When you’ve been hurt by others’ negligence or carelessness, getting on the road to financial recovery can be essential to your overall recovery and, in turn, to moving on with your life. One of the first steps in this journey, however, is picking a personal injury lawyer who can help you craft your case and represent you moving forward.
Given that there are a plethora of options for attorneys – and that whom you choose to retain can end up affecting whether you ultimately end up receiving compensation for your injuries and losses, in this blog series, we will point out some essential steps to take as you focus on picking a personal injury lawyer to help you proceed.
If, however, you don’t have the time or capacity to take these steps, you can get aggressive legal advocacy and the best representation by contacting trusted Kingston Personal Injury Lawyer Charles N. Rock. He is here for you, ready to help you succeed in obtaining compensation and justice.
Picking a Personal Injury Lawyer: Here’s Where to Start
1 – Do an online search and start narrowing down your options.
While referrals from family, friends and colleagues can be helpful in picking a personal injury lawyer, if referrals aren’t available, a good place to start is online. Do a search for personal injury attorneys in your local area and start checking out the results to highlight your best options (you’re reading this, so you can already check this step off your to-do list).
As you look at a lawyer’s website and start to evaluate whether that attorney may be a viable option, check out:
- The “Firm Overview” page to see how long the attorney has been practicing
- The “Practice Areas” to make sure the lawyer has experience handling cases like yours.
At this point, try to put together a list of about 10 (or less) options to work with. Having a list to narrow down can be an effective way to pinpoint the right personal injury lawyer for you and your case.
2 – Verify each lawyer’s experience with the state bar association.
Once you’ve assembled a list of options, start to narrow down these options by checking each personal injury attorney’s record with the bar association in your state. State bar associations keep records regarding:
- When attorney passed the bar exam in their state
- How long attorneys have been practicing law within the state
- The practice area(s) of a specific attorney
- Whether a given lawyer has had any official complaints made against him or her by former clients.
These details may start to help you cross a few options off your list, narrowing down the remaining options to those lawyers who are in good standing with the state bar association.
Don’t miss the two additional parts of this blog series for some more important info regarding picking the best personal injury lawyer to represent you.
3 – Check out testimonials and client reviews for a lawyer.
As you continue on your journey of picking a personal injury lawyer, another important step can be researching what past clients have stated about their experiences with a particular attorney. With this step for picking a personal injury lawyer, you can check out:
- Testimonials on an attorney’s website – This can be a great place to find out how a lawyer has interacted with former clients, as well as what those clients’ impressions were regarding working with that lawyer.
- Reviews posted on third-party sites – While you can get a lot of great feedback from testimonials on lawyers’ sites, reading reviews posted on third-party sites can also be extremely helpful (and it may end up giving you a more well-rounded perspective regarding a particular lawyer, as testimonials on lawyers’ sites are often only positive).
4 – Set up and attend a few initial consults so you can meet with your options.
Once you have been able to whittle down your options to five or less lawyers, the next step to take in picking a personal injury lawyer is to actually meet with the candidates whom you are considering. These meetings are usually free, and they provide great opportunities to get legal advice regarding your situation.
While these initial consultations can provide you with some additional insight as to your better options for proceeding with your case, they can also be good times for you to ask some specific questions of the lawyer you are considering hiring.
5 – Interview each lawyer.
When you are meeting with an attorney whom you may hire to represent you, it’s a good idea to ask the lawyer some specific questions about him- or herself so that you are able to dig a little a deeper. If you are not sure what to ask, here are some questions that you may want to start with:
- What’s your experience with cases like mine?
- What’s your success rate?
- What are your fees and when are they due?
- Will you personally be handling my case or will one of your associates take it over at any point in the future?
- How often will I receive case updates? And how will I be contacted?
- Why are you a better choice than other attorneys I may be considering?
These questions can provide you with an important window into what you can expect in terms of service, responsiveness and your chances of success moving forward. With this info, you can better narrow down your list to a few final choices.
6 – Trust your instincts.
If you are still waffling between two (or a few) potential options at this point in picking a personal injury lawyer, then go with your gut instinct and pick the attorney with whom you are most at ease. The bottom line is that moving forward with a personal injury lawyer who you trust is crucial because you may end up working with this person for months – maybe even years – to come.
Depending on your case, you may have to share sensitive personal information; as your case proceeds, you want to be able to rely on the fact that the personal injury lawyer whom you’ve hired will always fight for your best interests and will be responsive to your needs and concerns.
If you are not getting a good feeling from a personal injury attorney during the initial consult, take this as a red flag, and consider your other options.
Kingston Personal Injury Lawyer at Charles N. Rock, P.L.L.C.
Have you or someone you love been injured by someone else’s negligence? If so, you can count on Kingston Personal Injury Lawyer Charles N. Rock for aggressive legal advocacy and effective help obtaining the compensation to which you may be entitled.
To find out more about how Attorney Charles N. Rock can help you, contact us today to schedule a free, no obligations initial consultation. You can set up this meeting by calling (845) 383–1170 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page. To ensure that you have the legal support you need as soon as possible, Attorney Charles N. Rock can meet you at your home or a hospital when needed.
From our offices based in Kingston, New York, Charles N. Rock provides the highest quality legal services to clients throughout New York, including those in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, New Paltz, Hyde Park, Ellenville, Saugerties, Ulster County, Dutchess County, and Orange County.