Are You Ready For Your Consultation With a Personal Injury Attorney?

You’re not breaking any laws if you decide to skip hiring a personal injury attorney after an accident. However, just because it’s not illegal doesn’t mean it’s a great idea. Personal injury lawyers can tackle the accident claim process, including dealing with occasionally pushy insurance adjusters. 

Before picking an accident attorney at random, it’s always recommended to consult with a personal injury lawyer. This means knowing which questions to ask to help ensure you’re picking the right injury attorney to handle your accident claim.  

Does My Personal Injury Claim Have Any Potential Issues?

Every so often a personal injury claim is pretty straightforward. An example can be a DUI accident. If you’re following all traffic laws and are hit by a driver running a red light, recovering compensation should be fairly easy. 

However, other types of accident claims aren’t so cut and dry. Things like fault can come into question or you may be dealing with more than one liable party. If your accident is caused by a government entity, you’re probably dealing with a rather complex personal injury claim.

During the initial consultation, the attorney should look over your accident claim. Sure, you’re only providing the bare bones of your claim but the accident lawyer should still be able to identify any potential problems. 

An experienced accident attorney will point out anything that may cause a few challenges and outline how they may impact your injury claim. The attorney should also be able to give you some tips on how you can take care of any possible weaknesses.

Have You Handled Accident Claims Similar to Mine?

Just because an attorney practices personal injury law doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve handled claims similar to yours. Personal injury law is sort of like a huge umbrella covering just about any type of accident you can think of.

Everything from vehicle collisions and premises liability claims to dog bites and medical malpractice suits falls under personal injury law guidelines. However, just because your accident falls under these broad legal guidelines doesn’t mean the process is the same. Small legal nuances can pop up in different types of injury claims. If your accident attorney isn’t familiar with your type of claim, you can run into delays and other issues.

Pay attention to the attorney’s answer and find out if the lawyer has the necessary resources. Do they have access to investigators like accident scene reconstruction specialists? This can be crucial if accident fault comes into question. Some states like Nevada, and a few others, follow comparative negligence guidelines so you don’t want to be unfairly assessed accident blame.

What Fee Structures Does the Personal Injury Attorney Offer?

Trying to come up with attorney fees after an accident is tough for most people. Personal injury attorneys can charge hourly or flat fees like other types of lawyers, but they also have another option. 

Accident attorneys can charge what’s known as contingency fees. This type of fee structure allows accident victims to hire an injury attorney without paying a cent upfront. Instead, your lawyer is only paid if they successfully settle your personal injury claim.

Before signing a contingency fee agreement, find out what’s covered. Most contingency fee agreements don’t cover things like filing costs and expenses for expert testimony. Figuring out what’s not covered can help prevent any surprise legal bills after settling your personal injury claim.

What is Your Accident Claim Settlement Rate?

You probably don’t want to go with an accident attorney with a track record of losing cases. The same applies if the lawyer has a habit of pushing for lower settlement amounts. While going over the case record with the attorney is a start, it’s a good idea to check a few other resources.

The American Bar Association is a great place to start researching. The ABA not only gives you information on the attorney’s licenses, but it also provides details on their track record. You can also check with the state bar. For example, if you’re filing a personal injury claim in Reno check with the Nevada Bar Association.

How Much Can I Expect to Receive For My Damages?

Okay, if a personal injury lawyer starts spitting out numbers, it may be best to politely end the consultation. Not even the best accident lawyer can predict what you’ll receive in compensation. Every personal injury claim is unique even if it applies to the same type of accident as someone else.

Instead of throwing out a possible compensation number, the attorney should go into the factors that typically impact accident claim settlement amounts. Some of the common factors that go into determining the value of an injury claim are:

• Insurance coverage: Policies have caps and your settlement amount from the insurer can’t exceed the limit. So, if your claim has a $100,000 value and the policy’s capped at $75,000. You’re not going to receive your claim’s full value from the insurance company.
• Fault: Some states like Nevada follow comparative negligence rules. If you’re partially to blame for causing the accident, your potential settlement is going to be reduced by your percentage of fault.

Obviously, the extent of your damages is also going to impact your possible settlement amount. If you have extensive injuries and property damage, your claim’s value is probably going to be rather high.

How Will the Personal Injury Lawyer Communicate with Clients?

Just because you’re essentially handing your personal injury claim off to an accident attorney doesn’t mean you want to be kept in the dark. Settling an accident claim can take a few months and you probably don’t want to sit around wondering what’s going on.

An excellent injury lawyer stays in regular contact with their clients. You’re probably not going to get daily updates, but you should hear something at least once or twice a week. Even if the communication is only to let you know the insurance company is still reviewing your claim. At least you know what’s going on.

Don’t forget to ask how the personal injury lawyer typically communicates with clients. Do they regularly call, email, or text? Getting the answers to these questions during your consultation can make it a little easier to know if this is the right accident attorney to take on your claim.