How to Choose an Injury Attorney

Select an Attorney You Trust, Not a TV Lawyer

The best way to pick an attorney for your injury case is the same way most of you picked your family doctor. Chances are your family had gone to that family doctor for years, or you were referred to them by family or friends. You didn't pick/choose because of a TV commercial or a billboard.

The truth is that the majority of attorneys you see on TV today don't actually try cases in the courtroom, in fact some of them have never tried an injury case to a jury period. The goal of many attorney TV commercials is to get you in the door, sign you to a contract, then turn you over to secretaries or insurance adjusters on staff to settle your claim. The claims are then generally settled as quickly as possible, often for much less than they are worth. These are "settlement mills".

Here are four key questions to ask before signing up with an injury lawyer:

1. Will the person I contact about my case be an attorney vs. a secretary or paralegal? If the answer is no, you are most likely at a "mill".
2. How many injury/insurance/malpractice cases has the attorney handling my case tried themselves, and what were the results? Ask for the names of the cases, when they occurred and in what court.
3. Ask to see a list of results, both settlements and verdicts in court. Insurance companies know which attorneys are good in court and pay accordingly.
4. Ask about their rating on Martindale Hubbell. This is the only service where lawyers rate other lawyers on legal ability and ethics. Your family doctor sends you to specialists they know are good and trust, it is the same with attorneys, they know their fellow attorneys with ability and ethics.  AV is the highest rating given by Martindale Hubbell.  The "A" is the highest rating for legal ability, the "V" is the highest rating for legal ethics. All other rating services are just primarily paid advertising.