What You Should Know Before Hiring A Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have been injured in an accident, you may be considering hiring a personal injury lawyer. You may not have paid much attention prior to this but now you are seeing it everywhere: personal injury lawyer advertising. Billboards, bus stops, radio, TV, sporting events. If you have searched online, you are now inundated with a string of ads before you even get to your search results. So how do you make a good choice? After all, this is your future you are talking about.

Objective Information is Hard to Find

One thing you will notice immediately is that it is difficult to find qualified information from an objective source. Even legal directories make money off advertising links that click through to individual lawyers hoping you will hire them. Although advertising and marketing in any industry are important, when it comes to your legal rights and your future, you don’t want to rely on advertising as your guide.

Don’t Be Victimized Twice

Although legal advertising is regulated in Ontario, regulation is spotty. Without strict enforcement, you, as the consumer, can be exposed to misleading and untrue marketing. Unfortunately, this hurts us all in the legal field. It then becomes up to the victim to make sure they are not further victimized. Our legal team believes that an educated client is a more satisfied and happier one.

Bait and Switch Tactics

In many cases, lawyers who advertise excessively do not even handle personal injury lawsuits. A lawyer spends quite a bit on this advertising which can be extremely successful in bringing in business. But instead of pursuing a fair compensation for the client which often involves going to court, these lawyers take the easy route by accepting quick, and ultimately low, settlements. They collect their contingency fee by doing virtually no work.

If a settlement can’t be reached, these lawyers will often refer the claim to another lawyer more experienced in litigation. When the case is resolved, both lawyers get happily paid. It is common practice for these lawyers to pay and collect referral fees and pass on clients.

When interviewing a Leamington personal injury lawyer, make sure to do your homework and ask very pointed questions.

● Will the lawyer be handling your claim or referring it to someone else?
● What is the lawyer’s experience and background? Does he or she only practice personal injury law?
● Have the lawyer explain their fee structure exactly. If it is too confusing or complicated, this may be a red flag.
● How many of the lawyer’s claims have gone to court? What is their record of winning cases?
● Is the lawyer familiar with how things are done in your city? The law is the same throughout Ontario but procedures and practices often vary from town to town.

If the lawyer seems uneasy about answering these questions, you may wish to look elsewhere.

Call a Professional

As a potential client, your best defense against deceptive advertising and practices is doing your homework, asking the right questions, and trusting your intuition. Look for firms that don’t rely on excessive advertising. Call the Leamington injury lawyers at AM Injury Law for a no-obligation consultation.