How do you know you’ve found the right attorney to take on your case? Where do you even begin your search? We spoke with personal injury attorneys in the field to find out their recommendations for hiring the best lawyer.
There are 1.2 million lawyers in the United States who are currently practicing their profession. They differ significantly in experience, skills, and the willingness to litigate a personal injury case passionately. Personal injury attorneys often handle car accident cases, work-related accidents. If you are interested in car accidents, your rights, the compensation, and the law, read this blog article from Accident Lawyers Of Illinois.
However, practicing law doesn’t come with residencies, no state-required certifications, and no mandatory internships, which means that anyone who has a license to practice law can already become a personal injury attorney even if they still don’t have any experience but it would be advantageous to have some experience.
Most successful trial attorneys specialize in a particular area of the law. Some lawyers prosecute cases in some practice areas. However, a lawyer who does everything still doesn’t have enough specialized skills to learn the complexity of personal injury law.
Winning, for example, a truck accident case or any personal injury case is not easy, and the kind of lawyer who should be working on this kind of case should have these characteristics:
Honesty
The best lawyers are honest to their clients even if they are telling news that the client doesn’t want to hear. Excellent Personal Injury Lawyers inform their clients about possible weaknesses in the case. Honesty can win cases, not flattery.
Experience
An excellent lawyer doesn’t need to have forty years of experience to stand out at trial. Some of the best Personal Injury Attorneys are those who are willing to prove that they are worthy in the industry. Click here to get in touch with the best injury lawyers in California.
Trial advocacy is more than just educational training because it is an important skill that must be improved only through real-world practice.
Knowledge of the law
The law is an ever-changing and complex matter. Having a new Supreme Court governing can change the whole field of law. Most excellent personal injury attorneys stay up to date on both recent legal precedent and statutory changes.
The lawyers are also still active in bar associations applicable in their field and frequently attend continuing legal education seminars.
Knowledge about medicine
Personal injury attorneys seldom joke that they also have reserved careers as nurses and doctors. Of course, lawyers are not authorized to provide medical advice. However, an excellent trial Personal Injury Attorney should know the topics they prosecute inside and out.
It is important that a highly skilled personal injury lawyer has knowledge of the medical industry since they must cross-examine witnesses.
A lawyer who can understand the detail of the injury, the prognosis and the standard of care can ask incisive questions that may highlight the suffering of the client and makes sure that the client gets a fair settlement or judgment.
Respected in the field
It’s hard to judge a lawyer’s skills just by looking at them, most especially if the lawyer lacks experience or legal training within the court system. One of the best ways to evaluate a Personal Injury Attorney is to examine how other lawyers view him or her.
The best attorneys get the respect of their colleagues, even if they sit on the opposite sides of a case.
Commitment to the case
Excellent personal injury attorneys want more than just the paycheck because they want to seek justice for their clients. It encourages them to act as passionate advocates for their clients, even if the case is very challenging and the different council is hesitant to entertain reasonable settlement offers.
Excellent trial and negotiation skills
Excellent trial attorneys are of course, best in court cases. Preparing for the trial must begin long before the trial itself. The clients should see how effective a lawyer is at negotiating on their behalf.
A lawyer should have a good working relationship with the opposing counsel and can effectively communicate with the client. Trial advocacy needs excellent social skills to tell a convincing story.
Make sure you are known
Word of mouth is not going away. The preferred way to find a good personal injury lawyer is to ask friends and family for a referral to a Personal Injury Attorney who represented them in the past. More often than not it comes down to the fact that successful lawyers have mastered the art of rainmaking, marketing, and client development skills, while those who are unsuccessful have not. The importance of learning how to market your law business cannot be overstated.
Who to ask to find attorneys: friends, Google, Facebook, directories. Online reviews are the new word of mouth. There are so many personal injury lawyers advertising everywhere from TV to online now, and there is very little regulation. The best way to find a personal injury lawyer is to talk to people you trust who have had a positive experience…”
His recommendation? Ask a pastor or someone else centrally located in your community. “They know a lot of people and are trusted with personal information, so they will hear about the good and bad experiences when people are going through legal challenges.”
Takeaway
There are many lawyers nowadays with enough knowledge to address a personal injury claim successfully. An attorney who can represent the client’s interest in court or just needed for a personal consultation on an ongoing negotiation should be a good personal injury lawyer, exhibiting most, if not all of the characteristics stated above.
Patrick Halliday is a partner of Halliday McCall Accident Lawyers of Illinois. The opening of his own office in central Illinois was a process that started at the end of 2017 after having been a partner in a major Chicago-based litigation law firm. He has been practicing law for over 15 years in the Chicago area working on high-profile cases and multi-million dollar claims. Mr. Halliday has helped clients win cases on both the prosecution and defense sides of legal claims. Having experience on both sides of matters has allowed him to maximize the results for his clients’ cases. Attorney Halliday obtained his undergraduate degree at Northern Illinois University and his J.D. at DePaul University College of Law.
About The Author- Patrick Halliday