4 tips for hiring a personal injury lawyer

November 20, 2018, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

4 Tips for Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer

You or a loved one has been in a car crash and been injured. Car insurance claims can quickly become a nightmare. You should contact a lawyer if you’ve been injured in a car accident for guidance on how to proceed particularly if the claim is serious. There are procedures and timelines to follow if you wish to make a successful claim.

Hiring a lawyer is one of the first steps but can be intimidating for a lot of people

1. Ask your friends, family and co-workers for their referrals. Find out if they liked or disliked the lawyer and why. Talk to several of lawyers and ask about their practice, if they specialize in personal injury, how long they’ve been doing it and what their success rate is. Get a feeling for her or him. It’s important that you get along with your lawyer and that there is a level of trust between you. You’ll be sharing some intimate personal information with them and perhaps some truths that you aren’t proud of. You need to be comfortable with your lawyer and truthful with your lawyer.  Generally speaking you should stay away from a lawyer that contacts you ‘out of the blue’.
    
2. Make sure the lawyer is a personal injury lawyer with experience and a record for success. Talk to them to determine if they have experience in your particular kind of personal injury. A car crash specialist may not be best suited to your LTD claim woes. This doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the lawyer but it’s always best to hire one with the experience you need.
    
3. Talk about costs up front. Find out what they charge, how it is billed and when you will owe them money. It is important to understand whether you pay regardless of outcome, or whether you only pay if you win your case. This should all be discussed at the initial free consultation. If the initial consultation isn’t free you may want to find another lawyer to talk to.
    
4. Understand all of the legal jargon. Many lawyers and insurance companies fall back on using the jargon with clients who have no idea what it means. Ask for definitions. Ask lots of questions. This is your case, and you are paying for representation.

Make sure that you are keeping notes about every interaction you have from the accident on, with doctors, the insurance company(ies), and the other lawyers you’ve talked to. Keep all of the correspondence you get from everyone regarding the case. Print out the emails you get. Start a binder and put everything in it (in order if you can). You may think that you’ll remember what people tell you, but you won’t. Some cases drag on for years and years, and involve dozens of experts, adjusters, and other people. Good notes have helped win cases by pointing out failures on the part of others.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.