How to Find a Good Personal Injury Attorney

You've had an injury, and everyone tells you that you need a good attorney. But the problem is, NOBODY can tell you who that might be or how it's done. So in addition to any pain and discomfort you have due to your injury, NOW you also have confusion about finding good legal counsel. So sit back, put your feet up, and let me give you a few pointers on some steps you can take to find an attorney that's a perfect fit for you.

As a long-time legal professional, I have to tell you that-like shoes-not every attorney will be a good fit. You have to find one that works best for you.

Step 1 in Finding a Good Personal Injury Attorney is figuring out what you need in legal counsel. Are you someone who needs constant reassurance or guidance? Do you want someone will ONLY contact you when he or she has no other choice? Make a list of the traits you would like in an attorney, and-more importantly-the traits you hope to avoid. Realistically, if your attorney is a successful personal injury lawyer, you're not going to get a warm and fuzzy call every day-they're just too busy for that. So let me give you some suggestions for things you should seek or avoid.

Seek:

• Someone who will return your calls promptly
• Someone who has competent and personable assistants (secretary, paralegal, etc., as they can be a lifeline when you don't understand litigation or legalese)
• Someone who will take the time to explain all matters of your case as it proceeds (i.e., you will understand what a deposition is and why it is being conducted, you will understand the costs of your proceeding, like those being charged by expert witnesses, etc.)
• Someone who outlines what his or her charges will be (usually based on a contingency in a personal injury; this is normally defined somewhat by law and precedence, but can often be negotiated) and what-if any-out-of-pocket expenses you should expect
• Someone who obviously has your best interests in mind
• Someone who will listen to-and respond to-your needs.

Avoid:

• Someone who fails to return your calls
• Someone who is always too busy to talk and brushes you off the phone or out of the office without answering your questions
• Someone who fails to pay his bills (i.e., if he doesn't pay his court reporter bills, you do not want him as your attorney) (more on this later)
• Someone who is all about himself or herself (braggarts really have no place in personal injury)
• Someone who wants a lump-sum, up-front payment from you and then wants to charge against that lump sum until it is gone (when he will then ask for yet another lump-sum payment).
• Someone who refuses to provide the time details for your case (attorneys notate and bill their time in 1/10^th of an hour increments; you should be offered an hourly billing statement; if you are not, ASK for it.)
• Someone who "guarantees" you grandiose amounts (it is not possible to guarantee any monetary award and this is a red flag of warning).

So now you've made your list, and you're ready to proceed. Step 2 of Finding a Good Personal Injury Attorney is doing your homework. ASK people-ask a LOT of people-if they have ever used a personal injury attorney and whether they liked their attorney. Regardless of whether or not they liked them, then you need to ask "WHY did you like (or dislike) your attorney?" If their recommendation sounds like you'd be interested in speaking with their attorney, ask for their name and number. When you've spoken with a number of people who highly recommended their attorney, it's time for your next bit of homework: searching for attorney complaints. Each state bar association should have a database of complaints and reprimands on each practicing attorney. You should be able to call you state Bar Association and find out who keeps this database. For example, in Tennessee, it's the Board of Professional Responsibility. One can go to the tbpr.org (Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee) and search for attorneys by name. For example, go to www.tbpr.org, and under the "Consumers" tab, you can select "Information for Consumers" and then select "Check Public Discipline for Attorney." Then simply type in an attorney's name (i.e., let's use the name "Danner, David" in this instance). The following link will show you that Attorney Danner has had at least TWO petitions filed against him for discipline. This means, of course, that you would NOT want to use this particular attorney for your legal matters. (And the great thing is that all of this is PUBLIC INFORMATION, so there's no confidentiality issue of any kind.)

You should proceed to check the name of each attorney who has been recommended to you and even feel free to contact the Board of Professional Responsibility to discuss any concerns you might have. My recommendation, however, is that if an attorney has been disciplined, MOVE ON to other attorneys who have not had disciplinary charges filed against them. This will save you a LOT of headache and money.

Once you have checked for complaints and disciplinary actions against your list of potential attorneys, you're ready to proceed to the next step.

Step 3 of Finding A Good Personal Injury Attorney is talking with legal professionals. Now you want to ask your friends and family if they know anyone in the legal field: court reporters, paralegals, and legal assistants can be very good resources, and they KNOW the truth about attorneys with whom they have worked. If you don't know or can't meet legal professionals, go hang out at the local courthouse. It's a public place, and you are free to sit and observe court in session, as long as you arrive prior to the time the judge takes the bench and provided you are appropriately dressed. (This means no shorts, culottes, capris, tank tops, halters, swimwear, etc. Court attire is business casual (some do not allow jeans), so dress conservatively and you should go unnoticed. Observing court in session gives you the opportunity to actually watch some of your local attorneys at work, but let me issue one precaution: you may like a particular attorney's style and demeanor, but DO NOT LET THAT KEEP YOU FROM DOING YOUR HOMEWORK. Some of the nicest, most personable attorneys out there could have a horrendous record of disciplinary actions, so don't make the mistake of thinking you can short-cut your homework.

