Speaking to an Attorney About Your Accident

You’ve had an accident and wonder if you have a personal injury case. Your best friends, and even distant friends, aren’t lawyers, and with some hesitancy, you go on-line to find an attorney. You may procrastinate. You may start thinking, “What if I don’t have a case?” “I’ve never spoken with an attorney before. What information will he want from me?” “Will I appear foolish and be embarassed?”

Relax! Without you, the client, there’d be no attorneys. Attorneys want, encourage and hope that new clients will call. The first contact has two purposes:

• One is for YOU to learn if you have a case and whether the attorney you’re speaking with is the person you want to hire.
• Second, reciprocally, the attorney needs to decide whether to take on your case.

Since a personal injury case has two parts - liability (first is negligence, also known as wrongdoing) and damages (case value), the attorney will be listening to the facts in each area. To make the first contact go smoothly, consider the following advice.

First: be brief and to the point. In a thumbnail, what is your case about? This talks to the liability portion of the case. There are countless examples:

• “I was rear-ended in my car while stopped at a red light.”
• “I slipped/fell walking down stairs in my apartment because of broken concrete”
• “My mother developed bed sores after becoming a resident at a nursing home.”
• “I hurt my back on the job.”
• “The doctor operated on the wrong leg.”

Perfect. Now the attorney knows something about the case, it was easy for you to say, only a short time has gone by…

Now, go to the second point, about damages. What is your injury? Have you received medical treatment? For example:

• “I broke my arm and had surgery.”
• “I hurt my back.
• "I have pain in my back and down my leg."
• "The Emergency Room doctor ordered an x-ray."
• "When my pain continued, my doctor ordered an MRI."
• "He said something about a disc in my lower back. He wants to inject me with some kind of medicine.”
• “Because of the pain I have not worked in 2 months.”
• “My doctor gave me pain pills and recommended physical therapy. He said if this did not stop the pain, he would order more tests, and would consider surgery.”

In just a few minutes you have forever ingratiated yourself with the attorney because of your brevity, and he will then tell you if he is interested in representing you. If yes, you will be asked to schedule an appointment to discuss your case in more detail, and to have you sign papers to begin the representation. (All such papers should, of course, be explained before you sign. By the time you leave the attorney’s office, most of your questions should be answered.)

Now, YOU must make a decision. Do you want the attorney you’ve been speaking with to represent you? How do you know? Here are some tips:

(1) Are you comfortable with the attorney? Can you “be yourself”? Does he or she explain things to your satisfaction? Do you find yourself trusting or mistrusting him or her? Is he/she distant? Try to come on like your best friend?
(2) Is heor she experienced in this area of the law? Ask if he or she has handled similar cases in the past. Ask about the nature of the practice and how long heor she has been an attorney. Is the attorney familiar with your type of injury?
(3) Will the attorney handle your case him or herself, or will some other attorney in the firm be responsible for your case? If so, make sure you meet that attorney.
(4) What is the attorney’s fee? Is there a higher fee for trial? What are the anticipated expenses on the case?
(5) What does the attorney say when you ask the “magic” question,
“How much is my case worth?”
(6) Has the attorney explained the process of litigation and what will be required of you?

If things go well, the message should be one of mutual respect, of favorable anticipation and of developing trust. If things do not go well, you should consider speaking with someone else.