Top 3 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Personal Injury Lawyer

23 October 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog

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Have you recently been injured through no fault of your own? Are you currently researching how to get compensation for your pain and suffering? In order to get the best compensation possible, you're going to need to hire a personal injury lawyer, such as Richard M Altman. While you could hire the first lawyer that you meet, doing so may not result in the most favorable outcome for you. Before you hire any attorney, here are some questions that you should ask:

Do you think I have a good case? Some people will hire a personal injury lawyer whether or not they have a chance of winning, insisting that the attorney takes the case. As long as the lawyer is getting paid, he or she may not object very much to a client like this. However, to avoid wasting both your time and your money, this is one of the first things to ask the attorney after you have explained the details of your particular case. A good lawyer will let you know whether he or she thinks that your case will succeed. Whatever his or her answer, he or she should be able to reference similar cases and their outcomes.

Have you ever handled any cases like mine? Different laws are relevant to different types of cases. If the personal injury lawyer you consult deals mainly with slip and fall cases, he or she may not be as familiar with the laws related to being hit by a falling tree branch or a construction accident. Although the attorney may be extremely competent in the areas that he or she handles, your case's success may hinge on him or her having more than just a passing familiarity with your particular type of lawsuit. 

How long do you think the lawsuit will take? The time it takes to bring a lawsuit to court and to get a judgement can vary depending on not only your state, but the city that the courthouse is located in. Some courts are extremely busy, while others see relatively few cases. Your sister may have a friend in another city who had a similar case that was completed in a matter of weeks, but that may have been because the defendant settled out of court. If you go through the court system, a case could take a year or two to actually be seen. Your lawyer will be able to let you know whether he or she thinks a quick settlement is a likely and desirable outcome or if you should expect to wait for a trial.