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How to Choose a Personal Injury Attorney

25th August 2010
By RyanC in Personal Injury
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The realm of laws, lawsuits and judgments is one that most of us will need to enter sooner or later, as everyone will need a law firm for something. But for those entering this realm for the first, it can be a very daunting and stressful experience.

It can be very difficult to get the best performance and value out of a law attorney, even for experience plaintiffs and defendants. A lot of your success in any type of court case rests entirely on the shoulders of your lawyer, and finding the right one for your unique situation can be tricky. However, there are a few simple rules that we can all follow that will help us have much better success in that department. These rules can even keep you from suffering much less aggravation throughout the legal process.

The most important thing to understand is that you are not looking for a friend that you can trust, you are looking for a personal injury attorney who will fight your battles for a fee. The qualities you would find in a friend are not the qualities you would want in a lawyer. The professional relationship between you and your lawyer is strictly business, and any time you spend with your lawyer should be approached from a business standpoint.



The two places you should never hire a lawyer from are the television and the phone book. The lawyers worth hiring are the ones that do not need to advertise their strengths in television commercials or on flashy phone book ads. The best place to look for a good lawyer is to ask your friends, relatives or coworkers. As word of mouth is the best form of advertising, their references will be infinitely better than what paid actors will tell you on television. If you do not know anyone who has had any experience with a personal injury attorney, the next best place to check is the local chamber of commerce. Here you can see who has good relations with the local business community.

The Internet might not seem like the best place to find good references for a lawyer, but when all other resources have been depleted, it is the next best place to look. Use a search engine like Google or MSN to find lawyers in your area, or by state or specialty.

While doing all of this research on how to choose a personal injury attorney, make sure you are also noting their specialty. Make sure the lawyer you hire is the lawyer you need. If you need a personal injury attorney, do not hire a criminal defense lawyer, even if he does comes highly recommended by your mother.


There are two different ways you can expect to pay a lawyer. For routine work like completing a house sale or putting an estate through probate, you can expect to pay hourly. Pay close attention to everything your lawyer is doing so they do not have any excuse to run up your bill for no reason.

For personal injury cases, or if you are going to sue someone, you will often need to arrange contingency legal fees - your lawyer will take a percentage of any settlement. This is the best way to motive your personal injury attorney to work their hardest to win your case, because if you lose, they do not get paid. While the percentage can be pretty high, you will still walk away with a large settlement if your lawyer helps you win.

Most lawyers will not tell you up front if they think your case will not win. Instead, they will demand that you pay them hourly, because they believe they will not be able to earn any percentage off the settlement you will not win. If this is the case, take the hint. If the lawyers do not think your case will win, maybe it is best to drop the whole ordeal.

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Source: http://www.goinglegal.com/how-to-choose-a-personal-injury-attorney-1717810.html
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