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Questions to Ask A Personal Injury Lawyer

by | Sep 10, 2020 | car insurance, personal injury law

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If you’re on the search for a personal injury lawyer in Phoenix or in the state of Arizona, there is no shortage of options. You may be simply searching to see if you even really need a personal injury attorney to represent you (check out our earlier blog: Should You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?), or you may have already decided it’s definitely in your best interest to be represented by an experienced, personal injury attorney. Either way, and even if you’re located outside of Phoenix or the surrounding areas, it can definitely be worthwhile to set up a few consultations with attorneys in your area to see who is the best fit for your case. It’s important to do your research, and most lawyers offer free, initial consultations, and those consults should serve as a job-interview for the attorney who could potentially have a huge impact on the outcome of your case and subsequently, your life. In the Phoenix-area, Mike Lyding of Lyding Personal Injury has been handling personal injury cases for decades, and takes pride in fighting for his clients to get the compensation they deserve, and wants you to understand that finding the right lawyer for your case requires that you ask the right questions. To ensure you are choosing the right advocate for your case, you need to learn what you should ask during your initial consultation with an attorney.

Finding the Right Personal Injury Attorney
Before you set up consultations to interview lawyers, you need to know where to look and what you’re looking for. In a previous blog, we covered Why You Should Hire a Lawyer Who Takes ONLY Personal Injury Cases, and we truly can’t stress the importance of only considering attorneys who handle personal injury cases for your personal injury case enough. Overall, you need an attorney who knows what they’re doing so you can win your case, and when all is said and done, only an attorney with specialized knowledge and experience in personal injury law can give you that advantage. 

Questions to Ask A Personal Injury Lawyer During Your Consultation
If you’ve set up a consultation with an attorney (or many consultations), you want to be prepared, which will help you get the information you need to decide whether they’re a good fit for you and your case. Here are some ideas of questions you can ask before hiring a personal injury lawyer.

  • What’s your level of experience with my type of case? Hopefully you’ve taken our advice and are only seeking out lawyers who handle personal injury cases, but please understand that no two personal injury cases are the same. “Personal Injury” covers a wide spectrum of different kinds of cases including:

Many personal injury attorneys have experience in many of the above categories, but rarely will a lawyer have experience in all of them. It’s important to ask what their specific experience is and if their experience can help with your unique case.

  • Can I win? You’re obviously seeking out a lawyer because you feel like you have a case that can be won, and you need some help fighting for what you feel like you deserve. An experienced attorney knows that personal injury cases can be unpredictable. Consider the fact that professional personal injury lawyers usually work on a contingency fee, which means they won’t get paid until you do, so they likely won’t be lying about whether your case is “winnable” or not.
  • What are your fees? Speaking of contingency fees, most personal injury lawyers do work under a contingency fee, but don’t assume that’s how your potential attorney works. It’s a safe question to ask. You should also ask what their contingency fee is. Ask: what percentage do you charge when a case settles or is won at trial? It’s also a good idea to ask how case-related costs or “out of pocket” costs (such as court filing fees, expert witness fees, or information-gathering expenses) will be paid throughout the process. When your case is settled or won, will the legal costs be paid “off the top” (which works in your favor) or paid after your attorney gets paid (which works in their favor).  Also, what happens to the legal costs if the case is lost? Will your attorney absorb these costs, or are you able to pay for the costs up front in exchange for a lower contingency fee?
  • Who will do the work on my case? As you consult with multiple attorneys, this is an important question to ask. You should know whether you’ll be communicating directly with the lawyer you are “interviewing,” or will you really be working with other attorneys in the firm or even with paralegals. There are definite advantages to hiring a smaller firm, like Mike Lyding of Lyding Personal Injury, and one of the major ones is that you’ll know exactly who will be working on your case and who you’ll be in contact with regularly throughout your Personal Injury Case Timeline.

Consult With an Experienced Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer
When it comes to your personal injury case, we know you have questions. You should know that Mike has the answers. Securing compensation for your injuries and other losses you’ve suffered (such as lost wages) can be a difficult, overwhelming process. Before you speak with insurance companies, you should take advantage of a free consultation with one of the Valley’s top personal injury lawyers, Mike Lyding, to get answers to your questions. Get in touch with Mike today to get him in your corner.

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