A Simple Guide to Hiring a Car Accident Attorney

Car accidents leave millions of people with shattered bones, psychology, work possibilities, and sometimes, shattered lives. If you’ve been the victim of an accident and are still well enough to read this post, consider yourself lucky.

After you’ve collected yourself post-accident, your next step should be to contact an attorney.

While choosing to have a car accident attorney by your side as you negotiate an accident settlement is simple enough, hiring that attorney can be a much less intuitive process. To help you through it, below, we share simple steps you should take to find outstanding legal representation.

1. Get a Referral

There is a whole sea of car accident attorney options out there. That makes picking a qualified lawyer that’s going to fight hard for you a challenge.

A great way to cut through the legal clutter is to talk to friends and family members that may have worked with lawyers in the past. Getting a referral from people you trust can help you direct your lawyer search and may even result in more attention offered by the attorney you engage.

If you don’t have friends or family to help you find an attorney, turn to community resources that may be offered through your city hall.

2. Head Online

When other options fail, heading online to get great legal referrals is always a viable pathway.

Our favorite place to go is to review aggregation websites like Yelp or Google. Both sites sport a bevy of legal options, many of which have ample feedback that has been shared by past clients.

If you find a car accident lawyer that has a 4-star average or better and 10+ reviews, they’re worth engaging.

3. Start Booking Appointments

The only way you’re going to get a sense as to whether or not a lawyer is right for you is by talking to them. Therefore, you’re going to want to start booking appointments with your prospects as soon as you develop a short-list of attorneys.

When you speak to your prospective lawyer, make sure they have experience in car accident cases, a track record of getting their clients favorable settlements, and don’t seem too busy to manage your case.

4. Understand Fees

Hiring a car accident or other injury lawyer is unlike hiring a typical defense attorney. A key difference is that injury attorneys work on contingency which means they only get paid if they make you money.

How much they get paid out of the money they get will vary so take note of percentages as you speak to lawyers to understand what seems high and what feels reasonable.

5. Go With Your Gut

It’s hard to find a lawyer that seems perfect when you’re trying to find one under duress. And believe us when we say that since time is of the essence when attorney hunting after an accident, duress will be present.

With that in mind, don’t get paralyzed when weighing options. Go with your gut, see what your attorney can do, and chart your path from there.

A Car Accident Attorney Is a Necessity When Managing Accident Cases

We’ve stepped you through simple things you can do now to start forwarding your car accident attorney search. What we’d like to reiterate is that no matter which attorney you end up finding as a result of your exploration, it’s imperative that you have one.

Trying to chase down accident compensation without legal representation is a recipe for getting short-changed.

For more insight on all things law, we welcome you to explore more content on our blog.