Friday, October 23, 2009

Finding The Right Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

By Jameson Clyne

When a catastrophic injury or the sudden tragic death of a family occurs, there often are many questions. Frequently, the questions may also be accompanied by a variety of emotional responses ranging from anger, to frustration or even guilt. There may also be immediate concerns that are time-sensitive such as preserving evidence or obtaining witness statements. Many times family, friends or co-workers will recommend an attorney that they used in the past. Other times, however, clients don't even know where to begin to find a good reputable attorney whom they can trust.

This is an age of specialization. Example: doctors nowadays all specialize in a certain field. The is the exact same with attorneys. Not just any attorneys will do. There are real estate attorneys, intellectual prperty attorneys, etc. You will need to first find an attorney in the specialty of Personal Injury Law. Another thing that will clearly be taken into consideration is geographic location in relation to the accident victim. Usually, an injured's representative will be making very frequent trips to the attorney's office.

The fee structure is another consideration. Here it is important to do your research. Most frequently, attorneys that work in this are will propose a Contingency Fee Contract. Under such an agreement, the client generally only pays a fee if there is a recovery, whether by way of an out-of court settlement or as the result of a trial. Fees usually range from 33 1/3% to 40% of the recovery, but can vary from attorney to attorney and case to case. The case expenses such as copy charges, postage, investigators, expert witness fees, medical records costs are kept separately for each client and to the extent that a recovery is obtained are reimbursed to the attorney out of the client's share of the recovery. Most attorneys will offer a free initial consultation.

Now that you've created your list of attorneys to choose from, which will you go with? This can be a difficult decision because each attorney collected plenty of information from you concerning the case that it seems any will do fine.

When selecting an attorney it is important to understand that you may be spending a lot of time under stressful circumstances with this individual. Select an attorney with a personality that you will be able enjoy working with. You may also find that some law firms will shuffle your case off to support staff and associates with less experience. It is important at the initial interview to determine what aspect of your case will be handled by the attorney with whom you are interviewing.

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