After being in a serious accident, like a vehicle collision, there are a lot of important and often stressful situations to deal with; between recovery, dealing with insurance companies and everything else, getting some professional help is often a good idea.
Choosing to involve a personal injury lawyer is the first step in having an experienced professional on your side to help you fight through the aftermath of your accident, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Personal injury law can be a long process and you want to make sure you’re comfortable with the lawyer you hire.
Here are a few tips to make the process of finding the right personal injury lawyer a little easier:
1. Get a few referrals. When you begin your search for someone to guide you through the often murky waters of personal injury law, asking your friends and family for referrals is one of the best ways to narrow it down. Word of mouth is still an important way to find out if a service is right for you, and hiring a personal injury lawyer is no different. Ask your friends and family if they’ve used a lawyer before, and how they felt about the process. Keep those names you feel confident about in mind for step two.
2. Make a short list. Through your word-of-mouth referrals and a bit of research, craft a short list of personal injury lawyers who you feel would best be able to help you with your case. As a rule, choosing a lawyer with experience in similar cases and who has good reviews is a good way to determine whether or not that lawyer will be able to guide you through your personal injury claim.
3. Talk it out. Interviewing your short list of personal injury lawyers is the last step in finding someone who is right for you and your case. If you can, meet with them at their office, but speaking to them on the phone will do the trick if you’re unable to make it. Ask each candidate what their experience in personal injury law has been, if they’ve worked on a case similar to yours in the past (and what the outcome was) and for references you can speak to. Discussing fees at this point is a good idea too. By the end of the interviews, hopefully you’ll have a personal injury lawyer you can count on to help you through the process.
