An accident always happens to you unexpectedly. If you have sustained an injury, you are initially only concerned with your health. Settling the damage becomes essential at a later stage. Nevertheless, in the first period, the insurer of the person causing the accident often seeks contact with the victim. It is then wise to consult a personal injury specialist. But how to find a personal injury lawyer?
We are going to discuss all the criteria for choosing a lawyer specializing in personal injury in this article.
Personal injury lawyer: When to request it and how to choose it?
The first reflex to adopt when you are the victim of an accident involving bodily injury is to contact a lawyer. Often the victims of the accident are not aware of this. Those around him should encourage him to take this initiative. This will quantify the damage suffered by the person and thus determine the compensation process.
Usually, compensation processes always start in a somewhat friendly environment. An experienced person often advise finding common ground before calling on a lawyer, if the person is also a lawyer specializing in personal injury, he will inform the victim during the compensation processes.
How to find a personal injury lawyer: the criteria and considerations
The best way to find a lawyer specializing in personal injury is to contact law firms with at least one partner with extensive experience in personal injury. There are also lawyers’ associations. The professional members of these associations have signed an associative charter that defines all the conditions for the intervention of lawyers.
However, you can find your lawyer yourself if you wish, provided you take the time to analyze all the criteria for choosing a good lawyer.
Outsource personal injury claim:
Submitting and handling a personal injury claim yourself is usually unwise. Apart from the specialist legal knowledge that is required to receive appropriate compensation, a victim is often too emotionally involved.
Various parties can make use of it in a devious manner by making too low an offer for benefit too quickly. Getting compensation for the damage soon seems nice, but it is not always wise. Indeed, when it is not yet clear which restrictions will ultimately be permanent, the definitive settlement of the damage is unwise.
Check the professionalism of the firm:
Rumors are not enough to verify the professionalism of a lawyer in the event of an accident. It is best to speak to him directly to find out about his work method and skills.
How many cases similar to yours has he already litigated? Faced with your situation, what procedure will he follow? Is he in contact with doctors who take care of victims of bodily harm? Will he take charge of your file, or will he delegate it to one of his colleagues?
Does he work alone, or does he have a team that will take care of each victim? The answers to his questions will allow you to make your choice easier.
The skills of a personal injury lawyer:
First, the lawyer specializing in personal injury practices this specialty daily. He, therefore, has an in-depth knowledge of the problems encountered by victims of bodily injury.
After having followed a theoretical training in compensation for bodily injury, he put into practice his experience in the law of compensation for victims of physical damage.
He, therefore, knows how to work in a team by surrounding himself with experienced and specialists capable of enlightening him in his task: Medical consultant graduated in legal compensation for bodily injury, experience in compensation, occupational therapist, etc.
The Bar:
Should you contact a lawyer whose firm is close to your home or the headquarters of your business? There is no definitive answer here. In reality, it all depends on the customer.
If you wish to be able to be received very frequently by your lawyer without having to take the train, choose a lawyer who practices in your city, provided that there is a lawyer specialized in the personal injury field, in said city.
Cross information:
Rather than being satisfied with a single source of information, it is useful to cross-check all the information available. It is, in particular, increasingly rare that a law firm does not have a website or a blog on which it presents its skills and its conditions of intervention.
If you are an individual, no need to call a firm that specifies on its site to defend only companies, if you are a business owner, check that the firm supports personal injury cases.
Some firms specialize in protecting a specific type of business; others only advise public authorities. The website of a law firm also gives information on the lawyers’ CVs.
Define your need:
Before looking for a personal injury lawyer, it is first necessary to define your requirements clearly. Defining your needs also means establishing your budget. It is usual for the lawyer to explain and justify his fees according to the criteria set by his ethics: the complexity of the case, urgency, time to devote to it, reputation of the firm, etc.
Clients must be just as wary of abnormally high fees or too low. An estimate of costs that is too small can, for example, hide an overwhelmed and little available lawyer, an absence of legal documentation, files subcontracted to students or collaborators unknown to the client, and sometimes working in other cities, etc.
Know the ethics:
Learning about the ethical rules that govern the practice of the profession very precisely is very valuable. Because a “good” lawyer is undoubtedly a lawyer who knows and scrupulously respects his professional ethics. All clients and future clients of a personal injury lawyer, therefore, have a great deal of interest in what a lawyer can and cannot do.
Make an appointment:
Attempting to settle a legal dispute by yourself or with the help of websites and books that offer you to “manage” on your own is taking the risk of missing a deadline or committing a fault.
Whether by phone – due to distance or real lack of time – or in the office, making an appointment is precious. If there is an emergency or if your file is straightforward (which is very rare), the lawyer can tell you what the first steps to take to protect your interests are.
Do you need to make an appointment with several lawyers before choosing one? It’s entirely possible. But neither is it the guarantee of an optimal choice. It all depends on how you compare these appointments and your selection criteria.
If you are waiting for a ready-made solution and select the lawyer who will have been able to solve your problem in five minutes and by promising to be paid only for the result: the risk of error is maximum.
Ask yourself the right questions:
Whether you are the legal director of a large company, a craftsman, an employee, or a tenant, it is up to you to ask yourself the right questions before finalizing your choice on a lawyer. Here are a few.
- Does he already manage a large number of personal injury files?
- What steps does he intend to take?
- How is it organized to mission experience in personal injury?
- Does he know any victim advice doctors he is used to working with?
- Will the lawyer specializing in personal injury take care of your file personally or one of his collaborators?
- Does the personal injury lawyer work as a team with the victim?
Teamwork:
Teamwork between the victim, the lawyer, and the personal injury experience is essential. Collaboration, therefore, promotes information sharing:
- From victim to a lawyer and personal injury experience so they can get an idea of your injury,
- From experience to the lawyer and the victim to enlighten them on the content of a total report,
- From the lawyer to the victim so that the victim can make the best decisions during the proceedings with full knowledge of the facts.
What does the presence of a lawyer specializing in personal injury law bring with the victim for the defense of his interests?
Understand that the victim is not on an equal footing with an insurer or a Guarantee Fund to obtain full compensation for his damage. Regardless even of the question of the right to compensation, which sometimes poses a problem.
Therefore including when the victim is confident of being compensated, this must be accompanied by a medical adviser for all the part of the experience and a lawyer who ensures that all damaged items are appropriately compensated for the loss suffered.
The specialist lawyer is surrounded by networks of medical advisers, neuropsychologists and occupational therapists, and even physiotherapists in the context of the significant handicap.
The lawyer also ensures that all positions, in particular third-party needs, loss of earnings, or professional incidence stick at best to the reality of the victim’s prejudice both at the time of the appraisal as well as in the context of the negotiations or in the judgment phase.
Final Verdict
It is indeed from the start of the case that the lawyer can act by helping the victim to obtain provisions related to his condition and to collect the medical file, which will be necessary at the time of the experienced opinions.
The victim should not wait to have an encrypted offer to contact a lawyer specialized or experienced in our matter. In short, it is essential to know how to find a personal injury lawyer.
