How to Choose the Right Personal Injury Lawyer

When someone else’s actions cause you serious harm, it’s frustrating as well as traumatic and painful. It’s even worse when the injury causes physical and financial consequences, such as medical expenses, lost wages, pain, suffering, and other effects, which may sometimes include disfigurement, disability, or impairment.

The party who caused the injury through their careless, reckless, or wrongful behavior is liable for your injury-related losses, but holding them accountable requires experienced legal representation from a Kent personal injury lawyer.

Why Do I Need a Personal Injury Attorney for My Case?

Under Washington’s fault-based injury law, the injury victim must prove liability for damages through a preponderance of evidence. Choosing the right personal injury lawyer not only helps ensure that you have a compelling case for liability but also a carefully calculated list of damages that maximizes the amount of compensation you obtain in your claim.

An experienced personal injury attorney assertively protects your best interests throughout every step of the legal process, helping you to obtain a favorable result.

A Personal Injury Lawyer Should Not Charge Upfront Fees

A reputable personal injury lawyer in Washington and elsewhere does not charge upfront fees to injury victims. Instead, be sure that your lawyer offers a free, confidential consultation to evaluate the merits of your case. Then, they provide legal services at no cost to you until after they succeed in your case by recovering compensation for you through a settlement or in court. Then, they deduct a percentage of your compensation to cover their legal fees.

Be sure your attorney is upfront about the percentage they charge before you hire them.

Choose a Personal Injury Lawyer With Experience In Your Type of Case

Many Washington personal injury lawyers represent injury victims who were harmed in a variety of ways, from slip-and-fall injuries and car accidents to medical malpractice cases and workplace injuries. It’s essential to find an attorney with experience in cases similar to yours.

If a defective product caused your injury, you don’t want to hire an attorney who mainly handles car accident cases. Instead, look for an attorney with cases similar to yours in their recent history and ensure that their previous cases had favorable results for their clients.

Read Client Testimonials and Recent Case Results

Most personal injury lawyers post recent case results on their websites. Look for a personal injury lawyer who has litigated cases similar to yours and obtained favorable outcomes for their clients. Often, you’ll find client testimonials on the attorney’s page, where past clients share their experience with the attorney’s representation. Favorable client reviews and testimonials are often more reassuring than an attorney’s impressive credentials.

Meet the Attorney In Person Before Hiring the Law Firm

Finally, it’s crucial that you feel comfortable with your attorney, communicate well with them, and have a good overall rapport. Accomplishing this test requires meeting them in person whenever possible. During your free case evaluation, be sure that you like the way the attorney communicates and that you feel comfortable putting your case in their hands.

Sometimes, the attorney you meet with is the lead or founding attorney at the firm and not the one who will ultimately represent you. Be sure to ask this question during your consultation, and then ask if you can meet with the lawyer who will work for you, as well as the lead attorney, so you can evaluate your rapport with the lawyer who actually works on your personal injury claim.

If you’re ready to speak with a Washington injury lawyer, Caffee Accident & Injury Lawyers offers free consultations. Contact us today to schedule your case evaluation.