In hanging around the courthouse, you can make an effort to meet those people you see around, to the attorneys' elbows. You can usually spot an assistant by the large stack of files she is carrying (most attorneys don't like to carry their own files and will do so only in brief cases). As I said earlier, legal assistants, paralegals and court reporters can easily give you the truth about particular attorneys. First, tell them why you're asking and then assure them their responses will remain strictly private. At that time you may hear that this one doesn't return calls, that one doesn't pay his bills and has to be sued, another one grabs all the women and then loses interest in the case… Feel free to ask about the attorneys on your list of potentials. You will likely find more information than you wanted to know about those on your list, and you might even find this research to be quite entertaining.

Through performing the above steps, you should have narrowed your list of potential attorneys for your personal injury case to three or four people. Now it's time to make your first contact with the attorneys.

Step 4 in Finding a Good Personal Injury Attorney is to call their office number in the early afternoon, say around 2 p.m. Do not call in the morning, as courts tend to have motion and hearing dockets scheduled for the mornings, and don't call at lunchtime because you will get rushed off the phone. For your initial phone call, be prepared with paper and pen, and write down the name of anyone with whom you speak. For example, you may hear, "Russell, White & Globe, Marian speaking, may I help you?" You would then write down the name of the firm (Russell, White & Globe) and "Marian/receptionist." Ask whether your potential attorney's legal assistant is in and ask her name. (Again, write this down.) Once you get the legal assistant, CALL HER BY NAME and explain that you are seeking an attorney to pursue your personal injury claim, and would like to know if the attorney offers a free initial consultation to discuss your case. You'll get one of three answers: Yes, he or she does, and you can then make an appointment; No, he or she doesn't, and you can leave a message asking for the attorney to call you (then you'll ask THEM if they offer a free initial consultation); or you'll simply be told that the attorney will have to call you back. Either way, the first question will be whether they offer a FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION. If so, make an appointment.

Step 5 in Finding a Good Personal Injury Attorney is to visit with them. Ask them questions about the number of personal injury cases they have represented, what other kinds of cases they represent (if they say "criminal defense," you're with the wrong attorney, thank them for their time and move to the next person on your list (because criminal defense attorneys really love criminal defense and do not like personal injury)), ask them to describe the steps in the process, how long it might take, any other questions you might have. Be sure to be prepared for this meeting with a list of pertinent questions, one of which is "What is your fee for a personal injury claim?" They will likely tell you a percentage or a fraction, like, "one-third" of any amounts received. This is where you have to have on your big-girl panties and ask whether that fee is negotiable. And here's why. Say you get an award of $100,000 total. In most states, that means you have had $33,333.33 in losses (medical bills, plus lost wages, plus mileage, plus out-of-pocket expenses, etc.), and your award is 3 times your loss (this is called "treble damages"). Does that mean your attorney gets $33,333.33 and you get $66,666.66? Nope. Not even close. It means your attorney gets $33,333.33, and then all the expenses of the case are deducted from your $66,666.66. So, consider these expenses: medical expert: $8,000; court reporter: $4,000; copying, postage, and "miscellaneous" (which can mean pizza for the office staff to stay and work late putting your case together) $500; court costs for litigation $1,700. Your total expenses would then be $14,200, which comes OUT of your $66,666.66, and you would then receive only $52,466.66.

So you can see that any negotiation you can do-even if you negotiate for his or her one-third to be calculated AFTER expenses are deducted-would increase your receivable amount by more than $5,000. And you are in the best position to negotiate these things BEFORE signing a contract for legal services.

The Last Step in Finding a Good Personal Injury Attorney is to read every word on every line of the proffered contract. If there are words you do not understand, as to have them explained. If there are terms with which you do not agree, state that you don't agree and offer to negotiate them. If the attorney is inflexible and refuses to cooperate, thank him or her for their time and go on to the next attorney on your list. Do not be afraid to leave the law office without signing a contract, but do take a copy of the offered contract with you. The bottom line is this: any attorney who is willing to work for you will give consideration to the merits of your case and if it is one for which she or he is willing to work, they will call you.

My final advice for finding a good personal injury attorney has to do with your own behavior. Do NOT lie to them or try to deceive your attorney in any way. If you say your back is hurt and you cannot lift your arms, do NOT help a friend move, because you can bet the insurance company from whom you seek damages will have a private investigator following you with a video camera. Your attorney can ONLY represent the truth as told to him or her; any attempts to deceive them will only ruin the relationship you may have established, and when it comes down to damage awards, your attorney is the only one who will be in your corner. Best of luck to you!