied by insurance adjusters to deny claims.

To find out the lawyer’s level of experience in your type of claim, inquire about the number of personal injury cases in Los Angeles they have handled in the previous year for your kind of accident or injury. The more cases they have dealt with, the higher the experience. Further, you might want to know whether other lawyers refer cases like yours to the professional you consider. If the answer to the question is a yes, then the attorney has the experience to handle your case the right way.

Also, to know whether the lawyer has enough experience, determine if personal injury is their main practice area. For a general practice attorney, personal injury can be one of their many areas of specialization, meaning they deal with cases like yours from time to time, thus lacking the experience you require for a positive outcome. You can also tell a lawyer’s experience based on the number of cases they have dealt with. If they handle fewer cases similar to yours, it’s an indication of a lack of experience.

The other question you need to ask is how many of their cases have been settled out of court and those that have gone to trial? By asking about the number of cases they settle before trial, you want to know the lawyer’s negotiation abilities. If few or none of their cases proceed to trial, then you can be guaranteed the lawyer has outstanding negotiation skills.

However, there is no guarantee your case will be settled out of court. There is a possibility you and the plaintiff’s insurance company might not reach an agreement forcing the case to go to trial. This makes it important to understand how many of the attorney’s cases have gone to trial and their success rate. If most of the lawyer’s cases that have proceeded to trial have been worn, then you can rest assured that even if the case goes to trial, you have a representative that will obtain a positive outcome.

Another question you will need answers to is knowing the lawyer’s team who will handle your case. Some legal experts handle these cases independently, while others rely upon assigning cases to their juniors or paralegals. If the case is to be handled by another team member, you need to request a meeting with the individual to determine if you are comfortable handling your case. Be on the lookout for lawyers who promise to handle the case in person but later assign the cases to their juniors because this might affect the outcome.

Also, you need to find out the role you will be playing in the case. Your lawyer will have particular expectations of you, which is why you must understand your role in the case. Some lawyers prefer involving clients in cases while others are less involved. If you are still nursing the injuries and need to recover, you need to choose a lawyer who will involve you less and let you focus on recovering.

Remember, do not shy away from asking questions because this is your life, and your future is at stake. You need to know everything about the lawyer or law firm you are considering for the job. If you realize they are dodging most of your questions, this is a red flag, and you should proceed to the next name on your list. You are the customer, and if they are too busy to answer your questions, it means matters will worsen after hiring. You deserve full attention and consideration because you are bringing business, but you should look elsewhere if this is not enough for them.

Understand Their Payment Model and Negotiate Payment

When hiring an attorney, you are likely wondering how the fees work. For this reason, you should read the fine print provided in the lawyer’s office to understand the payment model to avoid surprises. Ask the attorney how they expect to be paid and if the payment terms will change if the case proceeds to trial.

Most personal injury attorneys in Los Angeles work on the contingency-fee-basis, meaning you only pay the lawyer legal fees when the case is won, and damages are awarded. Furthermore, in particular cases, the legal fees may be deducted from the settlement or paid by the defendant, meaning you don’t have to pay any fees upfront.

The lawyer you want to pick for the job will have a retainer contract stating the percentage of your settlement or damages they will obtain as payment. In California, most lawyers charge a fee of one-third of the settlement or damages if the case is settled out of court. However, when the case proceeds to trial, the retainer contract’s provisional fees go up to 40 percent of the settlement because of the additional time and resources required to negotiate a settlement.

It’s possible to negotiate these rates based on the case’s complexity and estimate your damages or settlement.

Often, lawyers operating in the same city or town are likely to use almost similar rates. You might be tempted to pick a lawyer charging the lowest contingency fees in the market, but this is often not the best move. The highest rates in the city also don’t guarantee maximum compensation. For this reason, you must take time to evaluate these contingency fees and know whether the lawyer requires upfront fees.

Request quotes from the legal experts you are considering for the job and analyze them carefully. Doing so will help you learn about expenses billed separately, like travel expenses, expert witness fees, and other resources necessary to win the case. If these expenses are available, find out if they are included in the contingency or additional fees. That way, you will avoid surprises that come with additional costs.

Find an Experienced Injury Lawyer Near Me

After an accident or injury caused by someone else’s negligence, you must be wondering whether hiring an injury lawyer is necessary. The answer is yes. You do need legal representation.

Why? Because the defendant will prove their actions or inactions were not the cause of the accident or to ensure minimum compensation.

The best personal injury lawyer will investigate the case, prove liability and negotiate with insurers to ensure a positive outcome. However, not all lawyers can deliver, meaning you should choose an attorney wisely by doing your homework. If you have been injured and looking for an attorney to represent you in a claim, reach out to the Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney at 424-231-2013 for a free consultation.