subject: Importance Of Choosing The Right Personal Injury Lawyer [print this page] A lot of people fail to collect their deserved compensation for personal injury claims because they choose to go at it alone.
As a result, insurance adjusters are able to convince them to accept smaller amounts, which in truth is a lot smaller than what they should be getting.
There are even instances where the claimants are coaxed into agreeing to written or recorded statements, that ultimately hurts their claim.
This leads to a denial or a decrease in the amount they can receive from the insurance company.
The worse thing is that all of these could have been avoided if they would have hired a good lawyer.
The main problem is that victims of accidents have the impression that lawyers are only for people who have enough money to pay them, which is not true.
There are a lot of personal injury lawyers who take on clients in a no win, no fee basis, where you and the lawyer can either agree on an exact amount after you win the case or a percentage of the damages awarded after.
However, there are still other factors that you need to consider before deciding on a lawyer.
Aside from the no win, no fee guarantee, you should look for the following qualities before deciding on a personal injury lawyer.
Expertise
There are different areas of personal injury and the lawyer should be an expert on the laws concerning the specific case you have.
Here are some of the most common personal injury claims:
Traffic accident claims This covers injuries from motor, trucks and car accidents
Premise liability claims This covers injuries from slip, trip and fall accidents
Product liability claims This covers injuries caused by a defective product.
Each type of accident has different laws that apply; for example, unlike other personal injury claims, product liability claims enforces the strict liability clause where the plaintiff needs to prove the existence of a product defect instead of the manufacturers negligence.
Experience
Your personal injury claim will decide whether you will be coping with your injuries with financial help or if you have to spend your own assets to finance your own treatment.
That is why this is no time to hand over your claim to a rookie lawyer.
Ask your lawyer about his experience in handling similar cases with similar details or if he has handled cases against a particular insurance company.
It is recommended that you get an attorney who has at least 5 years experience in handling cases similar to your own.
Success
Experience counts for nothing if the lawyer has a long history of losing cases.
Ask your attorney about their track record in handling similar cases and if he has a winning record against the insurance company you will be going against.
A good combination of these qualities should greatly improve your chances in getting what is due to you.
