Questions to ask to make sure you pick the personal injury lawyer who’s right for your case
Choosing a personal injury lawyer may be the biggest decision of your entire case. If you're looking to hire a personal injury attorney, you'll want to do some sleuthing and come prepared with all the right questions.
Welcome to our guide all about how to choose a good personal injury lawyer, including a printable form with interview questions to ask personal injury lawyers you interview. We've culled the best tips we could find here in one page you can download, print and fill out for each lawyer you speak to. Not sure how to talk to a lawyer or what to ask? We've got you covered.
Find 3-5 attorneys to approach. And then make the most of that free initial consultation
By this point, you should have in mind what you're looking for in a lawyer. View potential lawyers for your personal injury case through the filter of these questions we've prepared, which you're going to use to probe deeper in an interview later.
- Ask friends for referrals
- Ask lawyers you know or have worked with for other matters
- Ask Google
- Check out social media sites like Facebook and Google Plus (reviews may also be available on these sites)
- Search independent directories
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Many questions you will have to ask in person or via the phone, but some you can also get a sense just by the information available online or via word of mouth.
Call the lawyers you have selected to set up appointments
Really? Why not just submit your case details via the web form for each lawyer?
You could do that. Many people do.
We like the idea of the initial phone call for two reasons:
- You get a personal feel for the attorney and his or her firm from the intangible information available when you speak to someone at the office. You just don't get that (usually) via a web form.
- You will get (quicker) feedback. Most attorneys will have some sort of way to quickly evaluate a case.
You may simply not hear back from a web form submission, and you could wonder if they even received it. Maybe they decided it's not worth pursing and so haven't responded to you. Or maybe they just take a long time to respond to inquiries.
Regardless, you want answers sooner rather than later.
At least with a phone call you may be able to elicit some sort of response immediately.
Interviewing personal injury lawyers – a checklist of questions to help you evaluate attorneys
When you set up your meeting with the attorneys who may potentially represent you, be prepared with questions to ask.
Print out our interview worksheet and take it along. Make sure you're comfortable with each answer, and write down any specifics so you can compare details among attorneys later.
Here's a list of the questions and other areas to check out when evaluating personal injury attorneys:
- Past client reviews: Check independent directories to see what their past personal injury clients say
- Knowledge of your part of the state: Have they tried or settled similar cases in your city or county? Do they have an office near you?
- Who will be assigned to your case: Make sure all the questions you ask are relevant to the specific lawyer assigned to your case. It may not be the person you are speaking with the first time.
- Experience with your type of case: How many personal injury cases they have handled in your state for your type of accident or injury? Do other lawyers refer cases to them?
- Overall experience and resources: Firm age, size, experience, connections with doctors and expert witnesses relevant to your case. Awards and leadership roles in organizations can also be good indicators.
- Good judicial connections: Find out if they participate in the local bar association and contribute to campaigns.
- Comfort with going to trial: Find out how many of their cases go to trial and the success rate of those that do.
- Negotiation ability: Ask what sort of settlements they have obtained (remember, 95% of personal injury cases are settled without trial)
- Your personal comfort with the lawyer: Do you feel comfortable talking to them about explicit details of your case? Do they answer your questions to your satisfaction? Are they a good listener? Ask how and how often they will communicate with you about your case.
- Payment: How do they expect to be paid? Are there any fees or terms that would change if the case goes to trial, for example? Are expenses billed separately? What about costs for expert witnesses and other resources that may be necessary?
- Timing: Ask specifically when your lawsuit will be filed and how long they anticipate it will take. Make sure they do not have so many pending cases right now they can't devote proper time to yours.
- Your expected role: Ask the attorney what expectations they will have of you. There may be several things they will expect you to do, but some attorneys may not welcome extensive client involvement in a case.
- Past problems: Has the attorney ever been censured or disciplined by any legal or ethics committees in the past?
- How disagreements are handled: If you and the attorney disagree on accepting a settlement, for example, what happens?
More Resources
- Preparing to meet with a personal injury attorney
- Tips on finding a good qualified personal injury lawyer
- Negotiating fees with a personal injury lawyer – How do accident lawyers charge? Are there any hidden costs?
- Ten warning signs you might have the wrong lawyer
- Why does a lawyer choose to take your case (or not)?
See our guide Choosing a personal injury attorney.