Looking For A Good Injury Lawyer

By Lisa Blackstone


If you are engaged in a personal injury claim, perhaps it is time for you to seek the best injury lawyer. There are a couple bits of advice you should follow to successfully find the injury lawyer that is best for you.

First, you want to keep clear of injury lawyers that proactively seek you out. These are referred to as "ambulance chasers", and the ethics of this tactic is questionable in the field of law. Lawyers who do this usually have their eye on a potential big payday and look to search out vulnerable clients. So even if it sounds like a lawyer is coming over to your rescue, you should hang around, do your research and look for a lawyer who suits your needs.

Mainly, you want to try to acquire recommendations for a good injury lawyer from people you know or try to find one with lots of experience with personal injury claims. If your case is complicated, trial experience would be helpful. If you were linked to wide-scale accident where they were many victims, then you may want to search for a lawyer who has exposure to class action settlements and mass torts.

Another great thing to bear in mind is the level of comfort you feel with an attorney. The attorney-client relationship is important - you have to be able to trust them and let them assist you in your case, especially when litigation is involved.

The fees you'll cough up by your injury lawyer is another factor you should take into account. Aside from the rates, you also need to learn how the fees are structured. There are hourly rates, flat fees, retainer fees and contingency fees. Hourly rates are pretty self explanatory. If you don't completely trust the attorney and are acquiring a good rate, you've got to be careful when being charged hourly rates. It is tough to tell how much you can be having to pay your attorney.

A flat fee is when you pay an agreed set amount to your attorney for your case, irrespective of the outcome or tasks required, whether the attorney has to negotiate your settlement or take your case to trial. A retainer fee is when you pre-pay for the lawyer's services. This fee is put in an account the lawyer will then use for expenses related to your case. When expenses are exceeded you may want to pay an additional fee to retain the lawyer's services.

Contingency fees are when you pay your injury lawyer a percentage of the overall settlement you receive. This may be up to one-third but can be negotiable. This is ideal because essentially you are paying your attorney on a performance basis. If your settlement winds up being much lower than expected, at least your attorney's fees won't be that high. If you don't have a previous relationship with the injury lawyer, the contingency fee or flat fee is probably the best structure to implement.




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