Finding The Right Lawyer To Help You After An Accident Or Injury
Whenever you are in an accident that leaves you with an injury, physical or mental, you need to decide if you need or want a lawyer to help you recover damages. If you have insurance that is paying your medical bills and the accident was someone else's fault, you may still need emotional or mental health care to return to everyday life.
When to Hire a Lawyer
Not every accident requires a court case but if you have a legitimate injury or worse, a disability caused by someone else, you need to sit down and talk with a lawyer that specializes in personal injury law. They will want to hear your story so they can get a better idea of how the injury or disability occurred and try to determine if they have a strong case that can be won in court.
Sometimes you might think that you don't have much of a case, but if you suffer an injury that leaves you unable to go back to work, you very well may have a strong case against the other party and you may suffer a loss of income that could completely change your lifestyle. A lawyer with experience in this type of law will be able to tell you what they believe will be the outcome of the case and very often they are right.
Finding a Good Lawyer
If you have never hired a lawyer before, hiring the first one that comes up in a web search or whose ad you saw on the side of the road is not always the best option. One thing you can do is to check out an injury lawyer referral company for help selecting a lawyer for your needs.
These services keep databases that contain information about the lawyers they refer, including the type of law they practice, the percentage of cases they have won, and if they are currently available for new clients. If the referral service is a third party service with non-biased information, they can be very helpful in finding the right lawyer for you, even if you do not know exactly what you need.
Settlements and Court Trials
A good injury lawyer will try and settle your case out of court with the other parties lawyers. The benefit in this is that the case is settled much faster and with court dates being so far out for many courts, it can help get you what you need much sooner. The case may still need to be presented with the settlement agreement to the judge, but once all parties agree, the judge will issue an order in the case and make the settlement binding.