Personal Injury Attorney – How To Find Them
A personal injury attorney is specialized in handling cases regarding personal injury–claims and settlements. An attorney with long years of service may be advantageous but what you must look for is his/her multitude of law skills and of course, a depth of knowledge on your special case. If he/she has a long line of personal injury cases he/she has handled and won in the past, the better. Otherwise, look for someone who already knows the drill.
The search for personal injury attorneys may never be easy especially if you don’t know where to begin your search, how to do it and who to look for. If you’re living in New York, your hardship may even be twice as difficult. So here are a few tips on how to search and find your personal injury attorney:
Law Firms that are Legally Accredited
Anyone would prefer a top quality law firm to handle their cases. And for you to find the topnotch lawyers, you must be sure that you’re looking at law firms that have been legally accredited by legal law accreditation agencies in your country. Start by looking into the State Bar Association’s official page and check if the firms you have in mind are recognized by the state bar.
Official Pages
Many law firms in America have a corresponding official website. Use your favorite search engine and narrow your search. For example, if you key in “personal injury attorneys in Manhattan”, your search engine will give you a million results. Once you’re in the site, be sure to check in the law firm’s history. The downside of this is that there’s a good chance that the websites won’t even tell you the percentage of cases they haven’t won compared to the cases they did.
Interviews
Lastly, there is nothing much more convincing than a personal interview. After you’ve done your background check, set an appointment with the law firm you’ve chosen. Most of the time, a law firm would ask you about your case first before they decide whether they’d like to be hired or not. I know its upside-down but that’s what it usually is (although there are exemptions, of course). In reality, there are firms who may not want to handle your personal injury case especially if the monetary compensations are too low for their standard professional fee. Although not all, most firms will want to get at least 20-30% of the monetary fee once they win the case. Therefore, if you think your case can be handled without the aid of lawyers and legal proceedings, you may do it. A lot of plaintiffs have been handling their cases all by themselves.