There is an ever-growing army of attorneys practicing in the field of personal injury law.  Young lawyers fresh out of law school, who have not been able to land a job that would give them a chance to be mentored by an experienced colleague, quite often wind up opening their own office and invariably gravitate towards the personal injury field.  Yet whether they land a small automobile accident whiplash case or a serious injury slip and fall case, they really do need to know how to answer a few important questions.  Here are a few questions a lawyer would ask when interviewing another lawyer to handle his own matter.

How long have you been in practice?

There is of course no substitute for experience.  The client will invariably have hundreds of questions to ask his attorney throughout the claims and litigation process and most of them are of the practical nature and not something that is taught in law school.  Some of the examples of the kinds of questions that may arise are:

• should one agree to provide a recorded interview to the insurance company,
• whether the insurance company should force you to go to their drive-in center for a vehicle damage inspection,
• should one accept the total loss offer presented by the carrier and how does one check whether the offer is fair (e.g. Kelly Blue Book has not been used in years),
• what type of rental car is one entitled to,
• how long should one treat their injuries,
• how to find the right doctor and how to get an appointment with him if there is no medical insurance,
• and what is the injury worth

Who will be working on my case?

Many law firms have legal assistants, paralegals or non-lawyers actually handling a part of the case or the whole case from the beginning to conclusion.  With certain law firms the client does not see or even get a chance to talk to a lawyer at all.  Even if one does not have to pay a retainer and only agrees to pay a contingency fee out of the successful outcome of the case, a client is still entitled to be represented by an attorney and only an experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to get the best possible result for his client.  Accessibility is an important factor to be considered when hiring an accident lawyer.  How often the attorney actually responded to the client’s questions and how quickly he returned the client’s phone calls are factors that will build the confidence every client needs to feel about the decisions he will be making based on that attorney’s advise.   Eventually when the client is advised to accept a settlement, he will only feel confident in his decision if he is sure that he was advised by a competent experienced lawyer who analyzed all the options with the client.

How many cases have you handled?

Even though this question obviously goes back to the issue of experience, it should be addressed again if the case is not likely to be settled out of court and will have to be litigated.  There is a large number of lawyers who handle cases up to litigation and then refer them out or associate a litigation attorney.  Finding out how much litigation the prospective personal injury lawyer has handled in his career before signing a retainer agreement will give the client the peace of mind needed to feel confident about how your case is progressing.  There is also no need to be shy about asking what results the lawyer has achieved for his clients on the past.

This article was written Vadim Liberman, a personal injury attorney who for over 20 years has been representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases. He can be reached at his law firm, Liberman Law Group at (877) 399 - 5877 toll free or at (323) 931-5577.