When to Hire an Attorney after a Car Accident

If you have been in a car accident, you may be wondering if you need to hire a lawyer or if you should simply let your insurance company pursue your claim.

Making the decision to hire an attorney usually comes down to whether there was personal injury or bodily harm suffered. Typically, a lawyer will help to recover the maximum amount of money for a person who was injured in a car accident; where an insurance company will only pursue a claim for money to pay for property damage – to fix the car and pay for a rental car.

Tennessee lawyer Keith Williams gives:

Several Reasons to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer:

Our attorneys are skilled to negotiate low offers provided by insurance companies

Our attorneys leverage their skills and understanding of personal injury litigation to make your case a winning case.
Our attorneys address your top concerns by reviewing your documentation and addressing all possible strategies to maximize your position.
We are fully dedicated to your case. By representing you, we focus on the strengths of your case by mitigating other matters which could adversely affect your chances of winning.

Here are some criteria that will help you the determine when to hire a lawyer after a car accident:

Legal fees

It is very important that you understand legal fees before you hire a lawyer. Most personal injury or car accident lawyers charge a contingency fee – which means they take a percentage of the amount that is recovered.

Las Vegas auto accident attorney Rodney Okano is one example of a lawyer that takes cases on a contingency basis. He has represented hundreds of clients in all phases of the auto accident process. Since 2001, he has battled insurance companies in court to obtain awards and settlements for injured clients; and he makes a living by taking a percentage of the money damages that he recovers for his clients.

Not all lawyers charge the same percentage when they agree to represent a client. Some lawyers charge as little as 25% and as much as 50% of the recovery. Some lawyers deduct fees before they calculate the client recovery, others deduct fees after they calculate the client recovery.

You would be wise to do a comparison in the area for current rates that lawyers charge. Lawyers are typically required to provide a written retainer agreement to a client; and it is unusual for accident attorneys to charge any amount of money up front.

Always read the retainer agreement before signing it and ask the lawyer to explain how the fees and costs are calculated and deducted.

Level of knowledge / Experience

The best way an individual can determine a car accident attorney’s knowledge/ experience is by knowing how long he or she has been practicing law and how many car accident cases the lawyer has handled. That is usually on a lawyer’s website.

In addition to years of practice, a lawyer usually gravitates towards certain types of car accident cases. Some lawyers handle more fatality cases, which involve wrongful death claims and more experts. Some lawyers handle more soft tissue claims, where injuries may be difficult to prove.

New Jersey lawyers Greenberg Walden take a broad array of cases.

Our Personalized, Compassionate Legal Services – At Greenberg, Walden & Grossman, LLC, we genuinely care about each of our clients, as well as their legal needs, concerns and goals. This compassion drives us to customize our legal services to fit our clients’ unique situations.

It also motivates us to always work closely with our clients at every phase of their case, keeping them informed of their options and what to expect while answering their questions and addressing their concerns whenever they may arise.

Previous clients and referrals

Many lawyers provide testimonials on their websites.

By providing example of previous cases you can get a sense about the lawyer’s ability and the type of cases they handle.

What to Expect With a Personal Injury Case in San Antonio, Texas

If you are reading this, you or a loved one has probably been injured in an accident and you are looking for a lawyer to represent you in a personal injury claim. Chances are you have never filed a personal injury claim before and don’t know what to expect. To help you understand, here is a brief overview of the process involved in a typical San Antonio personal injury case.

To begin with, most personal injury cases have four stages:

Consultation
Investigation
Negotiation
Litigation

Often, these stages will overlap and, in some cases, your claim will be resolved without the need for litigation at all. In general, however, you can expect the following from your San Antonio personal injury case at each stage of the process.

101Attorney.com provides free online attorneys and legal resources for the general public. On this site you can find useful resources such as Legal Guide, Attorney News, Attorney Resources and more!