How to Find a Lawyer Who Specializes in Personal Injury Law

To find a lawyer who specializes in personal injury law, there are certain steps to take. As you probably know, most lawyers tend to specialize in one or two key areas and build their legal practices around these one or two key specialties. Personal Injury Lawyers are there to help you deal with insurance companies and other involved parties when you get hurt in an accident or in some other way.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A desire to learn more about personal injury lawyers and how to find a lawyer who specializes in personal injury law.

1. Most personal injury lawyers tend to work on a contingency basis, meaning that they only get paid a portion of the settlement if/when you receive a legal settlement.

2. It’s no secret that a substantial number of personal injury lawyers do advertise on television, the radio and on the Internet. Some people are turned off by personal injury lawyers who do this, as they find it tacky, and they consider personal injury lawyers to be nothing more than “ambulance chasers.” While it’s true that some personal injury lawyers may go a bit overboard with their advertising techniques, it helps to remember that they are in business, and like all business people, they need to solicit business, and there is a long tradition of personal lawyers advertising to gain clients. In other words, just because a particular personal injury lawyer advertises on television or on the radio, don’t make any assumptions about that individual one way or another until or unless you meet that individual in person and can make a more thorough judgment. You never know. You might be pleasantly surprised.

3. There are good, scrupulous personal injury lawyers and there are less ethical ones as well. Of course, this is true of any profession, but people do have some special concerns about personal injury law and personal injury lawyers. For this reason and others, it can take some research to find the right one for you.

4. If the personal injury lawyer television and radio advertisements turn you off too much, consider going by word of mouth instead. Do you know anyone, perhaps a colleague or friend or family member who has hired a personal injury lawyer in the past? Was your friend or relative happy with their legal representation? If so, you may want to hire the same one.

5. Don’t feel pressured into hiring the first personal injury lawyer you meet. Try to look at every first meeting with a new personal injury lawyer as a job interview, with the lawyer as the job candidate and you as the interviewer. You are the one in control. You are the person doing the hiring, not the other way around. If you find the lawyer you are interviewing to be less than professional, simply move on to the next candidate. You want someone you feel “simpatico” with, both personally and professionally, because chances are you will be working together on your case for several months or longer.

Tips & Warnings

• When you want to find a lawyer, especially one who specializes in personal injury law, it also helps to seek out the honest advice of people you love and trust about that particular lawyer, and then to take their opinions very much into account when making your final decision.