If you’ve recently suffered an injury or damage to your property due to someone else’s negligence, you may be considering seeking compensation via legal action. The first step toward doing this is usually hiring a lawyer; but how do you know which lawyer is right for you?
Luckily for you, most good law firms (including the Cochran Firm in Philadelphia) offer free initial consultations. So, if you’re keen to ensure you get the best attorney for the job, you don’t have to worry about making any financial commitments ahead of your first meeting.
Here, we share some tips for the first meeting with your lawyer that will help you to make sure the attorney you pick is the right fit for your case.
Treat your first meeting like an interview. As well as discussing the details of your case and payment requirements, you should also use this time to figure out if the lawyer you’re meeting with is the right one for you.
Is the attorney attentive to your needs, or do they appear distracted or uninterested during your meeting? Do they appear to take a genuine interest in hearing about your problems and your aims in pursuing legal action? Does your meeting take place on time, or are you left in the waiting room for an extended period without a reasonable explanation?
Most of the personal injury attorneys you’ll come across at established firms will be able to make an impression with statistics about their case wins or the story of their academic background. However, in order for your lawyer-client relationship to be as productive as possible, you need to hire someone who makes you feel secure and supported.
Bring any documentation you have that might be useful to the lawyer who ends up working on your case, including medical records, police reports, eyewitness accounts of the accident you were involved in, photos and videos you took of the accident scene, and so on. Your lawyer will want to keep any important documents for their own reference later on, so you should either send these via email or make extra copies for yourself if you give your lawyer a hard copy.
You should also try to create a timeline of the events that led to your consultation. This will start with your accident and cover any medical appointments you’ve had, assessments of damage to your property, interactions with your insurance company or the police, and any other potentially relevant events.
The legal profession has a broad reach. You wouldn’t ask a family law specialist to help you with a criminal matter, or a real estate attorney to represent you in a commercial dispute.
Specialization matters. If you’ve had a car accident and you need a lawyer who can help you to prove that the other party to your crash was responsible for it, you need to pick someone with a track record of doing this successfully in the past. The same rule applies if your case relates to medical malpractice, a workplace accident, or any other type of personal injury.
At the end of your first meeting and after asking any questions you may have, you will need to clarify what steps need to be taken next. If you decide to go forward with the lawyer, they may need additional documentation or information in relation to your case. You’ll have to share your contact information with the firm and clarify the fee arrangement.
If you’re not familiar with the process of legal action, or if you’re going through a tough time personally, you may find the idea of a consultation intimidating. If this is the case, you should consider coming to your appointment with a family member or, failing that, a close friend. You just need to be sure that you’re comfortable with the person you choose being privy to the confidential details of your case.
Every attorney you meet is going to want your business and is therefore going to present themselves to you in as positive a light as they can. Make it difficult for them. Ask probing questions, challenge them on their value proposition, and make sure they back up every claim they make with detailed explanations and specific examples.
Remember, the more complex your case is, the longer your attorney-client relationship is going to last, and the more consequential your selection will ultimately be. If the outcome of your case is important to you, don’t make any apologies for “shopping around.”
As noted above, we offer free initial consultations to every prospective client. If you’d like to find out whether our firm might be the right one to help you in your pursuit of fair compensation, get in touch today to set up a meeting. You can reach us via our online contact form or over the phone at 800-969-4400.
