The right attorney for your personal injury case will make all the difference. Each law firm has different specialties. Even within a law firm, each attorney might have his or her own focus area for practicing law.
So, how can you find the right attorney when you’ve suffered a slip and fall accident? Learn some ways to differentiate a good attorney from a great one.
What Makes a Great Slip and Fall Lawyer?
As you begin your search for the best Indiana slip and fall lawyer, you’ll find there are many lawyers to choose from. But that does not mean they are all great at representing injury victims and helping them recover financially from the accident.
As you review law firm websites and set up consultations, evaluate these criteria.
- Customer service: some law firms are highly transactional. They help you file a claim with the insurance company, send over documents, and finalize a settlement. But they do little to help you understand the process, answer questions, and work through the unique characteristics of your case. Good customer service takes some of the administrative burdens off the injury victim who is already dealing with medical appointments, working with their employer about time off or when to return to work and the onslaught of phone calls from the insurance company.
- Previous cases: personal injury covers a broad range of injury types from slip and fall to product liability. Additionally, while the various causes of injury and how to negotiate these cases have many similarities, they also have several nuances. You want an attorney who has handled cases just like yours and knows how to work with the insurance company to secure the best settlement possible.
- Settlement negotiation skills: taking a case to court takes time and can be quite costly. This means more out-of-pocket expenses for the injury victim as they await payment for their expenses. The process can take years. Resolving the claim through the settlement negotiation process is the preferred method because it helps victims move on with their lives and often results in the least impact on your personal finances.
- Availability: quite frankly, some attorneys take on too many cases at the same time and don’t have adequate bandwidth to service those cases properly. Solo attorneys can struggle with this even more than law firms with multiple attorneys who can help share the workload. Evaluate how responsive the firm is to your requests and how focused the attorney seems during initial conversations to see if the firm has the time and availability for your case.
- Experience: every new lawyer needs someone to entrust their case to them so they can gain adequate experience. But that doesn’t mean you want your case to be the one they use to gain experience. The more experienced the attorney is, the more likely they’ll be able to maximize your settlement amount and make the process as simple for you as possible.
- Resources: smaller firms or solo attorneys likely don’t have the same resources as more experienced attorneys or firms that have more than one attorney. Some resources can include paralegals to help you gather documentation and expert witnesses who can further prove your case.
The right slip and fall lawyer can make all the difference in making a full financial recovery from an accident. As a victim, you’re dealing with repercussions you shouldn’t have to be dealing with had someone else looked out for your well-being as they should have.
For a team of experienced attorneys who put their clients first with incredible customer service, schedule a free consultation with Stewart & Stewart.